Dallas Mosque Feeds the Hungry at a ‘Day of Dignity’...
Not even the recent furlough of federal workers was enough to snuff out the latest community outreach effort of Masjid al Islam mosque in Dallas. On a weekend in early October, the mosque was participating in a national initiative known as the Day of Dignity, an annual event during which mosques feed, clothe, and equip people living in poverty. But federal workers who had been scheduled to attend to speak about the details of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) healthcare legislation had been forced to cancel because of a partial federal government shutdown. It was a blow to the mosque’s boosters, says Muhammad Abdul-Jami, treasurer of Masjid al Islam and coordinator of the Day of Dignity event. But...
Muslim Students Help Stock Food Pantry at Episcopal Church...
Nameera Perwez picked up on her lesson fast, and she was eager to put it in action. This is the season for sacrifice in the Muslim community, and the fifth-grader from the Iqra Academy of Virginia had something in mind she wanted to share: food. For more than an hour Friday, she and 10 classmates from the small Muslim primary school in South Richmond were at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church helping sort canned goods and other nonperishable items they’d just donated to the community food pantry. “Other people need your help, and you need to help them,” Nameera said as she and classmate Fatin Salman prepared paper grocery bags. “You can’t be greedy. You need to help them.”...
‘Twinning’ Project Brings Muslims and Jews Together...
NEW YORK (JTA) — Daisy Khan seemed right at home in the ornately decorated main sanctuary of B’nai Jeshurun, a large and vibrant synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. “I want to thank you for inviting us into this sanctuary, which is very much like a mosque,” said Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement. She added, “It feels strange to wear shoes in here!” Several dozen women — approximately equal numbers of Muslims and Jews — had come together at the Nov. 14 event to discuss gender issues in their respective faith traditions. From the food on the table — hummus and flatbread — to the integrated small-group dialogues, the evening focused on how...
Muslims and Jews Band to Fight Hunger
On the day after Yom Kippur, an intergenerational group of about 25 people from the Or HaLev havura gathered at the Chester home of David Glassberg and Beth Pletcher. Teens Jason Cohen and Tyler and Jason Volk, all from Randolph, were in the kitchen tossing salad. Nearby, Bernice Billig of Hackettstown, some years their senior, was chopping fruits and vegetables, while in the garage, Roz Steinberg of Byram Township and a group of middle-aged women were preparing sandwiches from whole grain bread, honey, peanut butter, and cinnamon. All worked under the direction of Zamir Hassan, founder of Muslims Against Hunger and the Hunger Van, a kind of mobile soup kitchen. Hassan and his Hunger Van had arrived with all the...
Project Downtown Focuses on Interfaith Effort to Give Back...
Each Sunday, a group of volunteers, most college-aged, meet at the Clifton Mosque to make sandwiches, bag lunches and wrap pastries to pass out to individuals in downtown Cincinnati. The volunteers make up an organization calledProject Downtown, a nonprofit whose local chapter has been in existence since 2008, and whose ultimate goal is to eliminate poverty downtown. Yousef Hussein, director of PD, says the goal is a lofty one, but he’s confident that it can be accomplished. “It’s going to be difficult, but at the end of the day, I feel that if we set our mind to it, and people receive us properly, we can get the support and make a big impact in our community,” he...
Muslims give more to charity than others, UK poll says...
Muslims give more money to charity than people of other religions, according to a new British poll. More than three in 10 Muslims, Catholics and Jews donated money during 2012, ICM Research found. Followers of Islam gave an average of $567 compared to Jewish givers who donated around $412, according to the survey of just over 4,000 people in the U.K. Christians gave considerably less. Protestants donated an average of $308, while Roman Catholics gave around $272, the poll found. Atheists averaged just $177. In total 4,036 people answered the question: “How much, if at all, would you say you generally donated to charities last year?” Respondents were asked to exclude buying items from charity stores or sponsoring someone for a charity...
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