One Organization's Assistance to Neighbors in Need
By Asma, Neighbor As COVID-19 spreads like wildfire in our communities, low-income families are struggling the most. The elderly are at risk. Self-employed workers see their businesses dry up. This trial is unlike any other of our time for many reasons, most of all, because it affects everyone.
What Faith Looks Like Now: A Conversation With the Imam Omar Suleiman
Since I met Imam Omar Suleiman a few years ago, he’s been good at checking in from time to time, to see how I’m doing or to get my perspective on something. And I’ve found that it’s invaluable to get his take, or just to talk to him for a few minutes. He is a comforting presence in what, even before this month, were uncomfortable times. We had spoken recently: he had been scheduled to go to New Zealand not long ago, on the anniversary of the Christchurch attack, but was forced to stay here and was wondering how best to commemorate the moment. We caught up again early last week, to talk about how he’s handling the current pandemic. Suleiman—the resident scholar of the Valley Ranch Islamic Center in Irving, founder and president of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research in Las Colinas, and professor of Islamic studies at SMU—sounded exhausted when he picked up the phone, but seemed to gain strength through the rest of the conversation. Which, in turn, gave me strength, as it always does. A transcript, lightly edited for clarity, follows. I’ll have more of these in the coming weeks. But, first, a prayer. How’s it going with you? It’s good. Just nonstop. I think everyone’s in the same situation. It’s been interesting. I’m just trying to help people stay optimistic. It’s hard, though. It’s hard to validate people’s pain, but at the same time, you know, trying to help them see the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s a tough time to sort of adjust our pastoral capacity or put it to the test, you know? Just the amount of stuff you have to take in now with something like this happening, on top of everything else. Yeah. So I’m worried about my dad. I mean, I think that’s the main thing. I think everyone’s worried about their own elderly folks, more than anything else. My dad’s 77, moved to Dallas last year, he lives down the street. So trying to keep him safe and protected, as much as possible. Of course. So balancing that with everything else is something else. But, all things considered, we’re doing a lot better than the vast majority of people. So just grateful and trying to do as much as we can for everybody else. How have you seen things change with, you know, having to keep a distance from the people who worship alongside you—or you used to, at least in the past weeks? How’s it different to do what you do with not being able to be around people? Yeah, it’s obviously—I mean, I think like with everyone else, it’s tough. It’s particularly difficult because for the elderly that were coming to the mosque on a daily basis, the mosque was also their only social outlet. Yeah. So we have to think about how to do more than just send out texts. In my case, I’m doing my three webinars a day, you know, but I realize I need to just actually schedule every day, just call five people, FaceTime them, or try to do some kind of Zoom or Skype or whatever it is just to, just to give them some level of social comfort, you know? To find some kind of normalcy. So that’s been the main thing. It’s been really on the minds of every Muslim here is what’s going to happen with Ramadan? It’s exactly a month away. Oh, right. I didn’t even think about that. Ramadan is what the whole year is about. Of course. I think that for us, that’s been what’s occupying the minds of people is, you know, what Ramadan is going to be like. What I anticipate is that as more people actually start to feel the pain of this thing beyond just being quarantined, you know, as we have more deaths in the community, which is inevitable, that’s where the focus will shift. So right now it’s more about the loss of spiritual privileges, less about the amount of spiritual pain that people are feeling. Once this really settles in and I think we see the full consequences of this virus, that’s when I think it’s going to hit the community harder. I know that from speaking to a lot of Muslims that are in New York and New Jersey right now, where we’ve already had several deaths and some of them have been Muslim and not being able to do the funeral prayer properly. So while we’ve been sort of consumed here with not being able to do the Friday prayer, in places where there have been more deaths, they’d been consumed with not being able to be the funeral prayer. And I think that that reality is gonna dawn upon us very soon and, you know, just pray we’re able to learn from those that are going through right now. You said you’re doing three webinars a day. What are you doing in those? I’ll do like a nightly reflection. I log on every night at 8 o’clock. I’m recording a bunch of different talks and series to be used for Ramadan. I do a Friday sermon online, but it’s not the actual replacement of the Friday sermon. It’s just to give people that connection on Friday that they typically would have had with a sermon. And, you know, I’m just trying to make myself available to all the different organizations that are out there. Practically every Muslim organization right now is organizing some sort of webinar, especially the nonprofits that are at risk of going under because of this, not being able to pay staff. Ramadan is the main fundraising season for every Muslim nonprofit. So that’s another dynamic to this. It’s not just the financial pain with the rising unemployment rates and, you know, everything else that all other Americans are going to feel, but Muslim nonprofits relying on Ramadan to give them their annual funding. And so that’s not going to happen. So a lot
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COVID-19 Resources
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As the coronavirus causes real disruption to the lives of New Jerseyans, some residents will be disproportionately affected and many service agencies will be critically impacted.
One Organization's Response to Assist Neighbors in Need
As COVID-19 spreads like wildfire in our communities, low-income families are struggling the most. The elderly are at risk. Self-employed workers see their businesses dry up. This trial is unlike any other of our time for many reasons, most of all, because it affects everyone.
The Coronavirus and End Times
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Houses of worship help those effected by virus outbreak
(RNS) — The United Methodist Church has long promoted abstinence from alcohol. But that didn’t stop City Road Chapel in the suburbs of Nashville, Tennessee, from announcing a Bar and Restaurant Workers Help Fund this week to assist locals whose food-service jobs have been impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.
Helping to deflect outbreak hardship in Inwood
To aid in defraying the financial hardships people are facing amid the coronavirus pandemic, County Legislator Carrié Solages, who represents Inwood, partnered with Islamic Council of North American Relief and provided 100 families with food supplies on March 16. At 385 Bayview Ave. in Inwood, Solages and ICNA Relief representatives distributed the items. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, 49 million Americans live in “food insecure” households and do not know where their next meal is coming from. The food distribution was part of ICNA Relief hunger prevention program to help both individuals and families from going hungry, especially while children are home from school. “Many families already have a difficult time feeding their families and now that children are home from school and seniors, especially, are asked to stay home, I am proud to know that there are organizations such as ICNA Relief to help alleviate food insecurities,” Solages stated in a news release. “We are our brother’s keeper and must do what we can to help in any way possible.” Article Courtesy: liherald.com
