DEL.ICIO.USATLANTA
Muslim group feeding 1,000 homeless on Saturday
Charity during Ramadan: 200 volunteers from 36 mosques will help with downtown event
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Friday, September 19, 2008
Over the last few days, Muslims from across metro Atlanta have gathered in homes and mosques to prepare food and care packages for the city’s hungry and homeless.
Johnny Crawford/jcrawford@ajc.com
Haniyyah Abdul-Aziz (from left), Zaheerah Aleem and Khayriyyah Faiz were among women preparing vegetables in Decatur on Wednesday to feed hundreds of the homeless downtown on Saturday
The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. along the 100 block of Broad Street near Five Points.
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It’s all in preparation for a giant feast today in downtown Atlanta. Organizers are hoping to feed 1,000 people.
The local effort has brought together about 200 volunteers from the 36 mosques scattered across metro Atlanta. It’s part of the Muslim community’s focus on charity during the month of Ramadan, the religion’s most holy month and a time of spiritual reflection, daytime fasting and good deeds.
It’s also a part of the nationwide Day of Dignity coordinated by Islamic Relief, a California-based charity. This is the first time that metro Atlanta Muslims have joined this national effort.
Shyam Sriram, a teacher, said he and other volunteers will be giving out blankets, tote bags, towels and hygiene kits. Workers are setting aside areas for health screenings for high blood pressure, HIV/AIDS and cholesterol.
The sponsors and organizers have been planning this day for months. Flyers have been passed out to the homeless.
Feeding the hungry while they fast is a strong reminder for Muslims of the Quran’s teachings to care for the poor, said Khayriyyah Faiz of Atlanta, one of the event coordinators.
“We feel the hunger pangs ourselves. And we are enjoined by the Quran to reflect on those who feel the hunger pangs throughout the year,” she said.
Throughout the year, Muslim groups, from student associations at Georgia Tech and Georgia State University to social groups based in mosques, serve up chicken, rice and vegetables to feed the hungry in Atlanta on a regular basis.
But the current downturn in the national economy, Faiz said, appears to be altering the landscape of need. During recent months, she has seen a change in those who come seeking free food.
“The faces of hunger are changing. At one point it was the homeless,” she said. Now there are more working poor, people who are having trouble making ends meet, she said.
She and other women volunteers began shopping and gathering plates, utensils and divvying up preparation tasks earlier this week.
Since it is the first time for an event this large, many of the organizers are eager to see what the response will be, but they expect about 1,000 participants.
The downtown mosque, Masjid Al-Jami, has been feeding the homeless on weekends and has served as many as 250 people.
Mostafa Mahboob, a spokesman for Islamic Relief, said this is the fourth year his agency has been pushing the national program.
Islamic Relief has earned a top rating of four stars from Charity Navigator, a watchdog organization.
“As word got out, we got calls from people in other cities saying they wanted to be part of it,” he said. Throughout September, volunteers in 18 cities across the U.S. expect to feed more than 25,000 people, he said.
Muslims in metro Atlanta
Estimates from the 36 mosques in metro Atlanta put the number of Muslims here at 80,000. They come from more than 40 countries, and some are American-born converts.
Muslims have divided over time into groups and sects due to differing beliefs over leadership, theology and practice. Some of the groups in Georgia include Sunnis, who make up about 85 percent of all Muslims in the world and are the majority here as well, according to local sources.
Shiites make up the second-largest group. Shiites split with other Muslims soon after the death of Muhammad in A.D. 632 over leadership.
Ismailis split from the Shia in about A.D. 765 in another dispute over leadership. Their present leader the Aga Khan, who visited Atlanta this year, is one of the world’s richest men and a leading philanthropist, overseeing 325 schools, two universities, nine hospitals and 190 clinics and operating businesses around the world.
An estimated 5,000 Ismailis make Georgia their home.
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