An Islamic charity in Singapore has launched a fundraising campaign in cooperation with the country’s mosques to help people affected by the coronavirus.
The Rahmatan Lil Alamin Foundation (RLAF), a charity foundation set up by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) in 2009, kicked off the fundraising campaign on Wednesday, February 26.
70 Mosques across the country will also launch a donation collection next Friday to show solidarity with fellow Singaporeans.
RLAF executive director Zainul Abidin Ibrahim said the fund-raising efforts were “in line with our aim to nurture a Singapore Muslim community that participates actively in building a caring and compassionate society,” The Straits Times reported.
“We are hopeful that our little effort will enhance the relief for the affected parties as we band together with many other initiatives for the good of the larger Singapore family,” he added.
Both online and mosque donation campaigns will end on March 5.
The donations will be turned over to the Community Chest, who will channel the donations to The Courage Fund, which has received more than $1 million in donations as of Feb 15 to help people affected by the outbreak.
Virus Threat
The coronavirus virus originated from the central Chinese city of Wuhan and has quickly spread to more than 32 countries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday that there have been 78,811 reported cases of Covid-19 [the WHO official name of the novel coronavirus disease] and 2,462 related deaths.
A few days ago, Singaporean Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs urged all Muslims at mosques to take their own mats. He also advised them to avoid shaking hands to minimize contact.
The new measures in Singapore became necessary with some houses of worship alerting people to take extra care amidst the outbreak of this virus.