Mosul,
October 7, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) - A call by famed da`i
(Muslim preacher) Amr Khaled for providing food for the needy during
the holy fasting month of Ramadan has had a positive response in a
number of Arab states with Iraq on top of an eight-member list.
Iraqi
charities have put the call into effect and collected thousands of
"Ramadan bags" for the poor in the war-torn country.
"Once
we were informed of the initiative, we contacted the organizers and
Life Makers society in Cairo to join the project," head of the
Iraq’s Students and Youths Union Yahia Eid Mahjoub told
IslamOnline.net on Thursday, October 6, referring to Khaled's charity
in the Egyptian capital.
"Our
main objective is to collect one million baskets of food stuffs and
medicines for the needy in Iraq, who are in multitudes."
Khaled's
"Ramadan basket" project is aimed at gathering one million
aid bags enough to feed almost five million people in eight Arab
countries; namely Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, Egypt,
and Saudi Arabia starting early in August 2005 and ending late in
October 2005.
“Another
objective for us is to cherish fraternity and remove sectarian
tensions in Iraq," added Mahjoub, saying all Iraqis irrespective
of their ethnicity were getting the aid.
He
went on: "We have received donations from various charity groups
topped by the Sunni Waqfs and the Two Rivers Charity in addition to
mosques in the northern city of Mosul, which started receiving
donations from the faithful."
Sheikh
Ammar, the imam of Ahmad Ismail Mosque in Mosul, told IOL that
donations boxes were placed in mosques and imams called for donations
in their sermons in a bid to render the project a success.
“The
response was so encouraging and showed the mettle of generous
Iraqis," said Ammar, adding that surprisingly most of the
donations came from the low-income brackets rather than businessmen
and the well-to-do.
Successful
The
project's coordinator in Cairo, who spoke to IOL on condition of
anonymity, said: 'It was a marvelous thing to hear from Baghdad the
project was progressing steadily with individuals and charities
participation."
"Some
6,000 bags have been collected in Iraq so far, a number that was not
expected in a chaos-marred and war-ravaged country," she said.
She
said the initiative was a great success all in all.
"In
Egypt, some 500,000 have been collected and in Saudi Arabia 100,
000," she said.
Statistics
from other countries participating in the initiative will be received
soon, she maintained.
