After breaking fast, volunteers use Ramadan as an opportunity to give in Detroit
DEARBORN, Mich. — After a nightly iftar meal with family members breaking fast together during Ramadan, Nadine Daoud noticed full pots and trays of untouched leftover food lining the shelves of her grandmother's refrigerator. Too often, she felt the food was quickly forgotten and then wasted.
The observations inspired her 2017 creation of The Helping Handzzz Foundation that brings volunteers together each year during the Islamic holy month . They round up spare food from families in Dearborn — where nearly half the 110,000 residents are of Arab descent — and bring it to people without homes in neighboring Detroit.
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Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Chicago Tribune
Northwest Indiana's Muslim community comes together to observe Eid Al-Adha
Muslims from throughout Northwest Indiana gathered together on Friday to pray and celebrate Eid Al-Adha. The celebration, the first day of a three-day event, was held inside Crown Point's Sparta Dome. The Sparta Dome was selected as the best place to hold the festivity because of the aspect of community, the joining together of Muslims from throughout the area, Jawad Nammari said. Nammari, who is a volunteer at the Northwest Indiana Islamic Center, also served as one of the organizers of the event. 'Rather than hosting the event at one mosque, the Sparta Dome was chosen because it has plenty of space to accommodate the large Muslim community, who are celebrating together from across the Northwest Indiana region. We all join together in prayer,' he said. Eid Al-Adha is one of two main holidays in the Islamic religion and is a celebration that is held worldwide, he said. 'Eid Al-Adha commemorates when Prophet Ibrahim (Arabic for Abraham) was commanded by God to sacrifice his son, Ismail (Arabic for Ishmael), as an act of obedience and fulfilling a commandment from God,' he said. God intervened at the moment of sacrifice and sent a ram to be sacrificed instead. 'This was a test of faith and both father and son passed it with full obedience and trust in God,' he said. The Eid Al-Adha celebration started at sunrise and many of those in the area traveled to either the Illiana Islamic Center in Highland or the Northwest Indiana Islamic Center in Merrillville to say early morning prayers, he said. Ferass Safadi, who serves as treasurer at the Northwest Indiana Islamic Center, said this event is the first time those from both mosques joined together. 'This is history in the making,' Safadi said. The prayer at the beginning of the event is called Takbeenr which is the praising of Allah, Northwest Indiana Islamic Center member Amera Salam Nammari said. Those in attendance greeted each other upon entry to the dome with hugs or handshakes before being seated in chairs or on rugs spread throughout the area. All removed their shoes before the saying of prayers and message of forgiveness and thankfulness led by Iman Mongy El-Quesny of the Northwest Indiana Islamic Center. Following the main prayers, festivities for families continued including bouncy houses and events for young children. Food trucks, which offered traditional meals like shawarma and falafel, were also available to participants. 'Although Muslims worship five times a day daily and are obliged to obey the commandments of God, this day is a holiday as part of honoring a great act of faith, honoring sacrifice, charity and community,' Jawad Nammari said.
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Yahoo
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud on 'sacred journey' in Mecca for pilgrimage
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud is on a spiritual journey in Saudi Arabia as he performs hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage that's taking place this year from June 4-9. Hammoud, the first Muslim to become mayor of Dearborn, is one of more than 1.6 million pilgrims from around the world currently taking part in a series of rites and rituals in Mecca, the holiest city in Islam and the birthplace of its prophet. Going on hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, required of all Muslims at least once in their lifetime provided they are financially and physically capable. "I will be embarking on the sacred journey of Hajj — the pilgrimage to Mecca that Muslims around the world aspire to make at least once in their lifetime," Hammoud, 35, said in an Instagram post on May 27, written in both English and Arabic. "This is a deeply personal trip, one rooted in faith, reflection, and renewal." Hammoud spoke about how the world these days can seem burdensome. "It comes at a time when the world feels heavy and our hearts carry more than words can express," Hammoud said. "Still I go with the intention of fulfilling a spiritual obligation, reconnecting with Allah sbwt (acronym for an Arabic phrase meaning: 'May He be glorified and exalted'), and praying for clarity and peace — for myself, for my family and for our communities near and far." It's unclear how many days Hammoud will be in Saudi Arabia for the trip. A city official told the Free Press Hammoud is currently on paid time off. He did not attend the mayor's briefing on Thursday, June 5, a city councilman said. Hajj, which is held ten days earlier every year, coincides with Eid al-Adha, the Islamic holiday that was held Friday, June 6. Dearborn's City Hall, some city buildings and public libraries were closed Friday in observance of Eid al-Adha, and employees had the day off, the third year in a row the city has observed Eid holidays. Before leaving on hajj, Hammoud asked the public for forgiveness, which is recommended by some Islamic scholars and leaders for people performing the pilgrimage. More: Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud kicks off reelection campaign: The city is 'thriving' "As is custom before this journey, I humbly ask for your forgiveness if I have wronged you in word, action or deed — knowingly or unknowingly — I ask that you forgive me," Hammoud said. "May Allah, sbwt, accept a pilgrimage of all who are making the journey. Please keep us in your prayers, as I will carry yours with me." Pilgrims on hajj have to obtain a permit and visa through a website in Saudi Arabia, the U.S. State Department said in its guide for hajj pilgrims. In metro Detroit, mosques or groups often offer packages people can sign up for that includes travel and lodging costs, allowing them to journey together. Some offer educational classes on what to expect and the various rites involved. Before the hajj, worshippers are expected to enter into a state of spiritual piety and during the events, men wear simple, white garments. Hammoud sometimes refers to his faith during public speeches. When he was elected in November 2021, he said during his victory speech: "It is here in Dearborn where we believe that you need not change your name nor your faith, that in this town, we elect you based on the direction in which you lead, no matter the direction in which you pray." Hammoud attends services at the Islamic Center of America, a Dearborn mosque that is one of Michigan's oldest and largest Muslim centers, and where one of his uncles, Sheikh Ahmad Hammoud, is the imam. Hammoud, a Democrat, is running for reelection this year, seeking a second term, facing a challenge from Nagi Almudhegi, a Republican, who has been outspoken against LGBTQ+ books in schools. Speaking at another Dearborn mosque in February, Hammoud touched upon religion at times in addressing some criticism he's faced from Republicans for being supportive of the LGBTQ+ community and LGBTQ+ books in schools. In a September 2022 statement, the mayor noted that conservatives who once attacked Muslims like him were now attacking LGBTQ+ people. "The same dangerous ideology that once considered people like me 'a problem' is now being revived under the guise of preserving 'liberty,'" Hammoud said in 2022. "Our libraries serve as a gateway to knowledge, to imagination, and to possibility. When it comes to our city's libraries, for the sake of our children, no book will be removed off the shelves." More: Expectant mothers in Dearborn to get $4,500, mayor announces in State of the City But speaking at a mosque in Dearborn in February, Hammoud said of the 2022 statement: "Unfortunately, people took a statement out of context." He said he doesn't endorse any lifestyle that doesn't align with his family's lifestyle. Hammoud added however that "what people are doing in the privacy of their own home" is none of his business as mayor. "Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, tells you what you do in your own household is between you and Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala," Hammoud said, using the Arabic words for "God" and "May He be glorified and exalted." "My point is: I care for the whole city, to make sure that city services are delivered," Hammoud added. "When you have issues of property taxes, nobody's lifestyle matters when it comes to talking about property taxes. When you want to make investments in the parks, what matters is not anybody's lifestyle." Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@ X @nwarikoo of Facebook @nwarikoo This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud on hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Gaza marks the start of Eid with outdoor prayers in the rubble and food growing ever scarcer
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinians across the war-ravaged Gaza Strip marked the start of one of Islam's most important holidays with prayers outside destroyed mosques and homes early Friday, with little hope the war with Israel will end soon. With much of Gaza in rubble, men, women and children were forced to hold the traditional Eid al-Adha prayers in the open air and with food supplies dwindling, families were having to make do with what they could scrape together for the three-day feast. 'This is the worst feast that the Palestinian people have experienced because of the unjust war against the Palestinian people,' said Kamel Emran after attending prayers in the southern city of Khan Younis. 'There is no food, no flour, no shelter, no mosques, no homes, no mattresses. ... The conditions are very, very harsh.' The Islamic holiday begins on the 10th day of the Islamic lunar month of Dhul-Hijja, during the Hajj season in Saudi Arabia. For the second year, Muslims in Gaza were not able to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform the traditional pilgrimage. In Gaza City on Friday, Sanaa Al-Ghola, a displaced woman from Shejaiyah, stood in the rubble of a badly damaged graveyard near a partially collapsed mosque. She had come to pray for her son, Mohamed al-Ghoul, who she said was killed in shelling last month after going to his grandfather's house to get flour. His father was wounded in the attack. 'We lost our home, money, and everything," she said, crying as she held her son's photo. 'There is no more Eid after you're gone, my son.' Families at a displacement tent camp in Muwasi faced a grim first day of Eid al-Adha. Tahrir Abu Jazar, 36, of Rafah, warmed up leftover lentils and cooked rice inside her tent, but said she had no bread to feed her five children, who sat on the bare ground nearby. 'There are no Eid celebrations now as there is no new clothes or sacrificial meat, or monetary gifts, or joy,' she said, reminiscing over Eid days before the war when the children had meat. 'My son went out and tried to celebrate Eid and was scared of the warplane, so he came back." Israel issues a new warning In the southern city of Rafah, nine people were killed on their way to try and collect humanitarian aid at various distribution points, according to officials at Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis, where the bodies were brought. Eight died from gunshot wounds and the ninth person from shrapnel injuries. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the hospital's claim but said it was looking into the report. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a newly formed group of mainly American contractors that Israel wants to use to replace humanitarian groups in Gaza that distribute aid in coordination with the U.N., told The Associated Press that reports of violence in Rafah were inaccurate and that aid distribution was completed 'peacefully and without incident.' In northern Gaza on Friday, Israel issued a new warning to civilians saying the military was about to undertake intensive operations in an area after it said rockets were fired toward Israel from the sector. Meanwhile, the military said four Israeli soldiers were killed Friday in southern Gaza when an explosive detonated as they searched a Hamas compound in Khan Younis, causing part of a building to collapse. Five soldiers were injured, one seriously, spokesperson Effie Defrin said. The war broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 hostages. They are still holding 56 hostages, around a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages from Gaza and recovered dozens of bodies. Since then, Israel has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians in its military campaign, primarily women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures. The offensive has destroyed large parts of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of roughly 2 million Palestinians. UN warns of risk of famine After blocking all food and aid from entering Gaza for more than two months, Israel began allowing a trickle of supplies to enter for the U.N. several weeks ago. But the U.N says it has been unable to distribute much of the aid because of Israeli military restrictions on movements and because roads that the military designates for its trucks to use are unsafe and vulnerable to looters. The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome said Thursday that Gaza's people are projected to fall into acute food insecurity by September, with nearly 500,000 people experiencing extreme food deprivation, leading to malnutrition and starvation. 'This means the risk of famine is really touching the whole of the Gaza Strip,' Rein Paulson, director of the FAO office of emergencies and resilience, said in an interview. Over the past two weeks, shootings have erupted nearly daily in the Gaza Strip in the vicinity of new hubs where desperate Palestinians are being directed to collect food. Witnesses say nearby Israeli troops have opened fire, and more than 80 people have been killed, according to Gaza hospital officials. Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid and trying to block it from reaching Palestinians, and has said soldiers fired warning shots or, in some cases, shot at individuals approaching its troops. The GHF sent out a message on its Facebook site early Friday that it had closed all aid distribution sites until further notice and urged people to stay away for their own safety. It later clarified that the measure was only a temporary pause due to excessive crowding and that the agency had distributed all aid available Friday. Israel's military said that going ahead, distribution sites would be operated from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily and that outside those hours, the areas would be considered closed military zones that are strictly off limits. ___ Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Julia Frankel in Jerusalem, Fatma Khaled in Cairo, Paolo Santalucia in Rome and David Rising in Bangkok contributed to this story. Wafaa Shurafa, The Associated Press
