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ICNA Bay Area Celebrates Abraham's Day |
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Sunday, 20 January 2008 |
No figure in the history is a greater unifier of the world's prophetic traditions than Prophet Abraham (may Allah's peace and blessings be on him). Also known as Abraham, Jews, Christians and Muslims alike view him as the patriarch of their faith.
To honor the tradition of the great prophet, ICNA Relief annually celebrates Abraham's Day right after Eidul Adha. It is a day for hundreds of volunteers to exemplify that prophetic characteristic of goodwill by providing hot meals and other necessities to the downtrodden. Men and women, young and old, come together across national, racial, ethnic and religious divides, unified in their aim of community service. This year Abraham's Day was celebrated in the bay area on January 19th. Muslims who made the traditional animal sacrifice on Eidul Adha contributed 400 pounds of goat meat. 100 pounds of beef was contributed by the Hidaya Foundation. With this more than 1400 meals were served.
On Abraham's Day hot meals were served in four bay area locations:
United Nations Plaza in San Francisco, the South Bay Islamic
Association in San Jose, and two distribution locations in Oakland. Our
brothers and sisters from MSA West led the food distribution in one of
the locations in Oakland. The meat was prepared with rice, curry and
vegetables at Yaseen's corner (Santa Clara) and packaged at Masjid
Noorul Islam (San Francisco), SBIA and Masjid al Islam (Oakland).
Enshrined in the Muslim tradition is the encouragement to lift up our
brothers and sisters who have fallen. It was this profound urge that
brought an overwhelming response from the Muslim community. The event
was cosponsored by a number of local organizations such as MCA, SBIA,
Hidaya Foundation, MSA West, Masjid Noorul Islam, and Masjid al Islam.
Generous donations were made by individuals and volunteers. Kids baked
cookies to be handed out.
The efforts of the selfless volunteers, many of whom were sisters, were
warmly received and highly appreciated by those whose lives they
touched.
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