CHARITIES SUPPORT UGANDA’S RAMADAN

Kampala, 19 Ramadan 1435/17 July 2014 (MINA) – When Ramadan started in Uganda at the end of last month, Hajat Hasfah Nabunya’s concerns on how to make ends meet for iftar and suhoor during the holy fasting month were shattered after receiving donations from Islamic relief groups.

“We shall fast [peacefully] since we have got food to help us in breaking our fast. I have been scared of how I would complete this month without food,” Nabunya of Mbogo mosque in Kawempe told Uganda’s The Observer, On Islam quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting, Thursday.

“But thank God, you have really saved us the poor.” Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar, started last June 29.

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In addition to fasting, Ramadan is also a month of increased worship, special prayers, and recitation of the Qur’an.

While Ramadan is generally known as the month for personal restraint, worship and reflection, it is also the month of giving for Muslims as they support the needy and engage in charitable acts.

Traditionally, Muslims give their annual Zakat (alms) to the poor in developing countries and donations to support relief work around the world.

As the month started in Uganda, Uganda Muslim Youth Assembly (UMYA) and the Foundation for Human Rights and Humanitarian Relief (IHH) from Turkey started donating food to the needy.

Offering food for the month of Ramadan, some widows from Bukomansimbi district praised the donation and thanked Allah for remembering them at such a critical time.

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“May Allah bless this project which cares for the poor. The rice will take me up to Idi [`Eid] day,” Adam Kasule said.

“Since Ramadan started, I have been eating free Iftar and supper at the mosque.”

Blessings

Offering help to the needy in Ramadan, Uganda Muslim leaders said that the holy month was a chance to share the spirit of giving.

“We are guided by Islamic teachings in giving out these food packages, and not politics,” Imam Kasozi, the vice chairman UMYA and coordinator of IHH in Uganda, said.

Kasozi said Prophet Muhammad revealed that whoever helps a fasting person break his or her fast gets a reward of a fasting person without reducing the reward of the fasting person.

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Kasozi, a lecturer at Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU), said the organization started Ramadan donations in 1998.

“We use village imams to select needy people in their areas. They register the beneficiaries in advance in order to fight corruption and distribute goods openly,” he said.

“We have also given students in non-Muslim-founded schools, because many students fast in these schools and are not facilitated well as they break their fast,” Kasozi said.

Muslims comprise some 14 percent of the predominantly Christian country’s 32-million population, according to the CIA Factbook. (T/P012/E01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)