Muslims are celebrating Ramadan this month. Ramadan is the month where the Prophet Muhammad declared that the gates of Heaven would open and the gates of Hell are locked shut. They fast from sunrise to sunset for the entire month.
At the end of the month, they hold a huge family celebration called Eid Al-Fitr with gifts and lots of food.
In Chicago, the Downtown Islamic Center spends every Sunday handing out food to the poor. They call it, “feeding it forward.” They fill brown bags with peanut butter-and-banana sandwiches, fresh fruit, and water.
The children decorate the bags with stickers and crayon-drawn hearts. The group heads down to Lower Wacker Street and hand out the bags to every homeless person they see.
They are stepping it up this month for Ramadan. The volunteers will fan out around the city and give out hundreds of these meal bags. It launched last fall after Donald Trump’s proposal to force Muslims to register and be tracked in a database.
Project founder Sanah Khan said:
“It’s not that I’m trying to promote Islam. I take (Trump) in a very positive way. I am actually very thankful because he gave us reasons to stand up and say we can do better.… People need to see the normal Muslims. This is home for us.”
This is not the only Islamic charity project going on right now. In Baltimore, the Islamic Circle of North America Relief USA pulled up in U-Haul and unloaded bags of toiletries for low-income residents and seniors. The project, titled “Mercy Bags for Baltimore,” came to the city with the 41st Annual Islamic Circle, or North America conference.
This conference is a gathering of about 25,000 Muslims seeking to dispel the negative stereotypes by spreading education and awareness of their religion. This is the third conference they’ve had in the city.
Hopefully, these projects will help bring more awareness to the Islamic faith.
Here is just an example of Muslims helping to feed the homeless:
