With charity-giving being one of the key principals of Islamic faith, several Muslim groups and Islamic centers across the UK have been working hard to help the less fortunate during the hard times of COVIDx-19 pandemic.
Working to make sure no one sleeps hungry, a mosque in Oxford has opened a new food bank to provide hot food and essential items to the less fortunate.
The Central Oxford Mosque said the bank will start operating on Thursday, February 25.
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“Since our free school meal initiative, the management committee has been working on a more regular way to assist our beloved city,” the mosque said in a post on Facebook, Asian Image reported.
The food bank will also offer toilet rolls, shampoo, soap, shower gel, sanitary towels, baby wipes, nappies, cereal, rice, oil, tinned foods, dried fruit, and long-life juice.
Helping Community
The effort is not the first for the leading Oxford mosque to help the community.
In October last year, the mosque announced an initiative to provide hundreds of free meals to school children.
The mosque has also opened its car park this year to allow St Bartholomew’s Medical Centre to use it as a vaccination center.
Nargis Khan, practice manager at St Bartholomew’s, wrote to the mosque on behalf of all the primary care network practices.
The letter read: “It is amazing how all the community is uniting to fight Covid-19 and is an example of this adversity has united all of us as humans.
“We are also aware that for the last three years, the management committee of Central Oxford Mosque has allowed NHS staff working in the Manzil Way Health Centre to park in the mosque free of charge.”
Islam recognizes the importance of food security and, thus, deems it a great blessing that we should value, appreciate and pursue.
Allah says in the Qur’an, {Let them worship the Lord of this House, Who has fed them, [saving them] from hunger and made them safe from fear.} (Quraish 106: 3-4)
Solidarity among the community members is one of the strategies that Islam uses to combat hunger.