Giving in the way of the Lord does not refer primarily to building synagogues, churches, mosques and temples. The ‘Lord’ can be interpreted to encompass one’s community or even all of humanity, and giving may be understood to mean devoting one’s resources to its improvement and enabling individuals to actualise their potential. This kind of activity has probably been going on since the dawn of history. Plato’s Guardians were to take nothing or little for themselves. A community of wives would keep them from knowing any children they had fathered and to whom they might be tempted to leave the fortunes they had made.
People in Pakistan are notable for both taking and giving. They are reluctant to give money to governments. They are not unique in having this disposition. Taxes are the least popular of a citizen’s obligations. This is particularly the case in Pakistan because the citizen doubts that the proceeds would be deployed for achieving the stated purposes, and fear that the same will end up in the collector’s pocket. They are, however, exceedingly generous in giving for charitable causes. They sent enormous amounts of money, goods and services, including food, to the victims of the earthquake, and later those of floods in the last few years.
People’s thinking in this and related matters is complicated. In one version of human nature, people compete to maximise their access to the good things of life and, left to themselves, they will convert this struggle into a war of every man against every other. In another version, they can be kind and considerate to one another and cooperate in the pursuit of common goals. In the former condition, they will seize one another’s possessions, and in the latter, they will give to make living comfortable for the poor and the needy. It is likely that in addition to the humaneness of which all of us partake, we in Pakistan are informed by the Islamic ethic, which enjoins us to share the blessings God has allowed us with our neighbours. It disapproves of the concentration of wealth in a few hands and discourages even its accumulation by an individual. It does not follow that Islam forbids capital formation. An individual may make as much money as he legitimately can, but then he should invest it in other enterprises or use it to enable others to generate incomes. Giving can take a variety of forms. You are on the road and stop for a red light. A woman standing at the intersection knocks on your window and requests a sum of money in charity. You decline her request, drive on for half a mile to the offices of Edhi Foundation, and donate 200,000 rupees to help its charitable activities. If you give a hungry man a fish, you have done well. If you teach him how to catch fish and make him capable of independently making a living, you have done even better.
Institutionalisation of giving requires the fundraiser’s credibility in the reckoning of potential donors. The managers of Islamia College and MAO College in Lahore are trusted by individuals and organizations who give them money. The same can be said with even greater emphasis of educational institutions initiated by Christian churches and foundations based mostly in the United States. Notable among these institutions are the Forman Christian College in Lahore, Murray College in Sialkot, Gordon College in Rawalpindi, and Edwards College in Peshawar. Besides the Government College in Lahore, they were rated as the best colleges in the country. They were nationalised during Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s regime and were placed under government’s direction and control. Their standards fell because they had lost their autonomy in hiring and firing faculty and in controlling student admissions. They were denationalised during General Ziaul Haq’s rule and they regained their former excellence and prestige.
The Edhi Foundation and of late the Bilquis Edhi Foundation have an excellent reputation for their integrity and it may not be an exaggeration to say that they receive more money than they know what to do with. The high esteem in which they are held is well deserved because they do a wonderful job of raising, educating and training young boys and girls, and old women, who have been abandoned by their parents or guardians.
Some of the giving has been directed to healthcare. There are cases in which a physician will examine a patient and give him a prescription without charging a fee. Doctors will see patients free of cost in government-funded hospitals and other medical facilities. There is an abundance of them in larger towns, but there may not be even one in a village. They do not like to locate in rural areas, where desirable schools for their children and social interaction with equals are lacking. A sick man in a village will have to be carried several miles to be seen by a physician in a town, and longer if he needs a specialist’s attention. Philanthropists have set up hospitals in certain towns where patients are treated, and may even be housed free of cost.
A good way of giving is to establish trusts and foundations, place large sums of money to their credit, the interest from which may be utilised to fund their charitable activities. Many years before India’s division, a Sikh millionaire set up a trust to establish and operate a nonsectarian college of arts and sciences open to all students without regard to their caste or creed. Called Dyal Singh College, it became one of the better-known educational institutions in Lahore, and it is still thriving. Sanatan Dharam College and DAV College were also funded by Hindu philanthropists. Wealthy individuals belonging to the Zoroastrian (Parsi) community in Karachi became particularly known for financing schools and colleges and other charities. In our own time, Ardeshir Cowasjee was notable for his contributions to the advancement of education and other worthy causes.
The need for giving does not ever come to an end. We in Pakistan hope that the country will continue to prosper and the number of persons able and willing to help the poor and the needy and the deserving will keep growing to their own and the country’s glory.
The writer is professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts and can be reached at [email protected]