the two of you invoked Allah profusely but contributions from yourselves come last or not at all. Why shouldn’t you be ashamed of your stinginess here?

Now I see what you find troubling! I think you should learn a few facts about Muslims and about our charity, which will help you resolve the conflicts you see in the messages above:

1) We always ask for help from our Creator first. Even the doctor before operating invokes the Creator. Because “man proposes, and God disposes”. This is not unique to Muslims, but is much more prevalent. There is a hadith that approximately says this: if the world gathered and wanted to harm you but it was not Allah’s plan, then they could not harm you a bit. And vice-versa.

2) There are two types of giving. The open or “publicly announced” giving, which can ONLY be done to encourage others. IF there is the slightest element of insincerity or showing-off, then that charity is not only NOT acceptable, but in fact will become a major sin. “Every action is upon its intention” (Hadith). The second type of giving is secret giving where the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand gives. This is the preferable method for Muslims, because this avoids all possible avenues of showing off.

So, I am not sure how you missed it, but I actually made a public commitment to give (to encourage), though I did not disclose the amount for the purpose of the second type. My experience on MM is that the encouragement doesn’t work well in the blog world, it is much more effective in a crowd of people. And I didn’t want to use this tragedy to ask people to add comments and “help MM’s hits”.

In conclusion, don’t be in a rush to judge people. Our goal is to spread the message… it is upon the individual to give and earn the reward, or not to give and skip an opportunity to help others and please Allah at the same time.

P.S. Your idea is a good one. I hope you will spread that on your blog as well. You know kinda like “walk the talk”.

I have another suggestion. All businessmen who have ordered products from Bangladeshi manufacturers should show understanding and accept the delays without invoking terms of contracts which could push firms into bankruptcy. Indeed, offerring more cash up front may be even more useful, for it will speed up reconstruction and folks will get back on their own feet that much sooner.

Some brothers in the UK are doing their bit (may Allaah reward them), you can find out more at the following link inshaa’Allaah:

http://www.mercymankind.org

Was-salaamu ‘alaikum

Aboo Uthmaan