Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has indeed taken a good and highly inspiring decision to donate his wealth worth $32 billion to charity. (“Prince Alwaleed pledges entire wealth to charity,” July 2)

The prince has been a philanthropist and this is only a step toward institutionalizing his charity works. The money, as he said, will surely help build bridges to foster cultural understanding, develop communities, empower women, enable the youth, provide vital disaster relief and create a more tolerant and accepting world. “It is a commitment without boundaries. A commitment to all humankind.”

However given the difficult situation the 1.6 billion strong Muslim community currently finds themselves in, Alwaleed would have perhaps charted a better route to use his wealth. Founding research institutions, for instance, or creating a media infrastructure, would have gone a long way to better shape the world and toward, as he said, the “cultural understanding.”

There are many global level “commitments to humankind” we find in general; there’s no dearth of such commitments. But is there any commitment from any quarter focusing on Muslims, their education, and their empowerment in this age of information? This is one reason why the Ummah is found wanting in terms of intellectual leadership, social empowerment and political opinion making.

Yet Prince Alwaleed’s benevolent initiative in what he said in “following the dictates of the Qur’an” is praiseworthy. Indeed the Qur’an says that charity in the name of Allah Almighty adds wealth in multiple. May Allah bless this Ummah with many more Alwaleeds!