MONTREAL – Wednesday marked the beginning of Ramadan for millions of Muslims around the world. For the next 29 or 30 days Muslims will abstain from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset.
11-year-old Jawdat Abdul Bassat is participating for the second year and said he’s getting used to it.
“We don’t eat because he [God] wants us to feel what the people who do not have food and the poor feel like. But it’s not torture.”
Iman Foudil Selmoune from Brossard’s Islamic Community Center says the holy month isn’t just about fasting.
Breaking news from Canada and around the world
sent to your email, as it happens.
“It’s the month where we try to do our best to improve our character,” Selmoune said. “And be together and be united not divided and a way to get close to God.”
That’s why every year Asima Uddin and volunteers have been working round the clock to fill boxes with goods for families in need.
She works at the Amal Centre for Women and prepares food baskets every year in Ramadan to make sure no one goes hungry. They go to whoever requests them through the centre, Muslim or no.
“It’s that month for Muslims that you want to help, you want to give, you want to forgive, you want to really give back to the community,” she told Global News.
What started off as small effort years ago has grown into something that people from the Montreal Muslim community are familiar with. They’ve gone from handing out 10 baskets to 300. And their volunteers have grown from a small group of five to 100 volunteers.
Distribution begins Saturday in Pierrefonds. For more information on how to get involved click here.
Comments