You know how families volunteer to host iftaars at the masjid, so you pick a day and feed a bunch of regulars at the masjid. Usually the food consists of a box containing naan, rice, a salan, a veg/dal/cholay, khajoor, a drink and pakoray/rolls, and a dessert. Quite a substantial amount is spent on feeding let’s say a crowd of 200 folks on a Saturday evening. In some Masjids, 2 or more families contribute toward the iftaar if the numbers are larger.
My question to you is that are we doing better good by sending the same amount in $$ back to flood victims or the truly needy, or should we be satisfying our social needs/obligations by feeding those who already have abundance of food, half of which gets trashed right after the iftaar.
Re: Doing an Iftaar at the masjid vs donating to the needy
This idea may be new for you, but people in Pakistan are already aware of the fact that unless the food in masjid is to be served to poor people or orphaned children (which is rare), it is better to send that to the more needy.
Re: Doing an Iftaar at the masjid vs donating to the needy
Its true that those in need should get the priority and I believe the money should be sent to the flood victims instead of spending it on huge iftaaris.... Having a rozadaar (rich or poor) over for iftaar isn't a bad thing, I mean it does have a lot of ajar and sawaab but, at this time, those in Pakistan need this money the most and we can gather so much more sawaab by helping them out instead of doing an iftaar at a masjid, no doubt about it.
Re: Doing an Iftaar at the masjid vs donating to the needy
In our mosque in Pakistan , they have stopped regular Iftaar they use to have in every ramazan . But again , here we have lot of needy people who come to mosque too . Now they won't be able to have free food . So it totally depends on the area you live in . If you are talking about America , then I think its better to send money back home , they desperately need it here .
Re: Doing an Iftaar at the masjid vs donating to the needy
while i don't oppose what others have already said, i think it is also important to build the Muslim community and ensure their needs are met where one is living. it is important also to give in the masjid as lots of local Muslims come there for iftar.
i think there needs to be a balance: like, in these difficult times when Pakistan is hit by floods, perhaps a more simple iftar can be donated to the mosque and then some money saved up from there and sent to flood victims also.
even in Pakistan, iftar is still happening in other cities, in people's house etc - and people are also donating to the victims. both activities can go on in parallel.
Niksik, why does half of it get trashed right after iftar? they can take it to soup kitchens or distribute among bachelors/students to have at sehri....and not make so much in the first place.
Re: Doing an Iftaar at the masjid vs donating to the needy
This is one of the things that have been bothering me for quite sometime as well. I was yesterday at a musalla for aftar where there were only 5 people and we had 7 of those micro samosa and a bottle of juice, a few dates and water to break out fast. It definitely wasn't enough to actually feed 5 people but I didn't really care I broke my fast and went out to eat after. I don't know what other people did but I am really sure anyone who was there could easily have afforded a couple of slices of pizza to eat. Even though it was a very small little aftar everyone left happy. No one had any complains wat so ever.
As far as AuntyNumber1's coment about aftar is concerned. I have been involved in distributing aftar all through out unviersity for MSA and after for a couple of other places. One of the things that has bothered me is that people have absoloutely no respect for free food. They think that it is free so they do not care. Some places do not throw the food out. I know in MSA we use to give out the left over food to the people who would help us clean at the end or the food went to the MSA fridge which then would be reheated and used the next day. Other places I know have been guilty of abusing perfectly good food and the excuses they have for that are utter garbage.
Re: Doing an Iftaar at the masjid vs donating to the needy
My wife has told me in clear words that she is not going to host any Iftar dinners this year. We used to have 2 dinners every Ramdan (one for relatives and one for friends). She has already told relatives of her side about this and has asked me to do the same so no one expects it ( BHAOOOOO )
She has asked me to calculate the $$$ amount we would have spent on these dinners and send it to Red Cross. As per her logic, people who we invite are well off anyway. There is no point inviting them in these hard times. They will not die of hunger if we dont invite them. Additionally she has said no more lavish Iftars for us also :( Just khajoor and dinner. All the savings will also go to Red Cross flood fund.
Re: Doing an Iftaar at the masjid vs donating to the needy
Ammi was in the habit of hosting an iftaar at the local masjid every year. After she passed away we continued the tradition in her memory....except last year when we decided collectively that the money would be better spent on truly needy people.
This year the funds will go to the flood victims iA.
Re: Doing an Iftaar at the masjid vs donating to the needy
I personally think, if you have enough money to aid the victims of the flood in any way and still be able to host an iftaar at the masjid then there's no problem. Ofcourse our number one priority is to send donations to the areas hit by the floods. :)
Re: Doing an Iftaar at the masjid vs donating to the needy
In reply to the food wastage question, the iftaar at our masjid gets distributed in boxes, so each person gets a box. Now I have 2 daughters with me and to tell you the truth, all 3 of us can eat from the same box very comfortably as there's a substantial amount of food. But there are people who take 3-4 boxes for themselves and 1 or 2 kids and eat a little out of each box, then trash the rest. Last year, I was helping cleaning up after one such dinner and I was very disappointed to see how many boxes had been thrown out, how much juice was spilt on the rug, how many half used water bottles were trashed...all these things could have been taken home and refrigerated for later.
Re: Doing an Iftaar at the masjid vs donating to the needy
Niksik,
We saw the same happening at our masjid so we decided that packaging in a box was not a good idea. Not everyone eats all the contents....especially kids because they are often picky so we started serving from foil trays and used paper plates etc. This greatly reduced the wastage and ensured that the leftovers were not contaminated or thrown away. We used jugs and plastic beverage cups so that only the amount required was poured out and not cans or bottles.
We still had people that decided to take in their dish but not finish.......but since their "leftovers" were THAT much more visible, they were reluctant to throw away.
I also learned to be blunt with folks.....when I would go around collecting the garbage I would simply say, "Please clean your plate" if someone was trying to trash food.
Re: Doing an Iftaar at the masjid vs donating to the needy
for this ramadan, our masjid decided just to give out iftaar (with dates, samosas), but everyone has to bring their own dinner.
For masjid dinners and other events, the food is set up buffet style, and there are servers putting in food in your plate. This way it ensures that there is not too much food in a plate (especially for kids), and nothing goes to waste. The leftover food is packaged individually and people can take it home if they please.
Alhumdulillah, our masjid has a very strict policy on wasting food and usually it never does.
Re: Doing an Iftaar at the masjid vs donating to the needy
This year we are still continuning to have very simple iftaar at home and at the masjid which provide ample fundraising oppurtunities for the flood victoms. We are actually asking the children to do the collection of aid for the flood victoms every weekend.
Re: Doing an Iftaar at the masjid vs donating to the needy
I like the buffet/serving idea but we used to do that before and there was so much chaos so we switched to the box system. I like Afshi's idea of bring your own dinner.
Re: Doing an Iftaar at the masjid vs donating to the needy
You know how families volunteer to host iftaars at the masjid, so you pick a day and feed a bunch of regulars at the masjid. Usually the food consists of a box containing naan, rice, a salan, a veg/dal/cholay, khajoor, a drink and pakoray/rolls, and a dessert. Quite a substantial amount is spent on feeding let's say a crowd of 200 folks on a Saturday evening. In some Masjids, 2 or more families contribute toward the iftaar if the numbers are larger.
My question to you is that are we doing better good by sending the same amount in $$ back to flood victims or the truly needy, or should we be satisfying our social needs/obligations by feeding those who already have abundance of food, half of which gets trashed right after the iftaar.
Its a tough question if you think in depth cuz apparently it comes in mind and very easy to say that yes we should send the money over to Pakistan but if you really take a sec and think, there are many individuals (apart from the families) who head to masjid for Aftar cuz they have nowhere else to go. Many of them are students, many workers who are living on their own and yes many families too, who spend more time in masjid than their homes. So you just cannot ignore this fact totally that aftaris in masjids have a very valid reason. But yes, your other point is imporatant and can be worked on, that this aftari should be summarized to khajoor, sharbat and a couple of eatables. Instead of wasting a lot of food resources and having extravagance, we can save a good amount of money by making sure that its a properly budgeted aftari whose purpose is to let the rozedar open their fasts and that's it.
Just two cents..
Re: Doing an Iftaar at the masjid vs donating to the needy
Niksik,
instead of you doing it individually, you should raise the awareness at the community level that there should not be any iftar parties in the masjid this year and those families who were planning on sponsoring those iftars rather send that money to flood victims. This way everyone no one family would be singled out for not sponsoring the iftar. Beyond that if anyone still wants to, they can invite selected ones at their home for a small scale private iftar gathering.
Good job, we and our acquintances are doing the same this year, no iftaar or eid milan parties this year, the money of hosting plus gifts to be donated for flood relief.
Ofcourse this has to be inaddition to other donations for flood relief.
Re: Doing an Iftaar at the masjid vs donating to the needy
Sid_NyY you have a valid point but most people at our masjid...especially the women's section eat quite well mashaAllah in their homes. I suppose we would have some brothers who hope to get some home cooked iftaari.