Muslim volunteers prepare a plate of lunch for storm victims. (Courtesy The Associated Press).

CAIRO, September 12, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – While Americans nationwide commemorated the fourth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, more than 2,000 Muslim volunteers went into business serving food to victims of Hurricane Katrina at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas.

"This is what the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) told us — to help others in calamity," Shadid Bilal, a chemist, told Houston Chronicle on Sunday, September 11.

Physician Asaf Qadeer, another volunteer, agreed.

Recognizing Katrina as "the biggest calamity" in the history of the US, Qadeer wondered: "How can we not help out?"

The massive effort was the work of the Houston Muslim Relief Group, a coalition of 20 mosques and local Islamic organizations formed after Katrina to provide help.

It took place in coordination with the Second Baptist Church of Houston and Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston (IMGH).

The official death toll from the killer hurricane, which has displaced a million people, climbed past 400 on Sunday.

The August 29 storm hit the US Gulf Coast just outside the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, and swept devastation through the area with winds of up to 145 mph (233 km/h).

It further sent a devastating wall of water into the Mississippi and 80% of New Orleans, is submerged by waters as deep as 6m (20ft).

The volunteers said the relief effort was another chance to draw a clear line between Muslims and those who carried out the 9/11 attacks.

"This is an example of who we are," Nura Baaba, a 22-year-old University of Houston law student, told the American paper.

"What happened on 9/11, we had no control over."

Parvez Ahmad, chairman of the board of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), echoed the same position.

"If today not only happens to be a day where we are feeding people and helping people and doing our Islamic duties ... but at the same time it also presents an opportunity to dispel myths about Islam and terrorism, then so be it," he told the Associated Press.

The Muslim volunteers said they were simply trying to help their fellow Americans.

"Like everybody else, we saw what was on TV during coverage of the storm. We felt so helpless," volunteer Farha Ahmad told Houston Chronicle.

"We feel that we are part of the American population. When something happens next door in Louisiana, we feel it very personally," she added.

Wearing bright yellow Operation Compassion T-shirts, the Muslim volunteers were so numerous that at times they appeared to outnumber evacuees, said the paper.

They were assigned to work one of four six-hour shifts.

Anwar Ali, a computer consultant from Dallas, began his volunteer shift at 4 a.m. Sunday, brining carts filled with food to the cafeteria area and helped elderly people walk from one part of the convention center to another.

"You find people of different faiths coming together, working together, feeding the poor. It's amazing. It's a wonderful feeling," he told the AP.

A coalition of major American Islamic groups have formed the Muslim Hurricane Relief Task Force (MHRTF) to coordinate humanitarian relief for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, pledging to raise $10 million for the effort.

The CAIR official said they have so far raised between $3 million and $4 million.

The leading American Muslim advocacy group has appealed to American Muslims to assist in alleviating the suffering of people impacted by Katrina.

It also urged mosques and Islamic centers throughout the country to hold special blood drives, prayers and fundraising efforts for disaster relief.