Feeling the pains of those in need, Muslim students in the Canadian port city of Hamilton are joining hands to collect funds to feed the hungry during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

"We know what it's like to be hungry,” Tahirah Seta, a 16-year-old Muslim student, told The Spec newspaper on Sunday, July 7.

“But we always know that we are going to have food on the table at the end of the day, where some people don't know where their next meal is coming from," said Tahirah Seta, 16.

The students seek donations from residents for the Neighbor 2 Neighbor Center to be given to the poor.

Seta said fasting has prompted her and her colleagues to work extra hard to get donations to give back to their community.

The Muslim initiative comes two days before the start of the fasting month of Ramadan, the holiest month in Islamic calendar.

In Ramadan, adult Muslims, save the sick and those traveling, abstain from food, drink, smoking and sex between dawn and sunset.

Muslims dedicate their time during the holy month to be closer to Allah through prayers, self-restraint and good deeds.

It is customary for Muslims to spend part of the days during Ramadan studying the Noble Qur'an.

Many men perform i`tikaf (spiritual retreat), spending the last 10 days of the month exclusively in the mosque.


Muslim students say their initiative is dictated by Islamic teachings on helping those in need.
"It's a win-win situation, Neighbour 2 Neighbour receives the food in the summer and during Ramadan, we are encouraged to do good deeds," Yousuf Birama, 16, said.

Last year, Biama, a St. Thomas Moore graduate, collected 1,100 pounds of food for the local food bank.

This year, the goal of his group to is to collect 2,000 pounds and they expect to hit about 150 houses each week.

Canadian Muslims on Thursday launched a campaign to feed the hungry in Toronto, Canada’s largest city, during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

The ‘Give 30’ campaign, which started last year, asks Muslims and non-Muslims to give up $1 a day —$30 for the month — to help those in Toronto who are hungry.

The funds raised will go to the Daily Bread Food Bank, a Toronto distribution centre supplying other local food banks.

The Neighbour 2 Neighbour Centre welcomed the Muslim initiative to help those in need.

Canada’s Muslim population increased by 82 per cent over the past decade – from about 579,000 in 2001 to more than 1 million in 2011.

Muslims represent 3.2 per cent of Canada’s total population.

Courtesy of OnIslam.net

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