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by Michel Hoebink*
29-12-2006
For the first time Dutch Muslim organisations will be collecting meat during the coming Islamic Feast of Sacrifice and then donating it to food bank and 'social' restaurants. The people behind the move regard it as a gesture that will show the rest of the population that Muslims are indeed involved in and part of Dutch society.
Dutch food bankThe four-day Feast of Sacrifice (Eid-Ul-Adha), which begins this weekend, is the time when Muslims remember how the Prophet Abraham was willing to sacrifice his own son for God - a story which also forms part of the Jewish and Christian traditions. Each Muslim who is capable of doing so is supposed to offer a sacrifice during this period by, for example, slaughtering a sheep or a goat.
Islamic tradition prescribes that a third of this food meat is for the immediate family of the person making the sacrifice, another third for relatives and friends, while the remaining third is to be given to the poor and those in need.
Among the Netherlands' Muslims of Turkish and Moroccan origin or descent, it has for years been the norm to send this remaining portion to poor people in Turkey or Morocco, often in the form of money donated to poor people living in the villages from which the donors originally came.
Time for change
However, the Cooperative of Muslim Aid Organisations (SMHO, Samenwerkende Moslim Hulporganisaties ) thought it was time for a change and that a gesture should be made towards society here in the Netherlands. These organisations hope that by giving the portion of the meat set aside for charitable purposes to poor people here in the Netherlands this will demonstrate how Muslims are part of Dutch society and, particularly, that their feeling of solidarity is not limited to other Muslims only.
The idea originally came from Kaya Kocak, a member of the local council in the southern city of Eindhoven for the Christian Democrat CDA party, but Muslim organisations in several other towns and cities soon showed an interest in joining the initiative. The plan was finally picked up on a national level by SMHO, backed up by co-financier, Catholic development charity Cordaid.
Mr Kocak says this is the first initiative of its kind on a national level. In recent years, efforts have been made during the Muslim month of fasting, Ramadan, to establish better contacts with Dutch society by organising shared Iftar meals after sunset when the fasting is broken. This was based on the tradition in many Muslim countries of organising the evening break-fast meals during Ramadan on the streets so that everyone can enjoy them together.
Not needed
There has, however, never been a national charitable campaign targeting Dutch society in general, i.e. both Muslims and non-Muslims. Mr Kocak says many Muslims used to believe that such a thing wasn't needed because the social welfare system in the country meant there were no truly poor people. But recent years have seen an increase in the level of poverty in the Netherlands, too.
Kaya Kocak found himself reading and hearing an increasing number of reports about food banks in the media and began to wonder whether they perhaps posed an opportunity for Muslims to contribute something to society in general. Initially he wasn't whether Islam actually allowed for such a thing, but inquiries soon showed that the recommendation that a third of the 'sacrifice' should be given to the poor did not mean it should be given only to Muslims.
Solidarity
In a recent interview with Radio Netherlands Worldwide's Arabic service, Malaysian Muslim philosopher criticised fellow Muslims for limiting their sense of solidarity to their own faith community.
The SMHO initiative shows that this need not be the case and also seems to confirm the conclusion recently reached by the Dutch Scientific Council for Government Policy to the effect that organised religion is a significant binding factor in the Netherlands' highly individualised society. In this context, the council referred to examples such as church organisations with charitable aims. The SMHO is now showing how Islam too can be a source of social solidarity.