Replaced the wires before Eid

Finally Eid-Ul-Fitr was knocking on the door. So naturally there will be a vacation. Before the vacation started, I visited my dentist to ensure that progress continued over the time. It turns out, my current installation of the wires had almost worn out of their force and it was time for me get a new set of wires - this time, stronger and tighter. Well, worth the visit.

Congratulations!!! No disgusting pictures on this post; other than the pair of removable plates that were to be placed in my upper and lower jaws continuously. I got to take them off only before eating.

The dirt of our wealth

As a muslim, when I make a post about wealth in the holy month of ramadan, most of you might think it's about zakah (zakah is the obligatory payment made annually under Islamic law on certain kinds of property and used for charitable and religious purposes). Well, you are right then. Zakah is one of the 5 pillars of Islam and alh'amdulillah (all praise be to Allah) for allowing me to share some insight about this important pillar of Islam.

[Please note that zakah has no relation with the month of ramadan. Zakah is a due amount which is to be given out on a yearly basis. But most people consider the month ramadan to be the end (or start) of annual cycle. You CAN plan for zakah on any other month.]

It is obligatory on EVERY believer to know about the obligation of zakah. Specifically, upon every believer who has wealth BEYOND a minimum level. Notice the keywords in bold letters.

A condition of obligatory zakah, is to have complete ownership of the wealth on which the zakah is being calculated. This is the part which my post is about - complete ownership. Unfortunately, because of the tremendously flawed financial systems which are dominating the economies we sometimes fail to recognize what is our OWN wealth. [p.s. No offense to the people involved in financial industries, but the interest based financial systems must definitely be classified as a flawed financial system. Islamic shariah proposes financial systems which are NOT interest based and can provide better benefits for socio-economic impacts in the long run. Sadly, even many islamic banks don't always follow that entirely]

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:National_Bank_Oamaru.jpg