The month of Ramadan is definitely a month of sharing and solidarity, and Muslims exert efforts during the holy month to give charity to the needy.
So what an 11-year-old boy from Mississauga is doing is highly remarkable. The young Muslim is cooking 200 meals every day in Ramadan for women’s shelters Nisa Homes and Sakeenah Homes, the mobile food band ASK foundation and a local mosque, Muslim Neighbor Nexus (MNN).
Rayyan Husain, who began cooking about two years ago as a way to entertain himself at the beginning of the pandemic, received food gift cards from Food Basics to help him make the iftar meals.
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“When I was a younger, my grandma used to babysit me a lot so I’d sit on the counter and make dough with her a lot,” said Husain of how his love of cooking started, Toronto Sun reported.
“I’d think it was like Play-Doh, and it was fun for me. And I enjoyed chopping up the fruit and vegetables and flipping stuff over in the pan.”
Helping Charities Too
In addition to the free meals, the Grade 6 student is also selling Iftar platters for $25 with the proceeds going to groceries, university savings, and charities like ICNA Relief Food Bank Montevideo, Eden Food Bank and the Bonnie Crombie Thanksgiving Food Drive.
“We get ideas and we add our own little spin to this,” said Husain, who’s made about $5,000 so far.
“I want to keep it going for as long as I want, but when I grow up, I want to be a doctor,” said Husain.
Husain is not the only young Muslim who has been cooking meals to support charity effort during the month of fasting.
Last year, Zaavier Khan, a 10-year-old boy from London, cooked meals for the poor while fasting during Ramadan to raise money for a UK Muslim charity.
Ramadan is the 9th month of the Hijri Islamic calendar. It commemorates the first revelation of the Qur’an to Prophet Muhammad.
From dawn until sunset, Muslims refrain from food, drinking liquids, smoking, and engaging in sexual relations).