Sharjah’s millionaire beggar: From pennies to prosperity

SHARJAH: Who knew the word “Sharjah” would make headlines for something other than the famed sixer by our very own Javed Miandad.

No, dear reader, 2025 is the year where the word is against splashed as a headline around the world but for a completely different reason. The famed city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently witnessed the rise of a beggar who seems to have cracked the code to financial success.

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Scoot over, hard work; there is another, quicker way to earn a million bucks—this enterprising person managed to rake in a whopping 14,000 dirhams in just 72 hours (over Rs1 million for our Pakistani readers).

Just imagine: a man in tattered clothing sitting outside a place of worship, eyes glistening with the kind of sorrow that would melt even the steeliest of hearts.

His tales of financial woes more convincing than even an Oscar-worthy melodrama. Where’s the diploma for such a bold method?

The Sharjah locals, bless their generous hearts, were more than willing to part with their hard-earned cash to make another a millionaire. Who doesn’t like helping, especially in this blessed holy month?

But little did such generous-hearted people know, they were funding the next big thing in street entrepreneurship. This man should be on the next season of the Shark Tank – no product but a great pitch!

Alas! gentle reader, not all endings are happy, fairy-tale endings. An eagle-eyed citizen decided to dabble their hands in sleuthing. The amateur detective did the work for the local police and then informed them, who swooped in like hawks to claim credit.

Upon checking the entrepreneur’s identity, it was found that he was frolicking in the streets of Sharjah without proper authorisation. If there’s one thing the UAE authorities take seriously, its breaking their laws.

The Big Bossman of the special team monitoring begging and street vendors did not take kindly to the situation. Dubbing such street entrepreneurship as a threat to his country’s ‘security’, our three-day millionaire received not the royal treatment but criminal.

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As he was escorted off the streets, the generous citizens of Sharjah were left scratching their heads. Did they just unwittingly become part of some Big Brain Scam or fund a new form of entrepreneurship?

While the streets of Sharjah may have lost their millionaire, it is bound to leave behind an urban legend. Who knows, maybe this street entrepreneur will inspire similar movement in centuries to come.