Dozens of Muslim volunteers came together Saturday, October 19, to give thousands of healthy meals to the needy as a part of the annual “Feed the Hungry Event,” News 5 Cleveland reported

“Feed the Hungry” was created five years ago by Pious Projects, a non-profit that allows people to participate in humanitarian projects all over the world.

“It’s in our Qur’an which is our book that we follow. It says that you should never discriminate,” Yamamah Rashid, one of the organizers of the Cleveland event, said.

She added, “it doesn’t matter what religion, race, or ethnicity. It doesn’t matter where they’re from that as long as you have a hungry friend or a neighbor. You should feed them. That is part of your duty as a Muslim.”

The event was held at the Islamic Center in Cleveland, Ohio where hundreds of volunteers came together to put 2,000 bagged meals.

Moreover, they gave them out to several local homeless shelters.

“Our Cleveland Muslim community is very strong. We all want to help each other out. But I was getting donations from California, Michigan, New York, Texas,” Amana Zahriyeh, another organizer of the event, said.

“Just from family and other friends that we all know and have that are out of state that will just send us anything to help out.”

Charity in Islam

As one of the Five Pillars of Islam, zakat or donating and charity is a religious obligation for all Muslims who meet the necessary criteria of wealth.

It’s a mandatory charitable contribution, the right of the poor to find relief from the rich. It is considered to be tax or obligatory alms.

Islamic Shari’ah also has another type of optional donation called Sadaqah. This term was used in the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah for both zakat and charity.