Hi
i live in Canada,
and after Taraweeh last night at the mosque, my sister and i were approached by this Muslim women (i believe Arab, she had an Arab accent) and she was asking us to help her. She said she had 5 children, and she came from Montreal. She had no money to get back to Montreal, and she needed money to stay in a hotel. She had a little girl with her, i didn’t see the rest of the kids. I don’t bring my purse to the mosque, so I apologized and left. But she just kept going to different Muslim women in the mosque asking for money.
She even pulled out some credit card looking cards showing me she had five kids?!
I’ve been quite disturbed since, being born and raised in Canada, and have NEVER encountered something like this.
I’ve been hearing this is some sort of scam? which is quite sad
Most likely it is a scam. But there is that chance it isn't and she really needs help. Rather than giving her money, give her details of the nearest women's shelter in your area.
Hard to say if it's a scam or not, but it's really hard to be poor, in a foreign country, and have no family support. Poverty just multiplies all problems. On top of that some immigrants don't have visas or have overstayed and that keeps them from obtaining help out of fear.
I see the same here in my city (Houston). There is a young lady in hijab (most likely Arab) who used to hold up a sign at a busy intersection saying that she has 4 siblings and her mother needs money for surgery. An older lady in abaya used to do the same at another intersection. She was either Desi or North African. Dallas has a few Somali females dressed in their traditional abaya begging at intersections.
What is the point? Even males or females from various background and religions beg in various corners.
Help or not its up to us. Like someone said, it is hard for someone to be in a foreign country and be poor. The country does try to provide them shelter though.
Scam or not, its difficult to tell. At least in this month one has to be generous.
A veil may be used by some to hide their face and save some dignity.
1999 se 2007 tak Snata Clara fair ground main jab bhi Eid ki namaz perhny jao main aik Arab Ya shaid Bosnian khatoon ko tu main bhi daikhti thi mangty hoey fairground (Jahan namaz hot thi ke baher) pichly sal nazar nahi ai shaid wahan move na hu gai hu.
scam or not - if you felt she "needed" it - then you should have dropped in at least a dollar.
I doubt if begging was easy. I mean she would have to go to 50 people just to get $50 bucks for the day... and lose her dignity in the meanwhile. So just may it was not a scam...
I have seen several local (non muslims) coming into our local Masjid asking for financial help. The issue is weather they are in for what they say, be muslim or non muslim. Whats to say they are not using it for drugs?
At the end of the day, its our intention for giving or not giving:)
In this situation i will always give a small amount if i feel the person is scamming me. Aslong as my intention were pure in giving to help the person then inshallah i'll get reward from Allah for my generous deed. I hate leaving people empty handed when they ask me for money as it always plays on my conscious, saves me the trouble by donating a small amount.
I live in Dallas and I have been noticing this here in the local Mosque this Ramadan as well. After the taraveeh, there are these ladies asking for help. They are very organized and don't repeat themselves as there is a different lady every day. This was brought to the management of the masjid and the question was also asked to the Hafiz Saahib, the Imam of the Masjid.
The Masjid collects zakat and other donations from the community to help people in need. They however need to identify themselves and ask the management directly.
After a quick meeting with the management, the Imam announced this after the next day Isha Prayer that management's advice to everyone is to NOT help them. Instead, ask them to contact the management of the masjid so the masjid can "properly" help them. We have a management office outside the prayer hall with hours of operation posted.