Why I’m Not Donating Any Money to Haiti

Religion 17 Jan 2010

As Salaam Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,

At the risk of becoming unpopular or losing any of the likability that I might have, I am going to ignore the the numerous petitions for donations from the various charities and individuals and I want to tell you all why.

I have nothing against the government of Haiti that I don’t have against any other government and I don’t have anything against the people of Haiti that I don’t have against any other disbelieving community. I do appreciate the severity of their plight, not only with this earthquake but also being on the receiving end of the oppression of white elitist Western countries that have been subjugating poor brown peoples for centuries.

I do not have any tears left. My sympathies and empathies have been used up. I do not feel any remorse or regret at seeing the loss of life of the disbelievers, even the innocent or the children. I feel nothing for the people of Haiti.

I have already cried for hours looking at the pictures of innocent children with bullet holes in their bodies. I have already suffered the anguish of the stories of rape and murder. My heart already burns for the innocent languishing in prisons. I am already suffering at the thought of the starvation of my people because of warmongering nations. I am already angry at the exploitation of the Muslim ummah and the savagery of the Christian and atheistic imperialists.

I’ll make a deal with you. If you stop impoverishing us with your IMF and oppressing us with your UN and killing us with your M16s; if you tear down your walls of apartheid and give us our property back and send your occupying armies home, I’ll donate some money to Haiti. Until then, my money will be going elsewhere.

Charity Haiti

About the author

Abdullah

I am Abu Sabah Abdullah Al-Amreeki, a revert to Islam from Christianity, a husband to my beautiful wife, a father to my amazing children, an aspiring daiee and a wannabe Web developer.

21 Comments

saalih
January 17, 2010 at 6:15 pm

Assalamo Alaykom brother,
That was a very nice talk with full of meanings and views.
The Judgement’s Day brother it is so close, sometimes I wonder if even we have time to recover ourselves. Because, looking at this world now and imagining how it should be to be good (somehow islamicly), there is a wide big difference and only a miracle from Allah can change the whole thing up. If we continue talking at this level with the same background at mind…I think nothing as better as crossing hands and closing eyes and spirit. But Our Lord is great, most Powerful, most Almighty…is delaying our lives to a day when there is no return, when only the small and big Hassanats count.

Wassalamo alaykom wa Rahmatu Allahi wa Barakatuhu.

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Haitie
January 18, 2010 at 1:34 pm

I agree. I dont have much money so whatever I have will go to my brothers and sisters first, they are priority. Only untill they are all comfortable will I give a penny to the kuffar.

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caraboska
January 19, 2010 at 12:19 am

At least you have been honest about your view of what Islam teaches. The person who believes in and lives the Bible, in reading these views, will most probably react by treating said reading as an occasion to understand better why they are still a Christian. And especially if the person has not read the Qur’an, so that they are unaware that the possibility exists of coming to very different conclusions from reading the Qur’an than the ones presented here.

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Abdullah
January 19, 2010 at 7:04 am

I haven’t made a statement about what Islam teaches. This post came as a response to the numerous petitions for money by Muslims. I haven’t said that Muslims are not allowed to give money to Haiti. I just feel that decades of continuous suffering at your people’s hands is worse and more deserving of my money than the plight of the Haitians.

Don’t blame me for your insistence on living in disobedience to your Lord. My not giving money has nothing to do with you following falsehood. Your problem is that you want to follow emotions rather than facts, so instead of posting a coherent response to my post about the Bible and science, which proves that the Bible is falsehood, you want to pick on Haiti as if you have some moral superiority.

Haiti is a good example of the Christian savagery that I mentioned in my post. You see many African Muslims were brought there as slaves and then force converted. Hypocrites.

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saalih
January 19, 2010 at 9:31 am

Assalamo Alaykom all,
Hmm that’s true, the post wasn’t about what Islamic teachers friend Caraboska. It was a pure example of the “tirerdness” many people in this world live of wars and crimes against all mankind for some power, wich after we give some calls for human appeal.
An advice for you Caraboska, if you don’t want to look like someone who only wants to pick at others people thoughts/believes, don’t analyse their words and flash them on their religion or other general statements. Otherwise, there is no honesty but bad purposes after it…it’s so clear.

Wassalamo alaykom.

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Hamza Jennings
January 19, 2010 at 3:46 pm

You will only give to Muslims? Even if 1000′s of little orphans are screaming and begging you to help them, you will say NO….. Because in Palestine, MUSLIM orphans are suffering?

Dude, this is not right! The issue is not that more of our people are suffering than theirs, its about helping those who need help, give to both if you can

Surely it is more correct to help our brothers and sisters within the ummah with every bit of energy and money we have, but also to lend a hand to whomever else that needs it if we have the ability to do so.

If you can only donate to one or the other because you are poor then i would agree, think of the Muslims, but I don’t think you are poor, so why can’t you spare £1 for a crying and sobbing Christian orphan who just lost her mummy?

The Prophet (saw) came to the whole of mankind as a mercy, and he said:

“Whoever relieves a human being from a grief of this world, Allah will relieve him from a grief on the day of judgment.”

have a little mercy too my brother for those little ones, alone in this world and scared…

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caraboska
January 19, 2010 at 10:46 pm

Abdullah, I admit to having gotten the impression that you were presenting a view of Islamic teaching and priorities, because of bringing in the question of whether the people of Haiti are or are not believers. Evidently my impression was wrong.

What I am mystified about is where you got the idea that my faith is based on emotions. Since you do not know me very well, and therefore did not know what you were saying, I will not hold it against you.

Just as you view your faith as a logical, rational, and internally consistent belief system, I do as well. I really do view the presentation of God’s nature contained in the Bible in its present form as simple, logical and obvious.

I think, furthermore, that it would be no exaggeration to say that for a vast swath of the some three decades that have passed since my conversion at age 15, my emotions were, if anything, an influence that distracted me from and even militated against my faith.

The fact that I am still a Christian, in other words, is not because of emotions, but in spite of them. It has everything to do with the voice of reason I get from holding fast to Scripture and to God Himself.

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Abdullah
January 19, 2010 at 11:30 pm

@caraboska your post is off topic, please keep it on the topic of Haiti.

If I ever try to make a statement about Islamic teachings you will see ayat and hadith in my post. If those are absent then rest assured that the post is simply my opinion. I bring the religion of the Haitians because I do make a distinction between Iman and kufr. The disbeliever is not equal to the believer.

Christianity may be internally consistent but the Bible is not, nor is Christianity consistent with the external world.

I say that you follow your emotions because even though you know the Bible has flaws you say that it doesn’t matter because you are ‘living it’. You have made that comment on this blog. That is putting your trust in a feeling, an emotion, rather than logic and facts. By doing that you have prevented yourself from following the true path of al-Islam and you are on a path the leads to punishment.

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Abdullah
January 19, 2010 at 11:44 pm

@Hamza

As Salaam Alaykum wa Rahmatullah,

Explain to me how I can give every ounce of energy and money to the Muslims but then have something left for a Christian?

I emptied my bank account for an orphan in Afghanistan and it wasn’t even enough money to look after the child for 1 year and that particular orphanage had nearly 100 children. I had to turn down Muslims begging for donations because I ran out of money. Even if I had millions it wouldn’t be enough for the Muslims in Niger, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Kashmir, India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kosovo… akhi do I need to list more?!

Tell me how many billions I’ll need before I have something left over. Moreover, most of the people in the places that I mentioned do not have large donation drives to help them raise money, the governments of the world are not lining up to help them out of their poverty and their misery.

But do you know who is helping them? Bastard Christian missionaries behaving like vultures preying on the impoverished.

Since my mercy and my ability is limited and there is no way that after I give all of my wealth that there would be a penny left over, I won’t be giving anything to the disbelievers.

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caraboska
January 20, 2010 at 6:04 am

Of course the believer and the unbeliever are not alike. The question is what to do about it. So you are saying that what you choose to do about it is a matter of your personal opinion, rather than what Islam teaches – in other words, that Islam gives you a certain discretion in this issue?

Even though this is supposed to be about Haiti, I will permit myself one sentence about the rest of your reply: I base my faith on the Bible, so if I state that Christianity is internally consistent, that represents a statement on my part that the Bible is internally consistent, and also implies a statement that it is consistent with ‘the external world’.

You or anyone reading this are, of course, free to believe whatever you see fit about any statements I make here or elsewhere.

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Abdullah
January 20, 2010 at 8:05 am

Both the pro-donation camp and the anti-donation camp are acting according to Islam. I feel that it is better to give money to Muslims and they are moved by their compassion and the hype around the donation drive to give to Haiti. And we will all be accountable to Allah.

Caraboska if the Bible were externally consistent then you would be able to go listen to that debate I posted and answer the questions that William Campbell was unable to answer. The Bible is not consistent with known scientific facts and therefore cannot be considered externally consistent.

The Bible isn’t internally consistent either. The mode of salvation and God’s very nature changes 4/5ths the way through. Adding to that the numerous contradictions, there is no way we could consider the Bible to be internally consistent.

If you insist that the Bible is consistent, then I will insist that you are wrong. Especially so because you will be unable to answer the questions in that post and you will be unable to dispel the fact that the Bible makes drastic changes from its beginning to its ending and has numerous contradictions.

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caraboska
January 20, 2010 at 11:53 am

I certainly would be able to. I have been reading about Islam and its critique of Christianity, and even Judaism and its critique of Christianity (many of the same issues), for a combined period of about 25 years, and I have been able to answer every objection sufficiently to remain a Christian. Every time I talk to a Muslim about religious matters, I come away with a better and better understanding of why I am still a Christian.

Before I go any further, let me point out something that is not immaterial to the matter at hand: those debates you posted appear to be in several parts, for a total of 4 hours’ length.

Now, let us turn the tables for a moment. Let us say you have read about Christianity for however long, you have seen every Christian argument you could possibly imagine, you have an answer to every argument which satisfies you as to its correctness. You talk to Christians, you come away with a clearer and clearer understanding of why you are a Muslim. I would imagine that this is in fact a fairly accurate description of your present situation.

And now let us say that I have a blog (I don’t, but let’s imagine for the moment that I do), and I post some sort of interview or debate where a Christian gives answers to Muslim objections to Christianity. It’s 4 hours long. Would you consider listening to this material in its entirety a good use of your time?

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caraboska
January 20, 2010 at 1:01 pm

It seems I got a bit carried away – this was supposed to be about Haiti. What I hear you saying, then, is that there are (at least) two things stated as priorities in Islam which have bearing on the situation at hand: showing compassion, and differentiating between the believer and the unbeliever.

I agree that the amount one person can do to help is normally quite limited – unless they happen to have income equivalent to the GDP of an entire country. To take care of all the needs present on this planet, many things just will not happen unless people act in concert.

One thing I would question, though, even though your comment was addressed to someone else, is the use of the B word to describe Christian missionaries. Last time I checked, that word was considered obscene in the English language, and meant ‘illegitimate child’ – so that it would be patently absurd to apply it in any literal sense to all Christian missionaries. I realize, of course, that you have no great love for these people – but surely some non-obscene way could be found to express it?

I would also question whether they are necessarily predatory. Maybe such individuals exist. I don’t know them, however. I did spend some years, however, at a church where probably a tenth of the membership were involved in full-time missions – and it was a big congregation, so we are talking about a pretty large sample of over 100 people. I knew a pretty large number of them personally, and had no reason to believe they were predatory.

What I mean by this is that I knew actual missionaries and was also at least somewhat familiar with the organizations they worked for. Many of them were engaged in the provision of various types of services at their missionary location – medical, disaster relief, development, what have you – and in no case was this aid contingent on anyone’s acceptance of Christianity.

So I don’t see anything predatory going on there. In other words, it is not in the nature of Christian missions to be predatory. If they are, this results from something else besides the nature of the activity itself – something which I’m sure we would both agree absolutely is evil and not worthy of anyone’s approval or support.

But for the moment, until I hear that such evil is taking place in a particular situation, I am not going to be worried about any predation on the part of Christian missionaries. Indeed, I will be glad if they are going somewhere and doing good deeds. And if they are people with whom I am on the same wavelength spiritually, that applies doubly.

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Hamza Jennings
January 20, 2010 at 3:26 pm

salams brother

I take your point of view inshallah ta ‘ala, but you know there are about 5000 Muslims that are living in Haiti?

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Abdullah
January 21, 2010 at 9:49 pm

@ Hamza

As Salaam Alaykum wa Rahmatullah,

The fact that are between 3,000 and 5,000 Muslims in Haiti is the only regrettable aspect of my decision not to donate to Haiti. Those Muslims deserve help just as any other Muslim and if I was certain that my money would reach them then no doubt I would give.

It is a terrible situation but considering the large amount of donations and publicity and the unlikelihood that my donation will reach the believers , I feel that my decision not to give is justified and better. Even though this is how I feel, I will not criticise the Muslims who err on the side of compassion.

I do strongly disagree with intentionally giving the wealth of the ummah to kuffar when the Muslims are in such a dire state.

I ask Allah to forgive me, you and all the Muslims.

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Abdullah
January 21, 2010 at 10:43 pm

@ caraboska,

I certainly would be able to.

The challenge remains in the other post.

Would you consider listening to this material in its entirety a good use of your time?

Yes.

What strikes me as odd is that you are complaining about 4 hours of debate but how many hours have you spent reading and commenting on this blog. Surely if you consider it a waste of time to view a debate and answer the very serious charges made against your religion in it, then visiting, reading and commenting on my blog is a bigger waste of your time.

I do not mean bastard in the sense of illegitimate child. Bastard as a slang term can also mean ‘a vicious, despicable, or thoroughly disliked person’, which is how I intended it.

Christian missionaries are lying, manipulative, bastards that take advantage of poverty and political turmoil in order to secure converts to their idolatry. I also went to a missionary church and I have first hand experience with their underhanded way in which they attempt to convert people. If you haven’t seen it then you need to pull your head out of the sand.

Back when it was acceptable Christians used to force people to become Christians and kill the ones that refused and now they take the poverty stricken and the illiterate and mislead them. There are books written on how to convert Muslims and they always involve some type of trickery and outright lying. For Christians the end justifies the means.

We saw in the wake of the Afghan and Iraqi wars missionaries rejoicing because the doors to these Muslim nations were opened to them.

There is nothing more low, more despicable or more evil than a Christian missionary.

I will not be approving any more of your comments that are not solely dedicated to the topic of Haiti.

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saalih
January 22, 2010 at 10:01 am

Nice.

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hudhayfah
January 22, 2010 at 9:54 pm

as salaamu alaykum,

akhee, just wanted to say i agree with what you have said here. There is nothing wrong in that,

Jazakallahu khair

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Abdullah
January 27, 2010 at 1:28 pm

Wa Alaykum Salaam wa Rahmatullah,

JazakAllah Khair Akhi. This post has really caused me to deeply reflect about myself and my world view. It’s been 10 days since I made that post and I have thought about it everyday. I still think my assessment is right but it comes with a heavy heart.

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Sue me in God's court not man's.
February 8, 2011 at 1:02 am

Most religions contain more or less the same thing, “live good for each other and yourself” but perhaps it is human nature to argue over little differences in texts, doctrines, rules etc. Those who do must realise that this condemns them to be only little beings, of no consequence, and never anything more. Hence they might want to avoid talking louder than their spiritual stature?

I thought the idea of religion was to encourage the human race to be more (than animals)? This includes thinking to the best of ones ability. Even if that means challenging and beating the teachings of man-made books. Which is what they are until you see a hand from the heavens writing on the paper in front of you.
Or is religion today in fact just another form of club – where, contrary to objective morality, a human is worth more because they have the label (e.g.) ‘Muslim’? Which DOESN’T mean that they actually believe, or practice OR have anything in common with YOU NOR that they are a good person at ALL! It just means they decided to join the same club.
The fact that people think and act like this is motivation for people to join that club, that religion – and it’s the WRONG MOTIVATION for anyone to get involved with a religion. Or are the actual teachings of a religion less important than membership of the right club?
Humans have banded together as long as we’ve existed. Tribes have come and gone. The question is, are our tribes going to be ones of collective protection like in pre-historic times, or ones of enlightenment and spiritual growth with all the good that results?

I’ll send my money where I think it will help or not at all. Not to those who I’m deluded are “my people”.

My actual people HAVE suffered, traditionally, but holding a grudge is like choosing to hate for nothing but love of hatred. Hatred hurts the hater, didn’t you realise?

Many people I know hate religion for the above kind of reason, but didn’t get as far along the anti-hate track as me. I don’t hate religion, there is still more good going on inside it than bad (I believe, although show me statistics). Instead of hating, I just find religious people neutral, perhaps a bit pretentious depending on how deep their belief in the relgion rather than the spirituality goes.

So, it’s basically a club, and what you DO with it is what counts, and that can be ANY religion, it doesn’t matter which as long as it serves good and not evil. Which is most religions when dedicated alone to personal and moral spirituality and not, like much Christian and Muslim teaching alike: mind-control, indoctrination and political motivation.

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Abdullah
February 9, 2011 at 9:43 am

Peace be upon those who follow righteous guidance,

Welcome to MyIslamicFamily Sue and thank you for taking the time to comment.

Unfortunately, your comment is nothing more than an ill-informed attack on religion and not much to do with the original post or the comments that followed. In future, add something to the discussion if you feel inclined to comment.

You said, “Most religions contain more or less the same thing, “live good for each other and yourself””

Religion cannot be summarized in such a way. In fact, you are focusing on a byproduct of most religious devotees. In the Islamic sense, Religion (Deen) is the complete and willful submission to God and abstention from polytheism.

You contradicted yourself by saying, “perhaps it is human nature to argue over little differences in texts, doctrines, rules etc. Those who do must realise that this condemns them to be only little beings, of no consequence, and never anything more.” and then “This includes thinking to the best of ones ability. Even if that means challenging and beating the teachings of man-made books.”

Moreover, the differences that you view as minor are often results of much deeper conflicts.

You said, “Which is what they are until you see a hand from the heavens writing on the paper in front of you.”

Does that mean you do not believe in anything that you cannot see? You have to see an event with your own eyes to consider it truthful? Are you sure about that? I hope these questions make the fallacy of your statement obvious to you.

You said, “Or is religion today in fact just another form of club – where, contrary to objective morality, a human is worth more because they have the label (e.g.) ‘Muslim’? Which DOESN’T mean that they actually believe, or practice OR have anything in common with YOU NOR that they are a good person at ALL! It just means they decided to join the same club.”

Labels are worthless. They count for nothing. Having one label or another does not make you a better or worse human. However, people are not all equal. Some are better than others. There are rights and wrongs, things we must accept and things we must reject. Failure to make the right choices results in a lowering of worth and stature. Some may view religion as a club and it may be a club to some people. I view my religion more like a family. Our blood-bond is the testimony of faith, which I have in common with every single Muslim past, present and future. I testify to the fact that there is no god except Allah and I testify to the fact that Muhammad is His messenger.

You said, “My actual people HAVE suffered, traditionally, but holding a grudge is like choosing to hate for nothing but love of hatred. Hatred hurts the hater, didn’t you realise?“.

What makes them your ‘actual’ people? Do you think sharing an ethnicity makes them your people? The bonds of faith are more enduring than ethnicity and tribalism. Besides, I never said I hated the Haitian people and I do not hate them.

You said, “So, it’s basically a club, and what you DO with it is what counts, and that can be ANY religion, it doesn’t matter which as long as it serves good and not evil.”

It cannot be any religion, because it serves no purpose to believe and practice falsehood. Following a false religion and a false philosophy will lead you to Hell and that will be an evil end to a wasted existence.

You said, “Which is most religions when dedicated alone to personal and moral spirituality and not, like much Christian and Muslim teaching alike: mind-control, indoctrination and political motivation.”

This statement of yours is probably the most obvious proof that you are ignorant of religion in general and Islam specifically. Do you not feel shame, when writing so confidently about a subject you do not understand?

Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day,- there are indeed Signs for men of understanding,- Men who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (With the thought): “Our Lord! not for naught Hast Thou created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the penalty of the Fire. “Our Lord! any whom Thou dost admit to the Fire, Truly Thou coverest with shame, and never will wrong-doers Find any helpers! Quran 3:190-192

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