We live in a world of hunger and poverty, and something must be done about this situation.

To begin with, we must acknowledge that many of the haves are indifferent to the plight of the have-nots and a small group of people are actually using this indifference to profit from poverty.

A comprehensive plan is needed to address the global poverty problem, and such a plan can only be formulated by educated people.

Unfortunately, most of the world’s intellectuals are not interested in contributing to this plan.

There is a saying: “To whom much is given, much is expected.”

One of the pillars of Islam is zakat, according to which all Muslims must give alms to the poor.

If all Muslims put this into practice, there would be considerably less poverty in the world.

And there are many kinds of zakat. Lifting the spirits of downtrodden people is zakat. Being kind to people is zakat. According to one hadith of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his household), even a smile is zakat.

Imam Jafar (peace be upon him) once said: “Everything has its own zakat. The zakat of knowledge is to teach it to those who seek knowledge.”

Clearly, it is the duty of educated people to make efforts to devise a plan to uplift the masses.

Yet, it will be difficult, since over three billion people, half the world’s population, are living on two dollars a day or less.

Complicating matters, the global capitalist system has brainwashed people, to the effect that many intellectuals believe that their education is only to be used to enrich themselves. All they do is work to collect money.

Altruism is a joke to them. They mock the lumpenproletariat although they are themselves the lumpenintelligentsia.

This is true of the vast majority of upper class and middle class intellectuals, and, sadly, even intellectuals from the working class and the rural peasant class.

Most were never part of the movement to build a better world and almost all of those who were have sold out. They have cast their lot with the rich and powerful, dreaming of higher salaries while the world starves.

Those of us who still work for the cause are dismissed as utopian dreamers. Yet, the truth of the matter is that even the most idealistic of us are realistic enough to realize that the situation is so terrible that we must resign ourselves to anti-dystopian efforts, at least for the time being.

The disparity in the standard of living of the rich and the poor must be addressed. There must be a more just dispensation through redistribution of wealth.

To this end, the first thing we must do is enlist educated people to devise a plan to attain this goal.

If we want to build a better world, there must be no intellectual sellout.