Ramadan helping hand
Islamic youth group provides care packages for senior citizens.
As Milwaukee-area Muslims prepared to observe a second pandemicera Ramadan, a local senior center was working to keep members nourished and connected to the community.
Those who arrived Monday at the Sakina Center, part of the Muslim Community Health Center, to pick up their usual meal-program food also received care packages for Ramadan with dates, sweets, hand sanitizer and more.
“Ramadan Mubarak!” read handwritten cards that accompanied them. “May this Ramadan bring joy, health and wealth to you and your family.”
Assembled by a youth group from the Islamic Society of Milwaukee in Brookfield, the packages are one instance of local Muslim institutions adjusting operations for the pandemic while continuing the kind of community outreach that is central to their missions.
“Service to God’s people is the basic essence of Islam,” said Zulfiqar Ali Shah, imam at the Islamic Society of Milwaukee.
During the month of Ramadan, faithful abstain from food and drink from dawn until sundown, which provides time to reflect on the struggles of those in need, Shah said. A year into the pandemic, so many in the wider community continue to face hunger, financial difficulty or health issues.
“There’s no point of getting hungry and being thirsty and not feeling for those who are less fortunate members of the community,” Shah said. “That is our central message: Observe fasting and then share your bounties with those that need it most.”
The pandemic’s challenges have been compounded as people cannot gather with friends and family. It’s something the members of the senior center understand acutely.
Mohamad Bassar, originally of Lebanon, loved taking exercise, cooking
and health classes at the center while socializing with his friends from around the world. They’d play cards or dominos and tend to a vegetable garden on the property.
The coronavirus forced many of the classes online, and the members who’d been going to the center to get out of the house suddenly found themselves at home once again.
“We’re patiently waiting to open the club,” Bassar said. “We (had) a lovely time here.”
Bassar was at the center Monday as organizers handed out the care packages and a chicken and rice meal to those who participate in the senior meal program, which operates four days a week with curbside pickup. The program, run by coordinator Mariam Khan, typically serves 60 to 90 people a day.
During Ramadan the prepared meals will be a help to older members, who won’t have to spend energy cooking to break their fast, said Fozia Ahmed, president of the health center.
Plus, “during the pandemic especially when people are all in their homes, not going out, obviously it is so nice, at least they have the main (dish),” Ahmed
This meal consisted of grilled chicken and rice, grilled vegetables, baba ghanouj, salad, Pita bread and an apple.
said.
At local mosque, gatherings with precautions
Ramadan used to be the busiest month of the year at the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, the state’s largest mosque, between nightly prayers and huge social gatherings to break the fast.
Because the pandemic forced the cancellation of all in-person events last year, members are thrilled to return, Shah said.
“So far we have got overwhelming registration for our nightly prayers,” he said.
The mosque won’t be sponsoring any parties or dinners to break the fast, and leaders have advised against them at homes. Leaders are also requiring masks and social distancing and enforcing capacity limits on the nightly prayers; Shah expects about 300 people will be able to attend each of the two services.
A massive tent will be set up outside to accommodate more people, he said.
“It’s going to be a kind of attenuated or curtailed social gathering, but still it is better than not having it,” Shah said.
A chance to encourage vaccination
The month of observance comes as all Wisconsin residents 16 and up have become eligible to get the vaccine. In that, Shah sees a chance to convey Ramadan’s theme of charity.
“Using this opportunity of Ramadan, this opportunity of charity, we’re asking people to be generous enough, even if they are hesitant, even if they’ve got question marks about the vaccine, go take it for the sake of your neighbor,” he said.
Of major concern to many is whether receiving the COVID-19 vaccine will break the fast. It won’t, Shah said.
The shot doesn’t provide any nourishment, scholars have ruled. And those who have serious side effects to the vaccine are permitted to eat and drink whatever they need. Especially at this point in the pandemic, Shah hopes that people of all faiths and backgrounds take a lesson from Ramadan: Concern yourself with the community at large, love God and love your neighbor.