Muslim Philanthropy for Education
Last Ramdan, (Ramdan 2015, Hijri 1436) brought few announcements from Muslim Philanthropist of major donations with special emphasis on education.
Prominent United Arab Emirates businessman Abdullah Ahmad Al-Ghurair has donated more than $ One billion – a third of his business empire, to a foundation, being set up for the purpose of supporting education in the Arab world. This foundation will spend $ 1.1 billion over a period of next 10 years. The foundation will provide at least 15000 scholarships initially for UAE nationals. Later this will be expanded to Arab expatriates living in Gulf countries then to other Arab nationals living in Arab world.
The scholarship would be mostly for the university education in the student’s country of residence. For UAE students it will cover school education between 6 to 12th grades. As per Abdul Aziz son of Abdullah Ghurair, “Many brilliant students drop out of high school because they don’t have resources to move to other cities for universities and this is a waste for the Arab world.”
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal of Saudi Arabia pledged almost $ 32 billion, his entire wealth to social causes including charities working in healthcare, disaster relief and women’s right a couple of months back. In his announcement, posted on his website http://www.alwaleedphilanthropies.org/
Prince Alwaleed stated:
“Based on my dedication and passion for philanthropic work for the past 35 years, I now pledge to donate my entire wealth to the Alwaleed Philanthropies, which work in the main fields of intercultural understanding, supporting needy communities, through health promotion, eradication of diseases, provision of electric power to remote villages and hamlets, building orphanages and schools, and much more, as well as providing disaster relief and empowering women, youth and poverty alleviation. This donation will be allocated according to a well-devised plan throughout the coming years. It will be based on a strategy that is supervised and managed by a board of trustees headed by me to ensure that it will be used after my death for humanitarian projects and initiatives.”
“Philanthropy is a personal responsibility, which I embarked upon more than three decades ago and is an intrinsic part of my Islamic faith. With this pledge, I am honoring my life-long commitment to what matters most – helping to build a more peaceful, equitable and sustainable world for generations to come.”
Alwaleed Philanthropies have supported thousands of projects in more than 92 countries worldwide. Through this historic gift, Al Waleed Philanthrophies will continue to partner with a range of philanthropic, government and educational organizations to support impactful programs. The Alwaleed Philanthropies believe that the answers to many of today’s most pressing global issues lie in the hands of youth. They are the leaders of tomorrow.
Azim Premji Chariman of Wipro Group has committed 39 per cent of his stake in Wipro for philanthropic purposes. He has also become the first Indian to sign the Giving Pledge, sponsored by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates to invite the world’s wealthiest to donate majority of their wealth to charity.
Premji, who holds 73.39 stake in Wipro that is worth about Rs 99,500 crore (US $ 16.6 Billion), has given away 18 per cent shares to charity. Along with his previous commitments, he has committed total of 39 percent of his stake in Wipro for charity. Premji has thus set aside nearly half of his wealth for philanthropy with major focus on education.
“Over the past 15 years, I have tried to put this belief into action through my personal philanthropic work. Over these years, I have irrevocably transferred a significant part of the shareholding in Wipro, to a trust,” wrote Premji in his letter to shareholders.
Premji carries out the philanthropic work through Azim Premji Foundation and recently formed Philanthropic Initiatives. He hired Amnesty India head G Anantha Padmanabhan for Philanthropic Initiatives, which provides grants to NGOs working for the street children, under-privileged teenage girls, etc.
Frank Islam (Washington DC) and his wife Debbie Islam.
Amongst these mega donations, there is another praiseworthy announcement by a Muslim entrepreneur from USA, Frank Islam.
Frank Islam, alumni of Aligarh Muslim University has committed $ 2 Million to support the building of Frank and Debbie Islam school of Management at Aligarh Muslim University. Speaking at the Iftar Fundraising dinner organized by Association of Aligarh Alumni Association on June 27th Frank said,
“Education is the gift that keeps on giving. Education empowers the mind and uplifts the soul. It is a powerful equalizer opening door to all to lift themselves out of poverty. Education is the best investment we can make to build next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs, innovators and problem solvers.”
Islam further added, “Education also provides the avenues for participation in 21st century workforce and careers, the competencies to compete in a global economy and the capacity to contribute to lifting fellow Muslims out of poverty and deprivation. He appealed to all let us together change the face of India.”
These announcements highlight the trend of paying increasing emphasis to advancing education and social welfare amongst Muslims. Grass root organizations need to become more active to benefit the society at large by taking advantage of such generous gestures by donors with lion’s hearts.
Sources: Muslim Observer, Business Today India, Desi Times, Arab news, www.alwaleedphilanthrophies.org
