Financial Service to Ulama and Their Destitute Families: [6 Year Journey of Giving]

With the divine Fadl of Allah Subhanahu wa ta’aala, Shaykh Saqib, his immediate family, and a few of his close family friends have reached a six-year mark of serving destitute ulama, students in need, and multiple poor households. This small group of people has made a huge financial change in the lives of so many hidden-away scholars and students of knowledge that it brings tears of joy and happiness to my eyes.

Although I know that the handful of people involved in this personal project would hate me posting this (because of which I’ve been reluctant to do so in the past), I’m finally ready to take the hit.

I’m posting this so that it can be a means of motivation for all of us to serve the ulama in our localities and communities so that they don’t have any difficulty carrying out the work of Deen. It’s necessary that we always remember that the ulama are the pillars of our communities.

They guide the people and shower them with the love of Allah and RasulAllah SallAllahu alayhi wa Aalihi wasallam. From leading us in our prayers and performing Nikahs all the way to teaching works of dars e Nizami and giving Fatwa, the ulama have always protected us from all types of corruption in Deen.

For those who are probably already thinking this post is to raise some money, it isn’t. In fact, it can’t be. The project that Shaykh Saqib and his close friends have initiated is very personal and one that has to do with giving from their own pockets, not the pockets of the general public, and nor will they accept anything for this project.

I want this post to raise awareness and serve as a pertinent reminder that in your locality, your community, your local masjid, here or back home, there might be an Alim who can’t share his sorrows or sadnesses, he can’t tell you what he’s going through, he might have young children who he’s finding it difficult to provide for, but he’s still at the forefront, scanning different works, teaching, writing, and delivering lectures so that my and your children’s deen remains protected.

In a time in which Fitna is spreading like wildfire, honoring and serving these lofty beings is our responsibility. We must take it upon ourselves to ensure that they live lives of financial security.

I would also request the big Muslim Charities to look into serving poor ulama. I know some of you must be doing some fantastic work and how some of you are probably criticized unjustly. Allah knows the good and the bad.

But unfortunately, with the passage of time, it has become a known fact that many Muslim charities aren’t using the public’s money appropriately. This isn’t an attack on charities, but a reminder that Allah is watching. Nothing good can ever come out of withholding money from the poor. Consider having a separate department or something of its sort to give to those destitute ones who serve the deen. If those serving the deen aren’t protected with our money, what use would that money have?

Guys, I’m someone who sits in religious circles and has contact with countless ulama here and in the subcontinent and even I didn’t know about so many of the hardships that the ulama go through. Don’t get me wrong, I hear about it all the time, but until I didn’t see it firsthand while traveling with Shaykh Saqib, it didn’t truly hit me. And if that’s me, someone who’s been in the field for so many years, I can only imagine how little the general public knows.

Over the years, I’ve been hearing so many people badmouth and spew their poisonous hate against those who serve this religion, claiming they have secret millionaire lives and so on. I’m sure some of them do, but that’s not who we’re talking about. It’s time we wake up and understand that even today, many major institutes in the subcontinent can’t pay their teachers more than £45 a month. You heard that right.

Major shuyukh Ul Qur’an, Shuyukh ul Hadith, paragons of Deen are with empty pockets because of the public’s misconceptions about them.

Serving these people is our duty!

On one recent occasion, Shaykh Saqib visited a major elderly Alim and learnt that although he had an illness which was life-threatening, he wasn’t prepared to receive full treatment because of not having the finances to carry out the treatment.

Alhamdulillah, that changed and the Alim sahib was able to get treated in hope that they regain full health and continue serving the deen.

For our brothers and sisters who are abroad and want to take direct naseeha from the shaykh but are unable to receive it due to being far away, I, as someone who spends time with the shaykh know that his main naseeha is to serve the ulama in your locality. Give them your time, your love, your money, and also your children for ilm of deen.

Alongside the service of the ulama and students of deen, make it incumbent upon yourselves to take at least a family or two under your wing and provide for them on a weekly basis that will suffice for their regular needs. Remember, giving to the poor will only make you richer.

Your poor families, relatives, people in your communities, here or abroad have a right over your wealth, start something off and watch it prosper and benefit YOU more than anyone else.

Although the above group devised this specific plan for serving destitute ulama and students of Darsiyaat and executed it six years ago and counting, the shaykh and his immediate family have also been feeding the poor in general at their home in Dadyal Kashmir and other areas in Pakistan for the past 16 years.

Sixteen years, daily, without fail.

Anyone can come from the streets, sit in the shaykh’s family home in Dadyal, Kashmir, have a full meal and leave without worrying about paying a single penny or rupee.

Let us all take a lesson from the above and be from those who give what we’ve been given by Allah, to those who serve the religion of Allah.