There is a mention of Charity in all the grand religions of the world. However, In Islam, the concept of charity is widely discussed and elaborated. In the Islamic welfare state, there is a concept of State Baitul- Maal that works as the State treasury. The primary function of this institution is to take care of the financial or material needs of the underprivileged class. As there is no institution like Baitul- Mal working here under the direct supervision of Government but being the Muslim dominated territory, we have established here local Baitul-Maals, which are doing a very commendable job in fulfilling the material and financial needs of the underprivileged class. However, there is a need to do more in this direction; giving an expansion of such institutions; widening its scope with perfection and accountability.
Though the concept of Baitul- Maal is deeply rooted in our society but, this virtuous activity geared its momentum during the post-flood situation in 2014 and now this pandemic situation that gripped the entire human race. This alarming situation put a heavy economic burden on common people . Let us take the lesson from the local history and to know how our forefathers managed such odd situations earlier.
Syed Baha-Ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari RA, popularly known as Naqashband Soub RA, Khaniyar was motivating people to collect the materials donations and distributed the same among the needy people. He had also fixed a date for special prayer (Khoji-Digar) on an annual basis as a mark of gratitude in the court of Almighty Allah once they completed that noble work. Feasts were arranged by an affluent class of the society for those who used to attend that very occasion. The philosophy behind that noble work was to develop the habit of charity among the well-off people.
Sometimes, it is the given situation that motivates an individual or any group to establish such social organizations. Recently one of my friend from Krangsoo, Anantnag Sajad narrated me the heart-wrenching story of a person who became the extreme victim of this prevailing lockdown situation as the person could not repay the due instalment in favor of the construction agency against the house that he acquired from the construction agency. As the amount was thick, he applied for a Bank loan but because the person is working in a private company and nobody was ready to introduce himself as a guarantor. Hence, he managed that amount from the local finance company on loan with a hope that the situation would return to normal, and he would pay his debt. But, unfortunately, he could not manage the amount in time that resulted in the exponential increase in the loan. During this up and down situation, he lost his land and house. The family became homeless. They shattered psychologically. That particular episode motivated him (Sajad ) to establish a local trust within his vicinity. He involved a few youths from the locality and founded the local Baitul- Mal. He started the door to door campaign, motivated the people to donate the material and non-material assets in favour of the Baitul-Mal on monthly basis. People showed positive response about this brilliant initiative. The first work that they accomplished through this organization was that they arranged a piece of land for that family and constructed the two-room house for them.
.This is one such case, but there are numerous such cases in our valley where an individual or a family becomes the victim of such extraordinary situations. The need of the hour is to establish more local Biatul- Maals so that we can take care of the financial or material needs of the people. Let us develop the microeconomic plane on a local and to gear up our social activities within our locality so that nobody in our neighborhood sleeps with an empty stomach, no one in our area will commit suicide, no brother or sister suffering from any severe diseases lost his/her precious life because of the poor financial condition, no boy or girl leave their studies in midway, no girl will be deprived of womanhood role. Let us take a pledge to be the front runners in social work.

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