With New York being one of the epicenters of the novel coronavirus in US, the state had been under strict guidelines of lockdown and safety measures. Hence, the mosques were closed too and the Muslims had to pray inside of their homes instead of in the mosque together.
One such New Yorker, Hani Hajir has cooker his entire life. He owns a very popular halal restaurant in Brooklyn and seeing customers enjoy their meal is what brings him sheer happiness. But, the lockdown because of Covid-19 has prevented him from enjoying this sheer pleasure of being able to watch them for over a month now.
Hajir had to close his shop on March 30, less than two weeks following the completely lockdown of New York. Since Hajir was worried about getting infected as he worked and interacted with the public a lot, he decided to close the restaurant. His business also experienced a hit because of the closure of the warehouses and factories which lined the streets that his restaurant was in, bringing him no customers anymore.
Hajir expressed his sadness saying that the lockdown made him depressed. But, he was not the only one. Several Muslim community leaders in New York City reported that the people had become depressed because of the lack of social communication and not being able to pray and break the fast together during the holy month of Ramadan.
But, Hajir, like several of the Muslim communities in US have found their unique ways of celebrated Ramadan, practicing community charity for the people in need.
To enhance his outreach, Hajir then collaborated with the Muslim Community Centre in Brooklyn to provide food for the homeless people during this time of crisis.
Hajir himself prepares all the halal food which is then supplied to the MCC, who takes the burden of distributing it out to the homeless people. Mohammad Bahi, who is the director of MCC then brings the food to Manhattan and then it is distributed amidst the homeless people.
MCC has been engaged with feeding the homeless people since 2014 but Bahi said that the emotions and the spirit are completely different this time around. Double the people than normal show up to get their food during the distribution.
Jeff Perington, who was once homeless and now works as a liaison at MCC also confirmed that the number of people coming to collect food from these drives this year is on the rise. Due to things becoming catastrophic, it is not surprising at all that the food insecurity in the state has doubled, leaving homeless people in even more crisis.
The food drive conducted by MCC is done across six blocks in Manhattan. The volunteers ensure to practice social distancing and also follow the general hygiene rules like wearing masks, carrying sanitisers and the whole lot.
Strengthening faith even more
Aside from serving food to the community, this initiative from MCC also focused on providing with respite to the volunteers who are struggling to be inside their homes all the time.
Over 700,000 Muslims reside in New York, scattered across all the five boroughs. Bahi said that the members of MCC who have been praying in the mosque, that was their number one tool for strengthening their faith and beliefs. Now, with the mosque temporarily closed, this is the next best thing that they could come up with.
Majority of the Muslims who have lost this “tool of faith” are going around trying to find some replacement and this is the best way, according to Bahi.
The initiative by MCC is also being supported by several other organisations including Asiyah Women’s Shelter, which is the only domestic violence shelter for Muslim women in New York.
Dania Darwish, who is the executive director of Asiyah said that volunteering during such hard times help provide the residents of the organisation to get some respite from the constant burn that they have been experiencing mentally being at home. The volunteers help out in packaging and then delivering the food to the homeless individuals in need.
Many of the survivors that stay in Asiyah are extremely close to their families and not being able to stay with them has been extremely difficult for some of them.
But, this current volunteering opportunity is quite amazing in helping fill the absence in their lives and also give back the necessary to the communtity.
Actionable accounts
Aside from these initiatives taken on by the MCC and the local restaurant, there have been some other initiatives too. The New York Police Department Muslim Officers Society announced that they hold a iftaar party every year at their department.
Since that is not possible anymore this year because of the lockdown and the Covid-19 impacts, they have arranged for a troop of four halal food carts that are going around providing free meals to the New Yorkers between 5-8 pm.
Adeel Rana, who is the president of the society suggested that over 1000 people come to get some food at these carts every day. Three of the carts are stationed in specific parts of the city while one of them rotates around, catering to the ones in need.
The meals are served during the time of iftaar, but, Rana has mentioned that the cart is open to all and feeds anyone that comes to them asking for food.
He believes that when you are serving a community, it means serving every single person of the community and not just a specific religion.
The food carts that are being used belong to Zakarya Khan, who owns a restaurant named Gyro King which specifically operates through carts and has various branches in the city.
With the shutdown in place, Khan had to close down the carts and the individuals who were running those carts were out of jobs. The initiative of serving the community is not just helping fill the stomach of the hungry but also brought back the jobs for the individuals who lost it.
“This is a time of help, this is a time of sympathy, compassion, but this is also the time of action,” said Khan.
Bahi further said that the act of volunteering is helping people recreate the idea of praying together like how they would in the mosque, just in a different way.
“The feeling we’re getting is really reminiscing about being inside a mosque and praying together. Instead of us praying together standing feet to feet, shoulder to shoulder, we’re feeding the homeless together feet to feet, shoulder to shoulder,” Khan said.
