presentation poverty
TRANSCRIPT
Disscuss the conception and
classification of material poverty
from Islamic perspective and
elaborate the view that it is not
possible to eliminate its existence
even in Islamic economic system.
QUESTION
CONTENT
Conception of Poverty from an Islamic
perspective
Poverty in Islamic sources
Islamic understanding of poverty
Classification of poverty
Causes of Poverty
Towards the establishment of poverty reduction
strategies
Muslims amongst world‟s poorest
Why poverty cannot be eliminated?
CONCEPTION OF POVERTY FROM AN ISLAMIC
PERSPECTIVE
Poverty in Islam is concerned with insufficiency of income and
the inability in fulfilling basic human needs. One is considered
poor if he does not possess sufficient necessities to fulfill his
basic needs. (The World Bank Group. Poverty Trends and Voices of the Poor. 4th Ed, May 2001)
Islam views poverty as a threat to human‟s believes and to
the security and stability of the society as a whole. The
objectives (Maqassid) of Shari‟a in preserving faith, human
soul, progeny, property and mind will be difficult to fulfill in the
state of poverty (Al-Abdin 1997).
CONCEPTION OF POVERTY (CONT.)
These objectives require the provision of basic human
needs so that people may not be obliged to cross the limits
of religion and morality (Al-Qaradawi 1393H).
Indeed, the Prophet (P.B.U.H) linked poverty to unbelief by
saying, “Poverty is almost like unbelief in God”( Abu Na‟im in Al
Hilyah, Al Bayhaqi and Al Tabarani)
Islam looks upon poverty as a religious and social
problem, which pushes a person to lowliness, sin and
crime (Al-Abdin 1997).
That is why the Prophet (P.B.U.H) sought the refuge of
Allah from it by saying “O Allah ,I seek your refuge from
poverty ,insufficiency and lowliness”.(Abu Dawud ,Al Nissa‟I, Ibn Majah
and Al Hakim)
The terms fakr, fakir and plural form fukara are mentioned in
the Qur‟an twelve times. When these verses are examined, it is
seen that two speak of “spiritual poverty.” (The Quran)
The remaining verses are related to “material poverty” and
mean helping, protecting, and sheltering poor people. (The Quran)
In these verses, those who are not rich have material needs and
require other peoples‟ help. Thus, it is seen that the majority of
verses deal with material poverty.
The words for poverty in the hadiths are generally used in the
same way. There are many hadiths related to poverty and the
poor and these hadiths mainly refer to “material poverty” as it is
in the Qur‟an.
POVERTY IN ISLAMIC SOURCES
A group of people called “zuhhad” affected mostly by foreign
cultures such as Iranian and Indian emerged that advocated
withdrawal from food and worldly goods. Later, this current of
thought found a place for itself in the area of tasawuf and
deeply affected the entire Islamic world. (Studies in Islam and the Middle East
journal [SIME], January 2005 by Osman GÜNER)
Islam does not have any negative attitudes towards property;
instead it places great value on prosperity as long as it is used
properly. Again, Islam basically does not see poverty as a
virtue, but as a social anomaly that must be alleviated, and a
situation from which a Muslim should pray to Allah to be
protected from its consequences. (Studies in Islam and the Middle East journal [SIME],
January 2005 by Osman GÜNER)
ISLAMIC UNDERSTANDING OF POVERTY
This understanding has become an important threat to
the political and economic independency of Muslim
communities. (Studies in Islam and the Middle East journal [SIME], January 2005 by Osman
GÜNER)
ISLAMIC UNDERSTANDING OF POVERTY (CONT.)
Poverty can be interrelated to two basic classifications of
poor, which are faqir who are the needy, and miskin who are
the poor, as identified and understood in Islam.
Faqir: someone who can only satisfy less than half of his
basic necessities
Miskin: a poor man who can satisfy half or more of his basic
necessities, but is still below the minimum requirement of
basic necessities required.
(Significance of Islamic Economy Towards poverty Alleviation, Mohd. Ma‟sum Billah)
CLASSIFICATION OF POVERTY
In another classification there are three distinct concepts of poverty:
Absolute poverty: inability to attain a minimal standard of living (WB, 1990a: 26). It, thus, tends to emphasize the notion of subsistence: the attainment of which is necessary for existence, i.e. survival.
Relative poverty: identifies the poor relative to other segments of the society, i.e. relative to a comparator group. Thus, has much to do with the issue of inequality (income and wealth distribution.
Subjective poverty: is a self-defined concept and it reflects the attitude and perception of a person towards what is regarded as minimum to meet basic needs, i.e. it compares “actual income against the earner's expectations and perceptions” (WB, ibid:67).
CLASSIFICATION OF POVERTY (CONT.)
Many different factors have been cited to explain why poverty occurs. However, no single explanation has gained universal acceptance at all. The factors that have been alleged to cause poverty include the following:
State discrimination and corruption. Abuse of public power.
Lack of social integration. Competition instead of cooperation.
Crime.
Natural factors such as climate or environment.
Historical factors, for example imperialism and colonialism.
CAUSES OF POVERTY
CAUSES OF POVERTY
Overpopulation. Note that population growth slows
or even become negative as poverty is reduced due
to the demographic transition.
War, including civil war, genocide, bullying, etc.
Lack of education and skills.
Individual beliefs, actions and choices.
Mental diseases, such as Autism, and
Schizophrenia.
Excessive materialism (www.solarnavigator.net/poverty.htm by Nelson Kruschandl)
THE ANTI-POVERTY STRATEGY OF THE WORLD BANK
Though debatable this strategy depends heavily on
reducing poverty through the promotion of economic
growth. The World Bank argues that an overview of
many studies show that:
Growth is fundamental for poverty reduction.
Growth accompanied by progressive distributional
change is better than growth alone.
High initial income inequality is a brake on poverty
reduction.
Poverty itself is also likely to be a barrier for poverty
reduction; and wealth inequality seems to predict lower
future growth rates. (www.worldbank.org/poverty)
In September 1999, the Annual Meetings of the WB and
the IMF saw the development of the notion of “Poverty
Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs)”, which resulted from
an agreement that each country must have a nationally-
owned participatory poverty reduction strategy programme
(PRSP) as a basis for all WB and IMF concessional lending
and debt relief. (UN NGLS (2002).)
TOWARDS THE ESTABLISHMENT OF POVERTY
REDUCTION STRATEGIES
The United Nations Millennium Summit in
September 2000 has produced what are known as
the „Millennium Development Goals‟ (MDGs). The
first of the MDGs is to eradicate extreme poverty
and hunger by halving, between 1990 and 2015,
the proportion of people whose income is less than
one dollar a day and the proportion of those who
suffer from hunger. (UN NGLS (2002)
TOWARDS THE ESTABLISHMENT OF POVERTY
REDUCTION STRATEGIES (CONT.)
For fourteen centuries, however, Islam has been calling on people to fight poverty at all levels via many voluntary and compulsory measures, both financial and non-financial.
In 1996 the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) published its “Strategic Agenda for the Medium-Term: Priorities and Main Operational Aspect” with poverty alleviation and human resource development as two of the key five development themes. This coincided with the declaration of “1996 the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty” by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
The Bank is, therefore, renewing its commitment to support its member countries in achieving their socioeconomic development goals.
TOWARDS THE ESTABLISHMENT OF POVERTY
REDUCTION STRATEGIES (CONT.)
.
Only East and South Asia regions (but not necessarily all the
countries in these regions) are expected to reduce poverty
by half in 2015; meaning that all developing regions have
lost momentum in achieving their poverty goals. (THE CHALLENGES
OF POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN IDB MEMBER COUNTRIES Dr. Siddig Abdelmageed Salih 1999)
TOWARDS THE ESTABLISHMENT OF POVERTY
REDUCTION STRATEGIES (CONT.)
MUSLIMS AMONGST WORLD’S POOREST
The combined annual GDP of 57 Muslim countries
remains under $2 trillion. America, just by herself,
produces goods and services worth $10.4 trillion;
China $5.7 trillion, Japan $3.5 trillion and Germany
$2.1 trillion. Even India‟s GDP is estimated at over
$3 trillion (purchasing power parity basis).
Muslims are 22 percent of the world population and
produce less than 5 percent of global GDP.
The world‟s poorest countries include many Muslim
countries. (Dr Farrukh Saleem, 2005)
The empirical findings confirm the widely held view
that the magnitude of poverty in the Muslim world is
high, if not the highest in the world. (THE CHALLENGES OF
POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN IDB MEMBER COUNTRIES Dr. Siddig Abdelmageed Salih, 1999)
Even in Islamic Economic system Poverty cannot
be eliminated because there is either:
Unavailability of poverty alleviation strategies
Failure to implement these strategies
WHY POVERTY CANNOT BE ELIMINATED?
These strategies consist of elements, these including:
Economic Growth, Income Distribution, Investment in
human Capital and the development of sociopolitical
institutions and arrangements dealing with the poor.
These elements, although interrelated, could have different
impacts in the long-term and in the immediate and short-
terms, on the sustainable reduction of chronic, transitory
and other types of poverty.
WHY POVERTY CANNOT BE ELIMINATED? (CONT.)
1. Investment in human Capital: Social investments (in education, health and social security) can reduce poverty by improving the productivity and health of all people, particularly the poor.
2. Economic Growth: Reading through the United Nations Human Development Reports, countries that were able to achieve a sustainable reduction in poverty are those that achieved sustained levels of economic growth and development. Notable examples are Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore among others in which poverty has been reduced to below 15%. (ELIMINATION OF POVERTY: CHALLENGES AND ISLAMIC
STRATEGIES ISMAIL SIRAGELDIN*, 2000)
WHY POVERTY CANNOT BE ELIMINATED? (CONT.)
3.Distribution: Development experience suggests that a highly
unequal income distribution makes it harder to reduce poverty (Demery and Walton 1997)
That is, incidence of poverty is a function of both economic
growth and income distribution.
The establishment of an equitable distribution system calls for
certain governmental functions. This will overlap to other factors
such as investment in human capital and development of
sociopolitical institutions.
WHY POVERTY CANNOT BE ELIMINATED? (CONT.)
4. Development of sociopolitical institutions: In the
prevailing political economy of the time, government
role should be conducive to sustaining broad-based
economic growth, equity and social progress.
Poor governance and market failure are two aspects,
which should be properly addressed to attain justice in
the economic activities, which will help in poverty
eradication. (Norbaini bt. Abdul. An Islamic view on poverty : a preliminary study (1993) International Islamic
University, Petaling Jaya)
WHY POVERTY CANNOT BE ELIMINATED? (CONT.)
The institutions of Zakat, sadaqatul fitr, inheritance, waqf
etc. come under this category. In these cases, one has to
dispose one‟s wealth to one‟s fellow-beings whereby have-
nots become better off. Mutual gifts, endowments and
other optional charities, on which Islam places a heavy
emphasis, also reduce the disparity between the haves
and the have-nots of society (Detail information on, Abul Khair Mohd Jalaluddin, The
Theory of Distribution in Islam)
WHY POVERTY CANNOT BE ELIMINATED? (CONT.)
END