Muslim Aid Media Centre

Food for Thought?

 “The virtuous are those who feed the poor, the orphan and the captive for the love of Allah SWT, saying: ‘we feed you for the sake of Allah alone; we seek from you neither reward nor thanks.”

 –  The Holy Qur’an 76:8-9

Humility in Islam is in giving to others with modesty. It is believed that our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) once said that a person is not really a Muslim if he can fall asleep satisfied whilst his neighbour goes hungry. Generosity is loved by Allah SWT and is believed to be one of the things that could save us from the fire of hell on the day of Judgement.


In this day and age, there is no such thing as “simple food”. We go to the supermarket and there are hundreds of variations and brands for just one simple product. Let’s take pasta for example; numerous shapes, sizes, brands, types, wheat or gluten free and so on…  on the rare occasion that we cannot find the particular “type” we are looking for, we complain. But how many of us stop to think about how ungrateful we must sound to those who don’t even have the basic product, never mind a variation of it?


Around 15 million tonnes of food is wasted in the UK alone, with almost half of that amount being wasted directly from our homes. How is it that we would rather overfill our plates or waste good food than to share that extra amount with someone who could be dying of hunger? How many of us find ourselves overstocking on food because there was a good offer on, to then only go on to find it out of date a few weeks later, uneaten and straight to the bin?


We don’t actually realise how we take things for granted, being accustomed to such choices and lifestyle, we forget those out there who may not even have seen half of the things we have seen and tasted. As the saying goes: “there is more fruit in a rich man’s shampoo than there is on a poor man’s plate.”


So let’s wake up from this ignorance we are buried in and help our brothers and sisters around us who are yearning for even a little of what we complain about. Let’s not waste food, and instead, donate that sum to someone in serious need of that nourishment.


Whether you are someone who buys the bare basics or someone who likes a bit of variety, nobody can judge you, but a person’s true wealth is determined by the good they do in the world – their reward is in the hereafter.


So help us to help others and feed the hungry with Muslim Aid. Today, there are over 870 million people worldwide who go hungry on a daily basis. Thousands of people all over the world die from hunger and malnourishment every day. For just £3 a month, you could change that statistic; it could be the difference between life and death for some.

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