Charity Effort
Brief summary of what you can do,- Donate money before Wednesday morning, either in hand or through bank transfer. Please call for details on how to transfer money via the bank. Our contact details are here.
- Donate food yourself to, CJ’s Barber shop, 448 Hoe Street, Walthamstow, E17 9AH.
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Cause, Need I’m sure it is not unknown to all that there is a massive famine in East Africa, covering Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti. Children are suffering of severe malnutrition, and mothers are having to watch as their children die. We live in such Ni’mah (Blessing) in the West that the most hunger we ever experience is during Ramadan. These people are hungry for days on end and have no physical means to feed themselves and their families. Allaah has Blessed us with so much, and with blessings comes responsibility. A responsibility that we will be asked about on the day of Judgement. |
I (ie Mu’aawiyah Tucker) received a message from one of my close friends and students about a brother who was collecting tin food in order to help those in need in East Africa. They were requesting that people bring tin foods by 25th August to send it over. It was suggested that rather than each person take one or two tins or bags that we should collect money and buy in bulk. This was an effort to come together, as us Muslims should do, for a common good. Allaah says in the Qur’aan:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا قِيلَ لَكُمْ تَفَسَّحُوا فِي الْمَجَالِسِ فَافْسَحُوا يَفْسَحِ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ ۖ وَإِذَا قِيلَ انشُزُوا فَانشُزُوا يَرْفَعِ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنكُمْ وَالَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْعِلْمَ دَرَجَاتٍ ۚ وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرٌ
“O you who have believed, when you are told, "Space yourselves" in assemblies, then make space; Allah will make space for you. And when you are told, "Arise," then arise; Allah will raise those who have believed among you and those who were given knowledge, by degrees. And Allah is Acquainted with what you do.”
“O you who have believed, when you are told, "Space yourselves" in assemblies, then make space; Allah will make space for you. And when you are told, "Arise," then arise; Allah will raise those who have believed among you and those who were given knowledge, by degrees. And Allah is Acquainted with what you do.”
The above verse covers two important characteristics of the Muslim. The first talks about making space in gatherings. So if a person is in a general gathering, they should make effort to use all available space in order for others to be able to find space to sit. The second characteristic talks about raising to the call to help someone in need, some general benefit or need for the Muslims if one is ‘called to action’. Then the verse concludes with Allaah highlighting the virtue of those who have Eemaan and knowledge, and how He raises them in levels. The scholars mention that the connection between the two characteristics mention before and the virtue of the people who possess knowledge is that the knowledge of Islaam causes righteous deeds and actions. Knowledge precedes actions and good deeds are a result of ones knowledge and a sign of their benefitting from it.
Those two characteristics focus on the ‘consideration’ Muslims have for others, and their ‘good nature’. This is very applicable right now, when we have our Muslim brothers and sisters who are in need and we have been ‘called to action’, called to help and do what we can.
Result of pulling together
As a result of that brainchild, we made a limited collection with the hope to make a bulk buy on Saturday. On Saturday, we managed to purchase Ł200+ worth of tuna from costco. We then headed to Asda and bought over 470 tins of chic peas, and 500 tins of kidney beans.
We still, at the end, had a lot of money left over and decided to come back another day. We delivered what we had purchased for that day as can be seen in the below pictures.
As the word spread, a trader contacted us and allowed us to use his wholesalers account to purchase from the whole sellers warehouse. We managed to purchase 20 sacks of flour (totalling half a tonne), 7 sacks of rice, and some cerelac.
Because of our efforts, others around us saw the food we were purchasing and when they found out what it was for they wanted to add to the cause. This is one of the benefits drawn from the Aayah above. When the muslims, or at least some, stand up to answer the ‘call to action’ when called to a good deed, this acts causes others to also join in, when on their own they probably would not have done anything. On Saturday, we were approached by a brother who asked us to add what he had got, and at the warehouse, a few of the workers added over Ł150 worth of goods to what we had already purchased.
Then we delivered what we had got as you can see from the pictures below
Whats left
All that has been collected will be sent off this Thursday, 25th August, and we are free to do another round this Wednesday. If anyone wishes to donate to the cause so that we can make another purchase this Wednesday, or if anyone wishes to physically help out buy helping us transport the goods (which isn’t far from the warehouse) then please let us know asap. We had not anticipated how successful this effort turned out to be, nor did we anticipate the full extent of how much we would have achieved. In total, we have taken 5 cars full of goods. Now we have only two days left, we want to make this final push, as this is the last ten days of Ramadan, and also our brethren are in need. We live in such luxury, and yet our brothers and sisters are dying because they cant even find one meal a day or fresh water.
Also, if anyone wishes to make their own personal donation of food themselves you can deliver it any time (latest 25th August) to CJ’s Barber shop, 448 Hoe Street, Walthamstow, E17 9AH. What they need is:
- Tin foods,
- Rice,
- Flour,
- Powder milk
The charity who will be taking it is fully registered, and they are “Moorogaabey Development Organisation”.
Brief summary of what you can do,
- Donate to us money before Wednesday morning, either in hand or through bank transfer. Please call for details on how to transfer money via the bank. Our contact details are here.
- Donate food yourself to, CJ’s Barber shop, 448 Hoe Street, Walthamstow, E17 9AH.
Disclaimer
I, Mu’aawiyah Tucker, and Arabic Courses are not affiliated with this organisation, nor do we work for them. All we have done is independently collected money and bought foodstuff in order to aid the cause. If you want more details from those who are directly involved, please contact 07940100760.
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