A Muslim family has been awarded by local authorities for providing help to their neighbors during a winter storm in the U.S. village of Morton Grove.

Mayor Dan Dimaria honored the Muslim family on Monday, February 11 2019.

“Thank you for showing what Morton Grove really is about,” Mr Dimaria said to the family of Sabeel Ahmed.

On the eve of the storm, the Muslim family went door to door in their neighborhood to offer assistance to their neighbors, according to NBC Chicago television.

“We’re all humans at the end of the day,” Ahmed said.

“Helping neighbors is a big part of the faith,” he added. “But there is also fear about Islam and Muslims. We don’t want people to judge Islam or any other faith just based on the news …. There are so many commonalities we have as humans, as Americans and as people of faith.” He added.

The family also wrote a letter offering help to their neighbors.

“We are your Muslim neighbors. The temperature will be very cold. We are here to help if you need to pick up groceries or medicine. Or shoveling of snow.”

They also sent e-mails to neighbors they could not reach on foot.

True Muslims

One of their neighbors, Susan Engel, who is elderly and disabled, asked for assistance from the Muslim family.

“We went as a family and dropped off groceries to her,” Ahmed said.

Engel has hailed the Muslim family as “saints”.

“I needed help and they came to my aid,” she said. “He’s like my knight in shining armor”

The initiative by the Ahmed’s family has won praise from their neighbors.

“I was really pleasantly surprised to see what was going on in my community,” Alexander Slagg said.