By Malika Kaloo<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you are needy and running out of money, you can eat food FeesabililAllah<\/em> from our restaurant. We will not hurt your self respect,\u201d says a poster on the glass door of Qasr Al Noor, a Pakistani restaurant in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In times of economic crisis around the world, Nadeem Abbas, the owner of the restaurant has launched an initiative to support people who cannot afford to pay for their daily meals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the UAE, migrant workers from African and South Asian countries have been struggling to make ends meet, especially after the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI used to see some customers order only tea and bread even at lunch and dinner. After analyzing the situation, I realized that they didn\u2019t have money to buy proper food,\u201d says Abbas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He adds that most of these people were low-wage employees and expatriate laborers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For Abbas, serving the community has always been his priority rather than just making a profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI do this for the sake of Allah because it is a part of my deen (religion). If you are in need, you can order as much food as you want at my restaurant and I will make sure that you are treated with respect and dignity,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Islam, the reward for feeding the poor is immense. In fact, it is one of the greatest acts of charity. As such, it is not uncommon for the Muslim world to organize food drives for charities throughout the year. It is especially significant during the holy month of Ramadan when people come together to serve the community through iftars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou don\u2019t even realize the potential of generosity and kindness. Your help can change someone\u2019s life completely,\u201d says Ahmad Ali, an Emirati businessowner. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n \u201cSharing iftar strengthens the relations between people,\u201d says Amel Alshamsi, a UAE national.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She adds that sharing food with the poor and needy reinforces the Islamic values of mercy and kindness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are many charity organizations in the UAE that organize free iftars in mosques during Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This comes in line with the \u201cOne Billion Meals\u201d endowment campaign that aims to launch a food endowment fund at a value of one billion dirhams to help dozens of countries struggling with food insecurities during Ramadan. People can donate to the campaign through an online transaction, SMS, call or bank transfer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ahmad Ali, a 60-year-old Emirati businessowner, believes that Ramadan is the month of reflection and spirituality in which reward for charities is multiplied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is our Emirati culture to keep food and water outside our homes during Ramadan so that anyone who needs it can take it without having to ask for it,\u201d says Ali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Ali, setting up tents outside his home so that commuters and workers can have iftar peacefully is a beautiful way to celebrate the spirit of Ramadan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy family is doing this for years. I truly believe that everyone deserves to enjoy the blessings of this month without having to worry about anything,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the UAE, many businessowners, irrespective of their nationalities, consider charity an essential element of their business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n From free food for blood donors to free food for delivery riders, these businesses have been showing generosity and contributing positively to society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Mujarrah in Sharjah, there is another Pakistani restaurant that invites people for free Iftar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Al Nawab restaurant has put up a signboard that says, \u201cIftar is on us if you are in need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The restaurant prepares meal boxes that include biryani, dates, fruits, salads and water bottles for anyone who cannot afford to pay for food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEvery day we make iftar boxes for around 500-700 people,\u201d says Jahanzeb Yaseen, the owner of Al Nawab. He adds that these boxes have the same food that they serve to their regular customers, made with high-quality ingredients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yaseen has been running daily free food drives called \u201cDastarkhwan\u201d in Pakistan for many years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen you spend one dirham for the right cause, Allah blesses you with 700 times more,\u201d says Jahanzeb Yaseen, the owner of Al Nawab restaurant.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n He says that his main aim is to spend money in the way of Allah and serve humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The act of sharing food is not just about providing the underprivileged with nutrition to survive, it is about serving them with respect, dignity and compassion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhile anyone can give charity, not everyone is capable of doing so without hurting the self-respect of the person receiving it,\u201d says Ali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At Qasr Al Noor, Abbas says, people can order anything from the menu and unlike other restaurants, they do not get a bill unless they ask for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn this way, we ensure that they don\u2019t feel humiliated. If they have money, they pay and if they don\u2019t have money, they can leave after finishing their meal,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kindness is a universal language that transcends all boundaries. It is what brings people together as a community. Whether you donate money or share food, a simple act of generosity has the power to change lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere are people who cannot afford to pay even for a bottle of water. We want to help them through this initiative,\u201d says Abbas.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Malika Kaloo \u201cIf you are needy and running out of money, you can eat food FeesabililAllah from our restaurant. We will not hurt your self respect,\u201d says a poster on the glass door of Qasr Al Noor, a Pakistani restaurant in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. In times of economic crisis around the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4331,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[17,46,25],"class_list":{"0":"post-4328","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-features","8":"tag-community","9":"tag-culture","10":"tag-sharjah-uae"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdcmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdcmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdcmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mdcmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdcmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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