Imam of a Turkish mosque turned mosque into a supermarket after the suspension of mass congregational prayer in mosques until the pandemic passes in Thursday.
At the entrance of an Istanbul mosque, the racks typically held for the shoes are now stacked with pasta bundles, oil bottles, bread rolls like a market. In any case, they are not available to be purchased. Rather they are bound for the penniless, hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The sign on the mosque’s window asks any people who can to leave something, and says those in need can take something. Abdulsamet Cakir, 33, imam of the Dedeman mosque in the Sariyer District, thought of this of contacting the poor by means of the spot of love.
Turkey’s approximate loss of life from the infection currently remains at 2,259 after 119 additional casualties were accounted on Tuesday, and major cities, including Istanbul, are to be under lockdown for four days from today. “After the suspension of mass prayers, I had an idea to revive our mosque by bringing together well-off people with the people in need,” Cakir said where packs of nourishment and tidying items were accumulated on the floor.
The Imam, who takes the items from the floor and places them on the racks at the passageway, said he was propelled by a gift culture in the Ottoman time frame called “charity stone” a little column stone raised at specific areas of the city to associate rich people with poor people. In this Ottoman plan for giving foundation in a stately way without culpable the destitute, individuals with means would leave whatever sum they needed in a hole on the highest point of the cause stone.
After the coronavirus pandemic, we have thought about what we can do to help our brothers in need,” said Cakir, who has been helping the poor in his neighborhood before the outbreak. “With the inspiration from our ancestors’ ‘charity stone’ culture, we decided to fill the racks in our mosque with the help from our brothers with means,”
He further stated, “Everyone does whatever they can to help people in need. For example, a brother who lives in France did online shopping and directed the aid to our mosque,” he said. “What the mosque is doing is really, really good for us. Ramazan is coming,” said Duygu Kesimoglu, 29, referring to the Muslim fasting month beginning this week. “I am unfortunately jobless, they don’t employ us because of the coronavirus. No job, no money. This help is very, very good,” she said.
