Bandar Seri Begawan- Religious affairs ministers of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have agreed to strengthen the role of alms organisations to ensure they are able to combat poverty, Indonesian English daily The Jakarta Post reported yesterday.
Minister of Religious Affairs Pehin Jawatan Luar Pekerma Raja Dato Seri Utama Dr Ustaz Hj Mohd Zain Hj Serudin, Singapore`s Yaacob Ibrahim, Malaysia`s Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Maftuh Basyuni of Indonesia signed an agreement during a MABIMS meeting in Yogyakarta at the conclusion of the official congregation of the four ministries that commenced Tuesday.
"In a bid to deal with poverty, particularly during the global crisis, MABIMS call for the improvement of alms institutions to help the poor and assist the community," said Maftuh, reading from a statement.
To ensure the proper distribution of alms the ministers have agreed to establish a council that would function as the coordinator of the MABIMS member countries.
MABIMS is a regional organisation consisting of the four countries that functions on the basis of Islam to look after the welfare of Muslim communities within the respective member countries.
Muslims are obliged to give 2.5 per cent of their annual wealth to an alms body, whose role it is to distribute the money among the poor.
Apart from the alms issue, Maftuh said they discussed the negative image Islam had acquired because of actions committed by a small number of hardline groups. "Islam is rahmatan lil alamin (a blessing for the universe) and we will demonstrate this through actions. But what actions exactly we will take is still to be discussed," said Maftuh.
In a written statement, MABIMS agreed on a number of strategic issues including building a progressive religion through strengthened Islamic preachings. It also debated the possibility of introducing integrated education, faith and cultural courses to promote religious harmony among the four nations.
Source: BT.com.bn