NIGERIA CHARITIES PREPARE RAMADAN FREE IFTARS

Lagos, 21 Shaban 1436/8 June 2015 (MINA) – Ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, top Islamic organizations have concluded plans to offer free iftar meals for poor Nigerians observing fasting, reaching out the thousands of those displaced in the insurgency-hit country.

“As usual, we organize iftar saim (breaking of fast) for Muslims fasting in Ramadan across the southwest region,” Imam Abdullahi Shuaib, executive director and chief executive officer of the Zakat & Sadaqat Foundation, told OnIslam.net.

“This event will commence inshaAllah [God willing] in Ramadan which starts either on 17 or 18 June, 2015,” he added, On Islam quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

He said this year’s effort targets at least 35,000 Muslims.

Shuaib added that the organization also collects zakat for the benefit of needy Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

“Zakat collection and distribution is an ongoing thing we do and it usually receives more attention in Ramadan,” he said.

While the foundation is not extending the Iftar Saim to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the northeast, the organization said it has a culture of bringing “succor to victims of flood, fire disasters, ethno-religious and tribal conflagrations.

“This, we achieve by donating household utensils, food items, clothing materials and funding for rehabilitation of victims, among others,” it added.

For the Muslim Public Affairs Centre (MPAC), the focus of its humanitarian gesture will be entirely on the displaced persons in the country’s northeast region, according to MPAC chief Disu Kamor.

“We are kick-starting a massive campaign during Ramadan to fund our intervention programs for the IDPs who were victimized and displaced during the Boko Haram insurgency – Muslim and non-Muslim,” Kamor told OnIslam.net.

He said the full details of the intervention would be released to the public soon.

Apart from its pro-Muslim advocacy, MPAC has also been involved in humanitarian campaigns such as helping the sick raise funds for medicals and helping other causes such as offering legal services to the oppressed in the Nigerian society.

Muslim Shelters

Apart from Islamic charities, a group of young Muslims, called the Global Shapers Community Kano, in northwest Nigeria, have started an initiative to collect and distribute shelters to millions of the IDPs in the country northeast.

“It is our little way of reaching out to our brothers and sisters who found themselves in the terrible situation of being displaced from their homes and thus they were denied decent living by the militant activities,” Misbahu Abdullahi, a coordinator for the initiative called “Clothe the IDPs,” told OnIslam.net.

“We note that some organizations have been donating food and toiletries to the IDPs. So we want to complement their gestures by also donating clothes, shoes and apparels as our own widows’ might need. So we are mobilizing our friends and corporate organizations to make this sacrifice.”

Abdullahi said there are at least 3.3 million IPDs across Nigeria, the highest in Africa, and that “60% of these people have lost their properties, businesses, farmlands and homes to insurgency.”

“We feel we can do our bit for them by donating clothes, shoes and apparels,” he added.

Nigeria faces a violent insurgency that has endured for the past six years, with tens of thousands dead and millions displaced from their homes, especially in the northeastern Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states where Boko Haram militants are most active.

Between last year and early 2015, Boko Haram transformed from its hit-and-run tactics to outnright annexation of towns and villages covering areas as big as Swaziland.

The army has, however, liberated nearly all the areas captured earlier by the insurgents, freeing nearly a thousand hostages from the group’s stronghold in the Sambisa forest.

The group has also deployed suicide bombers, mostly in civilian areas, hitting soft targets, with Amnesty International now alleging that the militants have committed war crimes.

Labeled a terrorist movement by Nigeria, Turkey and United States, Boko Haram had since pledged allegiance to the so-called Islamic States (ISIL).

While it claims to be fighting for establishment of an Islamic state in Nigeria, most Nigerian Muslims, including their leadership, have branded Boko Haram as a terrorist organization with no connection to the ideals of Islam and its Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

In In his Friday, May 29 inaugural speech, Nigeria’s new president Muhammadu Buhari, himself a Muslim and a retired army general, pledged to deal Boko Haram a deadly blow.

He called Boko Haram a “mindless and godless group who are as far away from Islam as one can think of.” (T/P011/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)