Fourth: idea one — Islam's treatment of poverty and the importance of that treatment

04Fourth: idea one — Islam's treatment of poverty and the importance of that treatment

• Islam treated poverty with the treatment of one who knows it is the root of every disease and the source of every evil.
• That treatment came almost next after the oneness of God in rank among the pillars of Islam, most often mentioned among its commands, and most cared for among its purposes.

The proof by counting

• The verses of fasting are four.
• The verses of the pilgrimage are a dozen or so.
• The verses of prayer do not reach thirty.
• The verses of alms and charity (zakāt and sadaqāt) exceed fifty.
• The writer argues by this that saving humanity from the evils of poverty and the crimes of hunger is among the noblest aims of the Message.