It sounds like a fairytale or a fiction; but it’s actually a true hope-inspiring story
A Muslim millionaire from Bahrain offered a much-needed help to an 11-year-old student in Peru who was caught on security cameras sitting and lying down in the road under a streetlamp to do his homework, Aleteia reported.
It all started when Víctor Martín Angulo Córdova, an 11-year-old boy from Moche, Perú, in a video by a security camera while doing him homework on the street.
As the news and photos of the boy went public, it was revealed that Víctor’s family didn’t have electricity, but the boy was determined to get an education so he could grow up to be a police officer to “fight corruption, thieves, and drugs.”
His family could not apply for electricity as they lacked documents that prove they own their house.
The first person to come to the rescue was the mayor of the town, Arturo Fernández Bazán, who brought Víctor a package of school supplies and helped the family get the paperwork done so they could acquire the deed to their property and get electricity installed.
Yet, the biggest help came from Yaqoob Yusuf Ahmed Mubarak, a 31-year-old millionaire importer and chocolatier from Bahrain.
According to the Clarín news site, Mubarak saw some of his childhood friends die from drugs and crime in his youth and he suffered from depression.
In an interview, he says that under the same conditions, he never would have had the motivation to study. So, Mubarak traveled from his small island country to meet the boy in person.
Photos of the encounter show the Bahraini businessman hugging Víctor, posing with his family, and lying on the ground reading books with him, apparently imitating Victor’s position when he was caught by the security cameras studying by streetlight.
He decided to rebuild Víctor’s family’s humble dwelling as a two-story home, help Víctor’s mother start a small business, and give $2,000 to the boy (in his mother’s care).
As one of the Five Pillars of Islam, zakat or donating and charity is a religious obligation for all Muslims who meet the necessary criteria of wealth. It’s a mandatory charitable contribution, the right of the poor to find relief from the rich, and is considered to be tax or obligatory alms.
Islamic Shari’ah also has another type of optional donation called Sadaqah. This term was used in the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah for both zakat and charity.