They are numbers society is not "terribly interested in” – to quote the then US General Colin Powell when he was asked how many Iraqis were killed by the US. (May Allah (swt) have Mercy on those that died)

Stocks, profits, GDP – these are the numbers that matter in society. Poverty, hunger, homelessness are things that are not measured or managed. Although billionaire Ray Dalio has raised the alarm about the rate of poverty – none of the societal institutions are treating hunger or poverty like the crisis that it is. For example, in the wake of the Financial Crisis, billions were poured into the economy to help the banks. There is no similar response to address hunger.

Going hungry in the world of plenty

The pro-system pundits love to praise the technological ingenuity and talk about the "progress" that they have made with the Internet, cloud computing and iPhones. But here we are, with over 10% of the world population - approximately 815 million people - going hungry. The Internet may be great, but it can't fill your stomach.

What does it mean to go hungry?

The only thing you can think about is getting your next meal (as someone described it to me). Think of that. Nearly a billion people in the world are in an overwhelming state of anxiety and what are almost 2 million people worried about?

Game of Throne's lousy ending.

At the time of publishing this writing, 1.8 million people have signed a petition to get the show Game of Thrones re-written. The fact that society actively works to re-architect their dreamland instead of tackling the problem of hunger is a crime of immense proportions. Allah (swt) revealed:

"Is the blind equivalent to the seeing? Then will you not give thought?"
[TMQ 6:50]

Is hunger a problem limited to the "developing world”?

No, it is not.

Arguably, it is even more troubling to see the hunger in the wealthy countries, as they have the means to solve the problem but choose not to:

Canada: In 2012, “1 in 8 households in Canada is food insecure, amounting to over 4 million Canadians, including 1.15 million children, living in homes that struggle to put food on the table”. The site also noted that there was an increase in hunger from 2007-2008 to 2011 to 2012 from 1.4 million people to 1.6 million people.
US: “In 2017, an estimated 1 in 8 Americans were food insecure, equating to 40 million Americans, including more than 12 million children.”
UK: “in 2014 more than 8 million people lived in households that struggled to put food on the table, with more than half regularly going a whole day without eating”. With a 2014 population of about 64 million that is (again) about 1 in 8 people going hungry.

Society should take care of us because there is such a thing, and it is the responsibility of the ruler, in Islam, to take care of those that can't take care of themselves:

"The Imam (ruler) is a guardian, and he is responsible for his subjects" [Al-Bukhari]

So, a crucial part of Shariah Law is to ensure that everyone is fed and that no one goes hungry.

In sha Allah, in the next installment, we will look at the issue of food quality.