ULEMA AID
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Through everyday events, we were alerted to the plight and difficulty experienced by our local Ullema who under normal circumstances depend on their salaries via collections done at the Masaajid, by musallees visiting every day or the bigger collections done during the Friday prayer.
Needless to say the various levels of restrictions during the lockdown have greatly hindered us from visiting the house of the Almighty often enough and therefore drastically affected collections. Through the assistance of our local community and the Overbaakens Masjid trust, a project was launched, where we were able to initiate an ongoing collection drive to assist these humble leaders in and around the city from Uitenhage to Plettenberg bay. One of the most heartwarming responses we received during the beginning stages of this initiative was from one of the imams who has a Hifz class for 10 young boys, some of which are orphans .Upon receiving the food parcel the imams response was “Is this all for me? Do I have permission to do with it anything I want?” Our representative replied affirmingly, to which the Imam replied, “can I give it to my students?” Oh how Great is the Almighty, giving this man a heart of pure contentment. Despite his dire need, despite having his own family’s needs to tend to, he still thought first about his students.

“Donations and sponsors were unwavering from food parcels, household goods and clothing vouchers to assisting in everyday needs like transport or medical assistance, all praises are truly due to The Almighty. This has become a regular monthly initiative, which began with a list of just 24 and has over the past few months grown exponentially.

We now aim to bridge any gap needed to assist the role models who assist us in guiding our kids to the right path and thus we beseech you to; Get involved, come forward, play a role, they need your help, let’s give them the respect and honor they deserve. We all had life choices to make at a young age, these amazing souls chose the work of the Almighty, despite knowing that it would not bring the material comforts of this world and at times there would be struggles. But through this adversity, they still chose to stand up ahead of so many of us, so we can make glamorous choices because we knew they had taken the more dutiful choices filling the obligatory positions our communities need to survive with.

None of us can do our jobs on empty stomachs or with financial stress weighing us down, how do we expect them as the leaders of our communities, the inspiration to our children, voices of reason through our strife, to stand tall, fulfill their duties in prayers, teachers and as councilors when they are struggling with the basic needs of life?

RAMADAN ULEMA 1443