Poverty and Hunger
There are great many hadiths similar to the above hadith
of our Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace) regarding
the poverty and hunger which will be suffered before the
Mahdi. Doubtless there have been poverty and hunger all
throughout history, but the poverty in the end times will
increase enormously all over the world, which is a situation
that will herald the Prophet Jesus’ (pbuh) coming.
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Tercuman,
March 12, 2003
Yeni Cag, February 7, 2003
Ozgur Gundem, October 17, 2002
Radikal, June 1, 2002
Vatan, February 13, 2003 |
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Today, there are people living without food and water and
accommodation under unhealthy conditions all over the World.
This situation intensively continues in the American and
European countries, particularly Africa, Asia and South
America. As only a small portion of people live in such
great prosperity, nearly 2 billion live in near famine.
This article, written at the start of the 2000s, explains
the global situation as follows:
As we are stepping on to a new millennium, We come face
to face with a World where every day, 35,000 children die
of poverty - related causes. This means that one child is
dying every 2.5 seconds. We face such a World that the number
of people under the poverty echelon increases every day
and that this number has recently reached 1.5 billion. This
is more than China's population, it is four times higher
than that of the European Union.
When the wealth of the three
richest families in the World are added together, it is
more than the total annual revenues of 600 million in the
least developed countries. Besides, per capita income in
more than 80 poorest countries in the World is lower than
the levels 10 years ago. 1
In the world today, poverty
has reached grave proportions. The last report by UNICEF
stated that one in four people of the world's population
lives in "unimaginable suffering and want."2
1.3 billion of the world's people
survive on less than $1 a day. 3 billion people in the world
today struggle to survive on $2 a day.3
Approximately 1.3 billion people
lack safe water. 2.6 billion people are without access to
adequate sanitation. 4
According to the report by the
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),
for the year 2000, 826 million people around the world do
not get enough to eat. In other words, one in six people
are hungry. 5
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Hunger reached serious dimensions all around
the world, particularly at the African continent.
The story of people who died of starvation
and violence in Zaire-Ruanda border was the
cover story of Time issued on August 1, 1994.
Time, December 14, 1992
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Over the last ten years, the
injustice of income distribution has increased more than
one can imagine. United Nations reports show that, in 1960,
the 20% of the people of the world who live in the richest
countries had 30 times the income of the poorest 20; by
1995 it was 82 times. 6 As
an example of the collapse of social justice, the wealth
of the world's 225 richest individuals is equal to the annual
income of the poorest 47%.7
The current statistical data point to what the Prophet
(may God bless him and grant him peace) said about the increase
of poverty. In the hadiths, it is revealed that poverty
and hunger will be among the signs of the first period of
the End Times. Obviously, that period indicated by the Prophet
(may God bless him and grant him peace) describes conditions
in our day. If we look at past centuries, we see that the
difficulties and anxiety brought about by drought, war and
other calamities were temporary and limited to a particular
region. However, today, the poverty and difficulty of earning
a living are permanent and endemic.
Certainly, our Lord has endless compassion and mercy; He
does not wrong people. Indeed, this unjust state of affairs
shows clearly that the world is stratified on a basis of
selfishness and greed rather than on religion, moral values
and conscience.
Indeed, with the verse, “Corruption
has appeared in both land and sea because of what people’s
own hands have brought about so that they may taste something
of what they have done so that hopefully they will turn
back” (Qur’an, 30:41), God informs us that the reason
of corruption over the Earth is people’s turning away from
God’s religion.
With the dawning of the golden age all these problems will
disappear. Hunger and poverty will give way to wealth and
plenty. In that time nobody will be left poor or needy.
Religion will be lived in the manner God describes in the
Qur'an and people will share their goods with those in need,
as revealed in the verse, "And
beggars and the destitute received a due share of their
wealth." (Qur’an, 51:19) It is in any case impossible
for some people to be wealthy and others poor in a society
which lives by Islamic values. If a person believes, then
that person will be afraid of falling into the position
God describes in one verse, "nor
did he urge the feeding of the poor. Therefore here today
he has no friend." (Qur’an, 69:34-35) This is
a means by which great social justice, well-being and plenty
can come about in society.
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1.
http://www.oxfam.org.hk/english/resource/document/millennium.shtml
2. UNICEF, "Children and Poverty: Key Facts", 2000,http://www.unicef.org/copenhagen5/factsheets.htm
3. Manufacturing Dissent, "World Statistics - The
Rich and the Poor", 1999,http://www.reagan.com/HotTopics.main/HotMike/document-8.13.1999.6.html
4. UNICEF, "Children and Poverty: Key Facts", 2000,http://www.unicef.org/copenhagen5/factsheets.htm
5. FAO, "The state of food insecurity in the world",
2000,http://www.fao.org/FOCUS/E/SOFI00/sofi001-e.htm
6. Human Development Report 1998, United Nations
Development Programme, New York, Eylül 1998- www.oneworld.org/ni/issue310/facts.htm
7. Manufacturing Dissent, "World Statistics - The
Rich and the Poor", 1999,http://www.reagan.com/HotTopics.main/HotMike/document-8.13.1999.6.html
