Letters: Fighting corruption

It is very heartening to learn that the President of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, Ahmed Al-Sherif, will be a guest on the talk show “Together Against Corruption,” (July 22).
King Abdullah deserves all the credit for setting up the commission on anti-corruption in order to rule out any corruption in this great country, especially in view of the rampant escalation of this menace besetting many countries of the world today.
I am glad that the Anti-Corruption Commission has been running very meaningful and effective ads in major newspapers, advising people from all walks of life to beware of asking or accepting bribes. Corruption in society is not only against the teachings of Islam, but also a precursor of so many social evils and the destruction of the moral fiber of a nation.
I wish the commission a great success and urge all readers to help the anti-corruption agency in its efforts to nip the evil of corruption in its bud.
— Muhammad Arshad, Alkhobar

Islam is against extremism
This refers to the report “Alluhaidan: Extremists distort message” (July 28). Indeed, Islam does not allow extremism and it denounces such acts vehemently. In the matter of extremism, Muslims often quote factions like Taleban and Al-Qaeda. I think Muslims should refrain from quoting these as they do not belong to the Islamic way of life and too much talk about them makes them famous unnecessarily. Let them live in isolation and let us not give any attention to them; they will die a natural death. Islam is the champion of moderation and even in performing any act of worship, Islam urges moderation. The concept of Islam is very much obvious and it is not extremism as that will lead to destruction. I would like to quote an incident here: A woman in the time of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used to offer a lot of prayers so much so that she would not sleep even if she felt sleepy. Instead she tied her hair to a firm substance so that she could not lie down and sleep. When the Prophet (peace be upon him) came to know about her, he instructed her: If anyone is overpowered by sleep he or she should go to sleep and not engage in worship as a person who has not slept may utter something wrong in his or her worship. Another version of this Hadith is: Ayesha reported that once the Prophet (peace be upon him) came when a woman was with her. He asked, “Who is this?” She replied, “So-and-so,” and told him about the amount she prayed. He said, “Stop! You must only do what you are able. By Allah, Allah does not grow weary (of giving rewards) as you grow weary, and the worship He likes best is the one in which there is constancy.”
These instructions clearly show that there is no extremism in Islam and moderation in all acts should be adopted. Islam means showing tolerance and kindness toward other religions. Also, it exhorts Muslims to live in harmony with others. I think the terminology of tolerance should be understood in its proper context. In the process of propagating the teachings of tolerance and kindness, Muslims must not give up following the Islamic teachings for themselves. Following one›s religious teachings should not be labeled as extremism. Muslims must not fall in such traps of the West. — Anees Lokhande, Alkhobar

Using leftover food
Bhaskar Kumar in his letter has highlighted a very important issue related to wastage of food, which most of the times is wanton. I am forced to place such a wastage under the category of social evil or social menace as it runs against the principles of humanity.
Come Ramadan, people prepare dozens of delicacies and dishes in large quantities for iftar parties, mostly for showing-off. Sadly, more than half of the food is wasted. One must be cautious in preparing the number of items and their quantities.
I can understand that in big parties there is always a possibility of a good amount of food remaining as leftover. There is a need for charitable institutions and social groups to come forward and make arrangements with hotels and banquet halls for taking away untouched left over food and distributing them to the poor and needy people. This food can be treated and packed in a hygienic manner. An initiative launched by the Egyptian Food Bank in collaboration with the Chamber of Hotel Establishments is doing a great service in this area in Egypt and the model could be applied in other regions too. The initiative involves packing untouched food from hotels and restaurants and delivering them to the nearest NGOs, orphanages and retirement homes. — Safi H. Jannaty, Dammam