Last Night

This article was wrote at 5.04 AM, because, I would like to write this article while I on the mood to write, I found that, I’m very bad to write anything without a mood, will get really bad if forced to write. Ok, the story is yesterday, 12th Nov 08, akhi Hisyam Lee ask me how to start a blog, so I said it’s better to learn from our sifu, akhi Farid, The Innovator to this hobby among PMI’s members, being a blogger. Hence, I made a call after solat asar,

‘Abang Farid, malam ni boleh datang RS tak? Nak belajar buat blog..’

‘Pagi esok ana nak pergi Kelantan, majlis kahwin Abang Yusri dengan Kak Pah, datang RT lah’

‘Ok, set’

So, that night, around 11 we went to RT, but actually it’s not about blog I want to write about in this article, the real story is, while waiting Akhi Farid teach Hisyam how to start a blog, I was watching television, and there is one interesting film there, title ‘Sicko’ by Michael Moore,
It’s not fiction film, or romance and also not action film, it’s will be easy describe as documentary, a personal documentary about America Health care system, the story is easy, director start it with the reality of Americans life, in health aspect, in America, if you are get ill, injured, infected, and you step into any nearby hospital, to get a treatment needed, you must have enough money for it or covered by insurance, treatment only gives to those affordable enough to pay for it.

One man, while doing work at his house, get his two finger cut, now, this guy are not covered with insurance, doctor tell him, they can connect back those two finger, but each has its own cost, one finger cost $60,000, and the other one $12,000, combined means, $72,000, this guy choose to connect that cost $12,000, so he could still play a guitar, he still lucky he have the money, how about those who is do not own enough money then? Where they will go?

So, the hospital is keep running as a business, where the product sold are treatment and medicine, with doctors as their main workers, getting highest profit is the main agenda, what profit would they get from dying child, with his or her parent do not have enough money to pay to hospital? Call security, bring them out, without treatment! As easy as that, now, we can see the true face of human, those that do not care to others.

The director then roll on those who got covered by insurance, but still, since insurance is business, profit is main agenda, those who are get cancer, or suspected have growing tumour on their brain, even covered with insurance, the insurance corporation will try their best to reject application that would cost a lot of money, by doing that, they could save up half million, it worth right? For them, yes! This business has turn up their owner become millionaire.

Comparison

Director then bring my eyes to another few country, start with Canada, British, and France, where their people are fully covered. Well, Alhamdullilah, in Malaysia, our government policy on healthcare are good, even there is still lacking and double standard case in hospital, still, there is treatment to those when needed, and our doctor do not need say ‘NO, I can’t treat your son, because it’s hospital policy’ even though he/she know patient is dying, in America its happen, here, praise be to Allah SWT.

Back to movie, the camera back to America, light are focus on volunteer workers of September 11 tragedy, which is now suffer as a result of their works at ‘ground zero’, and they are not give treatment or any help, because they are not government worker, now, these guys used to be praised as a hero by their government, what a hypocrite.

The most interesting part are, main actor bring all this sick volunteers to Guantanamo Bay based at Cuba, because there is the only hospital that provide free service by America government. As they move closer to the camp, siren was on, and they must head back to Cuba, all these sick people need treatment, and they got their treatment at Cuba hospital for free. One woman on the group, full up her bag with inhaler, that she must pay $120 at her country, but only 5 cent at Cuba. Now only they understand how better Cuba government compare to their government, for 45 years, they are believed Fidel Castro is Lucifer, as told by their government.

Islam and Capitalism

From this film, I can see how cruel people can be, when there is no human value once money and profit blind human eye, they not see through their heart anymore, but business. When Jon called that capitalism as devil, at first I thought it’s too much, but after watch this film, I can see how cruel they can be. Capitalism, definitely not just create, also enlarge the gap between the richest and the poor, the rich getting rich, and the poor getting poor.

In Islam, that why Zakat is one of five main Muslim principle, it’s for community rights. Through zakat, all extra profit among the rich are take a little and merged with other rich person, then these combined profit are given to those needed, who is unlucky, who is do not have money to eat, by doing this, the gap of rich people and poor people are getting nearer, and it’s never prohibited those work hard to become rich, and the poor are not leave behind, they also get a bit ‘rezki’ Allah awarded to lucky one.

All of us remember once after the death of our beloved prophet Muhammad SAW, when Abu Bakar are pointed as a leader, there is a group of Muslim disobey the order to pay a zakat.
What Abu Bakar did? All of us know, Umar al-Khattab ask Abu Bakar that time,

‘are you really going to killed them? Even they are Muslim, even they performed solat?’

Zakat is not order from human, its Allah shariah. Disobey zakat means disobey Allah SWT. In Islam, we believe, whatever income or profit we gain was not totally belong to us, it’s belong to Allah, after all its all came from Allah, hence we must managed it carefully, if there extra on our saving after certain period, it’s for zakat. That’s how Islam teaches us to live as a community. This system ensure there will be no hatred or jealousy between the rich and poor, and bring stability to community, that’s ‘Hikmah’ from zakat.