Yet another stampede, and yet another spate of tragic deaths of 27 dirt-poor people in Bangladesh, 23 women and four children! This happened last Friday (July 10) in Mymensingh. Several thousand poor people went to the residence of the owner of a chewing tobacco (zarda) factory to collect free clothes, supposed to be handed in as Zakat or Islamic charity. This, however, did not happen for the first time. These "Zakat-deaths" are as common as poorly paid garment factory workers' frequent deaths in avoidable accidents in the country. 

As this daily reported the day after the tragedy, the number of Zakat seekers far exceeded that of the clothes available for the purpose; and that: "With Zakat seekers running and pushing and shoving each other in their frantic effort to get the clothes, some fell to the ground and got trampled….workers of the factory had swooped on them with truncheons, worsening the situation during the incident".

While the garment factory workers' accidental deaths at work place are mostly due to the collective corruption and negligence of law-enforcers and factory owners, the "zakat-deaths" are attributable to the arrogance and neglect of the pretentious rich and powerful. Surprisingly, those who cannot care less about the welfare of the poor and powerless, and have no qualms with bribery and stealing right and left, love ostentatious display of piety and philanthropy at the same time. 

Thanks to the prevalent culture of collective neglect and antipathy towards the poor and marginalised, their hunger, misery and deaths remain least discussed, hence least important in the priority list of the government. The frequency of accidents in Bangladesh has also desensitised the people. Being fatalist and powerless, the poor in general remain inert and passive, and accept the unacceptable deaths and misery as acceptable as natural disasters. 

Without debating the issue of whether law-enforcers will be able to prevent "Zakat-deaths" in the future, I think it is time to raise some questions, shatter some myths, and break some taboos to find out whether: a) misconceptions about the institution of Zakat, especially the methods of distribution are at fault; b) egotistical and irresponsible rich men – who are hell-bent to demonstrate their wealth and power through piety and religion – are mainly responsible for these deaths; and c) despite what we hear from the government, economists and development practitioners, grassroots poverty is the most important factor behind these deaths of destitute men, women and children in Bangladesh.

Firstly, the ostentatious distribution of Zakat as practiced in Bangladesh negates the teachings of Islam. During the Prophet (PBUH) and early Muslim rulers up to the Ottomans, the state, not individuals, distributed Zakat. Zakat is not a voluntary charity like sadaqah; it is a mandatory asset and income tax for the well-to-do Muslims, from land, cattle, ship, goat and camel for the benefit of poor widows, orphans, travellers, non-Muslims, revenue officials, and others. And even the non-obligatory sadaqah used to reach the poor through state machinery. Again, as Christianity, Islam also prohibits "sounding a trumpet" before doing charity so that "they may be honoured by men". A hadis elucidates this with no ambiguity: "The best of alms is what the right hand gives, and the left hand does not know". We may contextualise these sayings to the pretentious public philanthropy in Bangladesh, which at times becomes very costly for poor Zakat-seekers. 

Now, one must not lose sight of the most important factor behind all these tragic "Zakat-deaths", which is glaring poverty in the country. Despite all the hyperbolic claims from the public and private sectors, NGOs and development practitioners, there is nothing hidden or not-so-obvious about the prevalent poverty in Bangladesh. The World Bank's recent upgrade of the country, from the low-income to the lower middle-income category does not mean much for the hoi polloi. Although questioning the myth of "substantial poverty alleviation" in the country is a taboo, considered offensive and politically incorrect, yet the truth is very different from the myth, around 31.5 percent of the population earn less than $2 per capita, per day (World Bank, 2010). They simply live below the poverty line. 

Since there cannot be any convincing counter-argument against the reality and a large portion of the population does not get enough to eat, good clothing, shelter, health care, and good education for their children, there is nothing surprising about the tragic deaths of dirt poor Zakat-seekers, and the grossly under-paid garment factory workers. They take the risk of death for the bare minimum in life. One wonders what else could convince the delusional elites in Bangladesh – politicians, scholars, analysts and development practitioners – that most Bangladeshis are dirt poor, there is abysmal corruption, the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer, and a poverty-free Bangladesh is not something that would emerge out of the blue, in the next 30 to 40 years, or ever. 

Even if Bangladesh becomes a higher middle-income country in the near future, unless the problems of unaccountable governance, unbridled and growing corruption, and the lack of security of life, honour, dignity and property of  the weak and marginalised people are resolved permanently, nothing would save the marginalised poor who are dying in droves due to malnutrition, lack of medical care, avoidable workplace accidents, and arrogance of some rustic rich people, who love to flaunt their wealth and power, philanthropy and piety in the name of Islam. 

Even if one closes the eyes to these people's rusticity, ignorance and arrogance, one cannot forgive lawmakers and law-enforcers in the country for turning a blind eye to these people who neither know much about Islam, nor have any respect for the life and dignity of the poor. In sum, the "Zakat-deaths" in Bangladesh ascertain two things: a) there is a tremendous misconception about the institution of Zakat among every layer of society, including religious scholars, who consider it merely as an Islamic charity to be distributed among the poor by individual philanthropists; and b) had there been some semblance of good governance and fair distribution of wealth, the grassroots would have been ensured of the basic needs in life, and there would not have been any "Zakat-death" in the country. 

The writer teaches security studies at Austin Peay State University. Sage has recently published his latest book, Global Jihad and America: The Hundred-Year War Beyond Iraq and Afghanistan.