Here's A Quick, Impertinent Question

Just a quick post today. I've been fighting some version of the garden variety crud all week and just haven't had two brain cells to rub together with all the congestion and such.

I was reading a Fox News article (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,583461,00.html) about the amounts contributed, individually and by governments, towards disaster relief for Haiti's earthquake. This article brings to mind my quick, impertinent question for the day:

If Islam is supposed to be this great religion of peace and goodwill and of which alms giving (called Zakat according to Wikipedia) is one of its five pillars, why are some of the major, oil rich, Islamic countries (like Saudi Arabia, for instance) giving absolutely nothing to the citizens of Haiti in their time of need?

You would think that Saudi Arabia as a nation, the birthplace of Islam and home to Mecca, would be first in line to give aid in times of need. Not so much apparently.

To be fair, the report does not say whether or not individuals in the Saudi royal family made personal donations even though it points out the contributions by such world luminaries as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

Also, for those Islamophiles who may read this and want to argue that Zakat is supposed to be distributed in the community from which it is taken, remember we live in a global community now. If the Saudis are okay with taking everyone else's money for their oil, they need to be generous with that money in return when disaster strikes. That, or they and the rest of radical Islam can quit griping about America's role in the world.

One final thought: it is interesting that you don't see Al Qaeda making a token gesture of assistance like "we will donate the funds set aside for our next suicide bombing to help the victims of Haiti's earthquake." I'm just sayin'.