Cape Islamic Center begins meal program for the hungry

The local Muslim community has begun an outreach program to help alleviate hunger.

"Our main focus is our duty that we have to feed our neighbor," said Dr. Ahmad Sheikh, an endocrinologist and member of the Cape Girardeau Islamic Center. Sheikh is one of the organizers of the program to provide meals each Friday to the community's hungry residents, particularly those who live near the West End Boulevard mosque.

Local Muslim volunteers have been preparing and delivering meals to the hungry in targeted areas of the community for several weeks. Friday they opened the doors of the Islamic Center to allow those in need to eat a meal there or take a meal to go.

Sheikh said 30 people were fed at the center Friday, and after serving ended another 106 meals were delivered.

Friday wasn't the first time the mosque opened its doors to feed people, but previous efforts had met with limited success. Sheikh said the impetus to revive the program came recently after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, during which believers are required to fast from dawn to dusk for 30 days.

"We experienced some hunger, and we started talking that we need to find our hungry people in the community and we need to help them out," Sheikh said.

The program started modestly, at first with 17 meals being delivered. Volunteers conducted surveys in the community to find where the greatest need was. The number of meals being delivered then increased rapidly.

The idea of inviting people to the Islamic Center again came because volunteers delivering meals noticed that they weren't feeding the same people each week. Fearing that some were being missed, organizers decided a fixed time and place to come to eat or pick up a meal would help.

A goal of 500 meals served was set for October. Sheikh said the 136 meals served Friday brought the total to an even 600.

The food is prepared by some of the local center, which has about 50 members. Much of the delivery and serving is done by Southeast Missouri State University students who are members of the Muslim Student Association.

Sheikh said the food program is not driven by a desire to bolster the image of Muslims. They don't go into the neighborhoods saying "we are Muslims and we are feeding people," he said.

Sheikh said helping humanity is an important part of Islam. He quoted a saying of the prophet Muhammad: "You are not a true believer if you sleep on a full stomach and your neighbor sleeps hungry."

"Nobody in Cape Girardeau should go hungry," Islamic Center director Shafik Malik said.

Pertinent address:

293 N. West End Blvd., Cape Girardeau, MO