According to Rahyafte(the missionaries and converts website)They met Friday night at the Winnipeg Grand Mosque on Waverley Street for a fundraising iftar, the nightly meal following a day of fasting for Ramadan,
“The month of Ramadan is not just about holding ourselves as Muslims from eating and drinking, but charity and being generous in supporting others both locally and abroad,” said Usama Khan, CEO of Islamic Relief Canada, the organization that held the event.
“We’re here to break fast with our friends from Winnipeg … and hopefully raise awareness of the people of Yemen, which is a forgotten crisis.”
“Since seven years, most of their country was destroyed,” said Mohamad Jumaily, the Winnipeg team leader for Islamic Relief Canada. “Infrastructure destroyed — everything. They are miserable.”
In addition to fasting for Ramadan, many Muslims also pay zakat during the holy month — a charitable donation made to those in need.
Jumaily says that throughout the month of Ramadan, Islamic Relief Canada picks a variety of causes to raise money for.
Last month the organization held an event for relief in Ukraine, and this week they raised money for Yemen.
“There [are] so many people around the world who are fasting not by choice, but because they just don’t know where their next meal will come from,” said Khan, who stressed that food insecurity is just one of the many reasons his organization is raising money for Yemen.
The country also lacks access to clean drinking water and health facilities, he said.
“For Muslims, even when we’re fasting, part of it is that empathy of walking in their shoes, seeing how it feels.”
Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies, backed by the United States and European powers, launched the war on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi back to power and crushing the popular Ansarullah resistance movement.
The Saudi-led coalition has been preventing fuel shipments from reaching Yemen, while looting the impoverished nation’s resources. The Saudi war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories.
The UN refers to the situation in Yemen as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Source: cbc.ca
