USA TODAY International Edition
Ramadan giving is key, if need is real
Leaders urge caution but don’t discourage charity
As Ramadan nears, Rabih Najdi, the manager at the Super Greenland Store in Dearborn, Mich., is preparing to be asked to give to charity — sometimes by the same people who told him the same story of misfortune the last time they asked for help.
One year, he said, a woman was begging for money with a photo of a boy in a foreign country who she said needed a kidney.
“I saw her 10 years later,” Najdi said. “She has the same picture in her hand. And I told her, ‘I mean, come on, we cannot do that. It’s not good for Ramadan and stuff.’ But, I don’t know if she’s a Muslim either. Some people, they try to abuse the situation.”
Charity is a tenet of the Islamic holy month, which this year for many Muslims will begin May 15 and end June 14.
But in metro Detroit, and around the globe, religion and public safety are at odds. Do you give? As the prophet Muhammad did. Or refuse to give, to avoid being swindled?
Community and spiritual leaders are increasingly urging caution: Not everyone who appears to be in need really is. More and more, con artists — some who might not be Muslim — are fleecing the faithful.
Ramadan and Zakat, annual giving, are two pillars of Islam. Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, is observed by Muslims worldwide. The exact starting and ending time can vary slightly by the group calculating it, but the annual observance commemorates the revelation of the Quran to Muhammad by fasting from sunrise to sunset, refraining from sinful behaviors, and donating to the poor.
Najdi said the ethnic grocery store where he works tries to never turn people away because he can’t ever really know if a request is genuine or not.
“We should not be discouraged from giving simply because there are a few — very few — individuals who would elicit funds that are not really needed for them other than to fill their greed,” said Imam Hassan Qazwini, the spiritual leader of the Islamic Institute of American in Dearborn Heights. “When we know them, we give to them.”
But, he acknowledged, there is a modern-day caveat: “When we don’t know them, and we have no idea about their financial situation, we ask them to offer some documentation. Sometimes, we also require witnesses.”
In Surat al-Baqarah, the second chapter of the Quran, people are encouraged to investigate and to find those who are in need but don’t ask for charity out of modesty, said Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi of the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights.
Elahi said being asked for charity creates a moral challenge for the mosque because they don’t know everyone who asks and the mosque doesn’t have enough tools to investigate each case.
“But the whole point is more positive than negative,” Elahi said, adding: “Let’s say that some people may abuse it. But you know, if somebody gets to the point of coming and asking for $50 or $100, that means that there is a need. But, of course, we have to be careful that, if they get this help and they may abuse it, then, as much as we can be careful, we have to.”
Michigan has one of the highest concentrations of mosques in the United States, with Dearborn as home of one of the largest mosques in North America.
“Just like the Christian holiday season or the Jewish holiday season, it’s a time to give whatever wealth you have to those who are less fortunate,” said Rana Taylor, the director of communications for the nonprofit Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services in Dearborn. “It reminds Muslims that at the end of the day we have a responsibility to take care of one another.”
Still, the prophet Muhammad, who was born in the 6th century, never asked for documentation.
“At that time, life was very simple. Everybody knew everybody in the community,” Qazwini explained. “Only when we have doubts do we ask for documentation, because, now, it is hard to know everybody in the community. We don’t live in a village.”
Still, he said, it shouldn’t matter what religion the person in need practices.
And, the imam added, withholding help when it is needed “could be a morally wrong act.”
Dave Abdallah, a Dearborn Heights city councilman and a real estate agent, said he gets 15-20 solicitations for donations in person and in the mail — some from groups he’s never heard of with out-of-state addresses — every Ramadan.
“That’s when you are most vulnerable and more likely to donate to a particular organization thinking that this is a good deed,” he said. “It is a good deed, but you meanwhile figure out the people you donated to had different intentions.”
Abdallah, an Arab American who has taken two Muslim pilgrimages to Mecca, said Dearborn Heights doesn’t put out official warnings during Ramadan, but he cautions residents to check out claims before donating — especially when they don’t seem genuine.
“I don’t give somebody money just because they ask for it, especially nowadays,” he said. “Any organization that asks you for money, you have to do your research.”
Police in Hamtramck, where there is a large population of Muslims, do not have a record of Ramadan giving scams. Still, they said, that may just be because the victims are too embarrassed to report them to police.
Charity Navigator — a Glen Rock, N.J., nonprofit organization that offers advice on giving and an online guide to charities — gets questions every Ramadan from potential donors.
“One of the things we hear all the time is: ‘How do I make sure I’m not giving to a scam?’” said Sara Nason, a Charity Navigator spokeswoman. “If somebody asks for money, you want to ask some key questions that may pop up some red flags.”
Ramadan “reminds Muslims that we have a responsibility to take care of one another.” Rana Taylor Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services in Dearborn, Mich.