Dignity, duty and respect: How Karachi gives back in Ramazan

The Hassan Square interchange in Karachi is always bustling with activity — construction work continues, vehicles keep honking, and street vendors desperately call out to customers. But ever since Ramazan commenced, the road has gotten busier than usual.

Every day, from 3pm onwards, hundreds of men and women queue outside a camp near the intersection, waiting patiently. In exchange for a nominal amount, men in green t-shirts hand them tokens, which are exchanged for a bag of fruits, vegetables, or both. Sometimes, the bag is also accompanied by a box of milk and a pack of seviyan.

Every year, Karachi sees a rise in philanthropy during the month of Ramazan. This act of giving, according to research, is largely driven by religious and faith-based choices. While no official data exists on the amount an individual spends on charity, Pakistan ranks 110 among 142 countries when it comes to philanthropy, according to the World Giving Index 2024.

This is an improvement from last year, when the country ranked 130. The index defined giving as helping a stranger, donating money to a charity and volunteering time to an organisation. In Pakistan, people usually focus on donations rather than volunteering, a report by The Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP) pointed out.

It indicates that, on average, an adult donates around Rs10,000 annually. On the other hand, volunteerism is not a common practice in the country with just 14 per cent of respondents in the study volunteering once a year.

Literally, philanthropy means “goodwill to fellow members of the human race or an act done for humanitarian purposes”. So it is not always about money, and some people in the port city are proving it, every Ramazan.

Charity of dignity

Among them is Karachi-based Muhammad Hammad, who runs a foundation in his name that provides daily essentials to the needy at subsidised rates. “It is a concept under which we support people by increasing their purchasing power and reducing the cost,” he told Dawn.com.

At the bachat bazar, hundreds of people purchase fruits and vegetables for Rs10/kg. Weekly, surprise items such as chicken are sold for Rs50/kg. On Chandraat every year, sweet boxes, henna and bangles too are sold at lower rates.

“I have been coming here for the past five years every Ramazan,” said Muhammad Ashfaq, an elderly daily wage worker. “What they are doing is so important because this way we can easily take iftar back home for our family.”

“They [the foundation] are helping the destitute without making us feel destitute,” he added.

According to Hammad, that is exactly the aim of his foundation: to ensure that everyone, irrespective of their social status, gets to experience the most beautiful aspects of our religion. “Growing up in Karachi, we saw how Ramazan was not just a spiritual month for people but also held cultural significance.

“Staying up till sehri and breaking the fast with the entire family … these are all memories that we have associated with this month,” he reminisced. “But slowly we are losing these cultural nuances.” This is one reason why the Hammad Foundation came into being.

The foundation is funded by his family members, relatives, acquaintances and through social media. “Almost 95pc of our operations are based on volunteers while 5pc are paid (guards and labourers),” he said, adding that the daily cost of the Ramazan camp is between Rs125,000 and Rs150,000.

Unfortunately, due to the economic situation, it has been a task collecting funds for the Ramazan camps. “We are continuously collaborating with other organisations … our approach is the same; buy, don’t beg,” Hammad added.

Charity of duty

At a distance of about 33 minutes from Hassan Square, another group of volunteers is at work throughout Ramazan. They don’t have a name or an organisation that keeps them together; it is simply their sense of duty.

It all started in 2015 when Shujjat Rizvi, now in his late 20s, and his friends were barely getting through their A-levels. Ramazan came, and their schedule eased up a bit. So they took up the difficult task of volunteering at a food distribution camp. A decade on, the four friends are each running a dastarkhwan in their respective localities.

“After the first year of volunteering, I got so invested in the idea that we decided to do a dastarkhwan all on our own the next time,” Rizvi recalled. They chose Gizri and Korangi crossing as the locations. “We posted about our plans on social media and reached out to friends and relatives for funds,” he added.

Fast forward to today, and Rizvi and his group continue to provide hot meals to the needy for iftar. He acknowledged that it wasn’t easy. “Every year, we meet before Ramazan and ask ourselves: kar payenge ya nahi? (will be able to do it).

“And here we are in our 10th year,” he said. At the Gizri dastarkhwan, around 250 to 300 people are fed every day throughout Ramazan, which costs Rizvi Rs35,000 daily. He told Dawn.com that the first few days of the month were usually self-funded until the funds and donations finally poured in.

“It is a tiring 30 days of the month for us, but if there is one thing that keeps us going, it is the fact that we are bringing about a positive impact in the lives of the people around us,” he recognised. “I remember this one time when a family kept coming to our dastarkhwan, and at the end of Ramazan, they told us how these free meals helped them pay two months’ worth of their children’s school fees.”

Areesh, who works as a security guard in Clifton, is one the hundreds of people who breaks fast at dastarkhwans set up across the city. With his family back in the village, iftars can get very lonely. “When I go to the dastarkhwan, it gives me a sense of community. I don’t feel so alone. I don’t miss my family so much for some time,” he said.

“Sometimes, it’s just company that brings you a lot of comfort,” he added.

“Such instances give me a lot of strength and make me realise that with privilege comes the responsibility to be empathetic and give back to society,” said Rizvi.

Sheena — a housemaid — her two daughters, two sons and a jobless husband also get food from the dastarkhwan. “This is a godsend,” she said, “Without them, this Ramazan would have been very difficult.”

Charity of respect

Rizvi’s story follows that of several college students in the early 2010s, who had only recently been introduced to the concept of Ramazan dastarkhwans. Among them was Syed Kashaf, who also began his journey along with a bunch of friends in A-levels.

“It started as fun but then we saw the amount of peace it brought to us and the impact it created in the society,” he told Dawn.com. Initially, they volunteered at Ramazan food drives, providing water and dates to commuters.

“But then the 2014-2015 heatwave struck Karachi,” he recounted. “It was Ramazan and people were dying from heat strokes, that is when we visited government hospitals and donated water coolers.”

Eventually, over the years, a passionate Kashaf found himself expanding his network and charity work, collecting donations from friends, family and social media. The funds were used to rebuild mosques across the country and open a school for subsidised education.

This network also helps him do what he does every Ramazan: distribute clothes and ration bags to the needy. Each ration bag costs between Rs3,000-Rs5,000 and includes basic items such as oil, flour, salt, sugar, lentils and rice.

“Our main aim is to ensure that no one has to beg, struggle or compromise on their self-respect for life’s basic necessities,” he said.

“For us, this may not be much, but to them, it’s all they need.”