We, as Muslims living in the West have a responsibility that is rather unique to the circumstances that surround us. We are living in a society that is predominantly non-Muslim, and as representatives of Islam to such a society, it is our duty to dispel the negative images of Islam brought on by the enemies of Islam, and to propagate the true religion of Prophet Muhammad (saww). With this in mind, Muslim Congress has invested its efforts in project No More Hunger- a multi-faceted project aimed at charity, self-building, community-building, social justice, da’wah and outreach. In order to fully accomplish the objective of this project, we are serving the underserved and neglected populations of our inner cities, while presenting them with Pure Muhammadan Islam. At the same time, we are engaging high school and college students in intellectual discourse, so they too can witness Pure Islam in action and benefit from spiritual and intellectual development.
To maintain the greatest level of ikhlaas (sincerity) in our efforts, we look to the house of Sayyida Fatima (sa) as the light illuminating the path of guidance for us. Let us remember the 3 days of hunger in her house, while Sayyida Fatima (sa), Imam Ali (as), Imam Hassan (as), Imam Hussain (as) and Lady Fizza (ra) gave away their bread to the miskeen (needy), yateem (orphan), and aseer (prisoner). Allah (swt) has testified to their selflessness in Surah Dahr, and has stated, “And out of His love, they give food to the needy, the orphan and the prisoner. They say to them, ‘We give you food, only for the sake of Allah - we do not seek any reward or thanks from you’.”(Dahr 76: 8-9) May we follow their example, and serve Allah (swt) the way we ought to serve Him- ameen.
Background/History:
Project “No More Hunger” is one of the fruits of Muslim Congress 5th Annual Conference in Dearborn, Michigan, initiated by MC delegates of the Detroit community. What had originally been a group of youth packing/distributing food, soon transformed into a community-wide initiative open to all volunteers. This project has flourished and developed into something that has national potential, and inshallah we will continue our work to realize the full extent of this potential. Currently Muslim Congress conducts monthly food distributions in Detroit and Orlando, and we hope the frequency of food distributions will increase as this project progresses. We strongly encourage other communities to join this effort, so if you would like to get involved, please glance over our project protocol and contact info@muslimcongress.org, subject line: No More Hunger. |