‎By Imam Kamil Mufti

Ramadan is more than a time when we Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. It is a time to restore our connection with our Creator, and it is also a time to become closer to each other and within our own communities. It is a month of sharing and a month of showing the beauty of Islam to others. Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said, “Richness does not come from having an abundance of things, but it comes from richness of the soul.” One way to enrich our soul is to give and share and there is no better time to enrich ourselves by showing generosity towards others and spreading love and warmth of a sacred month that God has blessed us with.

The satisfaction of serving and giving to others is quite unmatched. The unfortunate reality is that most of us do not always see that we have something to give. At a time when selfishness have become more normal than selflessness, many of us do not give our time, our wealth, or any of what we have the potential of giving to others. We look at what we will lose instead of what others will gain and that becomes our primary motivation. My giving has to be unconditional to the best of my ability. I don’t need to see if the hand reaching to me for help matches my own in skin color or country of origin or if the person in need looks like me, thinks like me, or believes like me.

I like to tell a story of a young man. This young man would go out into nature to be inspired and to help him reflect. One day, as he was walking down the beach, he saw someone dancing at a distance. Intrigued, he started walking towards that person, and he saw a young boy who was throwing something into the water. When he got even closer, he saw that on the shoreline there were thousands of starfish that were washed up and the boy was throwing them back into the water.

“What are you doing?” he asked the boy.

“I am throwing the fish back into the water.”

“Why are you doing that?”

“They washed up on the shore with the tide and if I don’t throw them back, they will die.”

“There are so many of them,” he said. “There is no way that you will be able to throw all of them back into the water. What difference will it make?”

The boy looked at the young man, then at the ground, picked up one of the fish, threw it into the water and said, “It made a difference to that one!”

We can all do our part in making the world a little better for someone. It might not impact everyone, but if it can have an impact on one life, on one heart. There is still value in it and it still makes a difference. It is in this spirit that some Muslims are providing free meals during the month of Ramadan to the local community.