UNGS 2050: ETHICS & FIQH FOR EVERYDAY LIFE

SECTION 14
CASE STUDY: COMMUNITY SERVICE

GROUP 6
· ​Sharifah Nur Mahfuzah Binti Syed Omar 1622544
· ​Puteri Iffah Zulaikha Binti Tarmizan 1628158
· ​Nurul Atiqah Najmina Binti Zulhijar 1620244
. Nor Dania Binti Norsham 1617706
· ​Wangruoyan 1522582

CONTENTS
1. Background
2. Objectives
3. Questions
4. Findings
5. Conclusion
BACKGROUND

Community service is any voluntary work which is performed by individuals, groups

of people or even large enterprises and corporations, intended to bring benefit to a particular
area of community. There is an array of possibilities when talking about an area in the
community to volunteer in, some of which are the disabled (special needs), immigrants
(refugees), elders, the homeless, social needs, hunger, literacy (education), community needs,
environment and animals.

In this case study, we will discuss the community service that our group has
conducted. We have decided to be a medium between a non-government individual (NGI)
and our targeted group which are orphanages around Selangor. We went to 3 Orphanage
homes on 15th October 2018 which are Rumah Bakti Cahaya Hati, Pertubuhan Kebajikan
Ehsan As-Shakur located in Rawang and Rumah Anak Yatim Teratak Rukesa in Petaling
Jaya. The situation in all of the houses that we went are economically unstable but they
manage to control their living by getting more donations from kind people.

The NGI that we have contacted is a cafe-to-go and activity centre owner, Roslinah
Daud who wants to give to charity through food that she loves to cook. She has an ongoing
activity called ‘Pies and Rice and Everything Nice” which targets to serve people in need, be
it the homeless, people who have been hit by natural disasters or orphans. She came up with
an idea of collecting donations from people and distribute lavish food such as Mandy Arab
Rice and Shepherd's Pie to vulnerable group of people. It is common for people to treat those
in need with basic necessities and food that is enough to fill their stomachs. The difference in
Mrs. Roslinah’s initiative is to enable these less fortunate individuals to have a taste of lavish
food that they do not usually get to have.

Mrs. Roslinah does all the planning and organizing work for community service
activities in an activity centre called The Little Khalifah Shop located in Ukay Boulevard,
MRR2. She cooks there with the help from her family members to ensure that the food that
will be served to the less fortunate is made in a clean and hygienic environment and cooked
with love. However, sometimes she does cook on site, in cases where for instance a village
has been hit by natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes. She is planning to go to
Sulawesi, Indonesia and help the people there after hearing of the news on the calamity that
happened recently. She had also cooked at refugee camps in Aceh in 2016 for the boat people
of Bangladesh and Myanmar who arrived on the shores of Aceh to seek refuge.

We decided to choose Mrs. Roslinah as an NGI to collaborate with as we find her

strength and spirit in giving back to society admirable. It is not easy for individuals like us to
make time from our busy lives to organize community services activity. The love that Mrs.
Roslinah have for Muslim families is very indescribable because she sacrificed her stable job
to dedicate her time to help people who are in need.
OBJECTIVES

​The main objectives of our chosen NGI is to help the less fortunate through cooking,
regardless of their religion, race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation or area which they
reside. Mrs. Roslinah started her charity project in 2011, where she started out by cooking for
the poor and needy to provide them with food to break their fast in Ramadhan. With time, she
soon realized that her project could go further and help even more people so she decided to
leave her corporate job to focus on being a non-government individual (NGI). Since then, she
has helped orphans, the homeless, poor villages, old folks homes, indigenous (orang asli)
settlements, poor schools, refugees and even a shelter center called SEED, an NGO which
helps poor women and transgenders who some are sex workers. Mrs Roslinah’s reasons of
helping multiple group of vulnerable people are to give a small kind of Da’wah by showing
an example of a normal Muslim who wants to aid their other brothers and sisters in Islam.
She wants to show some support physically and psychologically for them to face their
struggles and move on with their life.

Mrs. Roslinah and her family had travel a lot across Malaysia to cook and feed these
unfortunate groups using the donations that they received from donors. They believe that as
vicegerent of Allah, we must be responsible with the money and time that we spend.
Therefore, helping those in need can be one of the ways to fulfill her responsibilities. She
believes that the three main responsibilities of being a vicegerent (Khalifah) on earth are to
make ourselves good, to help others become good and to make the whole world good, clean
and beautiful to please Allah.

Our group’s objective is to give back to society, especially through helping orphans
children who lost their parents when they are still small. We know that they are the future
generation who will be living in the country, some of which may govern and run the country
years from now. Thus, it is important for us to give help, moral support and guidance. Since
we are still students and cannot do much financially for the orphans, we decided that we
could help by acting as an agent between the NGI and donors to distribute food to various
orphanages around Selangor. Through this, we are able to achieve our objective as giving the
orphans a taste of lavish food might motivate them to study harder and aim to succeed in life
in order to live a more comfortable life in comparison to the life that they are living now.
Moreover, we think that a small token from us can make them feel appreciated and
motivated to live as a normal human being who deserve to get normal life.
QUESTIONS

1. What factors that we need to consider when approaching the orphans?

2. How do orphanages help in taking care of these orphans?
3. What does the orphans received and learned from these homes ?
4. What sort of problems that orphanages face nowadays?
5. Why the orphans need the ordinary people like us to help them?
6. When should we start to strengthen the relationship between our brothers and sisters
in Islam?
7. How can the more fortunate individuals make the orphans delighted and appreciated?

Our group went to various kind of Orphanage homes since our clear mission is to
bring some extravagant food which is Mendy Arab rice to the less fortunate children. Every
house that we managed to visit are similar in some aspect. We observe that all the Orphanage
homes that we went are same in terms of the culture or tradition. When we arrived to the
house, they approached us joyfully with smiles on their faces like they won a lottery and they
pray for us by reciting some Doa’ that they have memorized within them. The lovely children
also show their gratefulness by shaking hand(salam) with all the members of the group. The
small children were delighted to see us and tried to help carry all the food that were cooked
even though the weight are most likely similar to theirs. One of the kids run and hugged one
of the members and asked about her mother and we were in tears as we do not know how to
react upon it. We are very touched by the way the caretakers handle the children as they
spoilt and love them like their own family. They spend a lot of their time and money to build
a comfortable place for the children to live in. Some of the homes promote religious
education academically and spiritually. They teach the children the knowledge from Quran
and Hadith. The elder children in the house are encouraged to memorise and learn the words
of Allah S.W.T and practice the the sunnah from Rasulullah S.A.W. Most of them have
memorized at least 1 Juz’ of Al- Quran and learned a lot of written Hadith.

Moreover, they manage to send all of the children to normal schools to educate them
like ordinary children. Alhamdulillah, they received a lot of donations from people that are
willing to help to support the children's education. However, the caretakers said that they still
need a lot of money to be able to provide good care of the less fortunate children. The cost
borne on their shoulders are huge as they need to give the children good food and education.
All of the houses that we went are financially unstable and they need more spaces for the
children to live in more comfortable condition.

Based on our observation on the Orphanage homes, all of the children are very
appreciative and ecstatic even for small things that the givers help and give to them. They
always put a smile even though they experience losing their related family especially their
own parents. Most of the children are independent like they wash their own clothes, tidy their
own spaces and etc. They know Allah S.W.T test people whom He loves and grant a better
gift in Akhirah if they accept and move on with their current life.
FINDINGS

Orphans children are a group of underprivileged people who either suffer in the loss
of their own parents or have been abandoned by them. They face the difficulties of living
without their own blood in a house full of strangers that are in the same situation as them.

For this case study, we went to three orphanage homes which are Rumah Bakti
Cahaya Hati, Pertubuhan Kebajikan Ehsan As-Shakur which both are located in Rawang and
Rumah Anak Yatim Teratak Rukesa located in Petaling Jaya. Three houses cater and
accomodate 60, 40 and 32 children respectively including the caretakers. The total Mandy
Arab Rice that Mrs. Roslinah and some of the members managed to cook are 132 packs.

Starting from contacting Mrs. Roslinah to cooking until sending the food to the
respective houses, we felt that it was a very hard task for an individual to help the people as
many complications happened during the event. However, it was a worthwhile service as the
effort we gave will make other people happy and motivated.

Based on our experience in the orphanage homes, we learned and reflected a lot as a
normal human being who live in this world. The Orphan kids who live in the Orphanage
home always live their life to the fullest without complaining and protesting as less fortunate
individual. Most of the children in the orphanage homes that we visited are still considered
young from a range of 1 to 10 years old. Nevertheless, they are mature and can think faster as
they need to live independently with their other friends. They are full of gratitude and
humility to everyone either with the caretakers or people who came to help them.

Therefore, we as more fortunate people need to take them as role models to not be
discouraged easily with unexpected complications happening in our lives. Small calamity
does not mean that we cannot solve the problems and find solution. They show a lot of great
examples of a character that a person needs. For example, share the things that you love with
others and do not waste any of resources excessively.

They grow up to be very healthy and strong people since they always think positive in
everything that they experience and do. We pray that they will succeed in their future
endeavours and be great leaders to the Ummah either in this world or hereafter, inshaAllah.
We also hope that our actions will inspire more people to do good things for the orphans and
put smiles on their faces.
CONCLUSION

Social work and community service have been essential values in all societies, let
alone in Islam. In fact, one of the central principles of Islam is helping others. While some
perceive Islam as a faith that encourages violence rather than positive contributions to
society, the Qur’an and especially the hadith highlight how helping another human being is a
fundamental aspect of Islam. Muslims’ primary goal is to worship God, but this is done not
only through rituals like prayer and fasting but also through kind treatment of other people. In
Surah Al- Ankaboot, Allah says, “​And as for those who strive in Our path, We will surely
guide them in Our ways. And Indeed, Allah is with those who are of service to others.” (Al
Quran 29:69) This verse proves that Allah stands by the people who live their life in the
righteous way and always helping others who are in need.

From our point of views, doing community service is one of the many ways to help
other people as recommended by Quran and Hadith. By doing community service, we could
lend helping hands to people who are in need and vulnerable such as orphans, homeless
people, muallaf, fugitives and so on. Participating in community services is not a hard thing
to do. We could utilize the resources and skills that we have in order to give something
towards the community. For example, if we are skilled in cooking or sewing, we can use
these skills to serve the community by giving the foods that we cooked and the clothes that
we sew to the less fortunate people . We do not necessarily have to do it in a large scale. We
could start by helping a small group of people suitable to our own ability and resources that
we have. ​As social activist Howard Zinn once said, “Small acts, when multiplied by millions
of people, can transform the world”. If all of us do these small acts of kindness, we can help a
lot of people and make the world a better place for our future generations.

There are different ways to help those who are in need in order to build better
communities. The most common and effective way is by donating money and possessions.
Nowadays, since the living expenses are very high, money is the best way to help the people
who suffer because of high living expenses. We can donate money that is in our savings or
collect money to give to the less fortunate people. Other than money, we can also donate
basic necessities such as foods, clothes, shelter and etc. Besides giving money and basic
necessities, we can also help others by giving our time for the community. We could spare
some time to talk and listen to the problems that others have, and offer advices to help
alleviate their burdens. We could also spend our time by cooking and making things for the
less fortunates. By doing these, we can do things that we love and at the same time, we
contribute something to the community.

To sum up, we as humans should take some time in our busy lives to think about other
people other than ourselves. There are a lot of people who is in dire need of our help.
Orphans, homeless people and people who are in poverty need our help to survive in this
world. If we do not do something about it, then who will? Participating in community service
is one step forward to help these people and we can finally make a difference. All people
regardless of age, race, religion, nationality and belief should contribute in any way for the
betterment of the society. Even in Islam, Muslims are highly encouraged to serve others with
kindness and compassion to get blessings from Allah. Allah has promised rewards for those
who help others in this world and the Hereafter. If we are kind towards other people, we will
receive kindness and love in return.
Appendix

Reference
Mrs. Roslinah’s official page for ‘Pies & Rice and Everything Nice’
https://www.facebook.com/groups/rayyanmawaddah/

Targeted group:
● Rumah Bakti Cahaya Hati
2, Jalan 7a/6, Bandar Tasik Puteri, 48000 Rawang, Selangor.
60 people

● Rumah anak yatim, Teratak Rukesa(Puteri)

No 15, Jalan 3/67, Kawasan Melayu, 46000 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
40 people

● Pertubuhan Kebajikan Ehsan As-Shakur

No 37 Jalan Hijau 11/11, Blok 16, Bandar Tasik Puteri 48020 Rawang, Selangor.
32 people