Following the murders of American Muslim students one month ago in Chapel Hill, US Muslims have launched “FeedTheirLegacy”, a nationwide canned food drive for the hungry, in which scores of mosques and thousands of Muslims participated.
“While we mourn the loss of three young and extraordinary American Muslims, and the brutal way they were killed, the Qur’an instructs us to respond to evil with good,” shared Tarek El-Messidi, national coordinator of FeedTheirLegacy, in a press released published by the group.
“With extremists like ISIS dominating headlines daily, we want America to see that it’s Muslims like Deah, Yusor and Razan who truly represent us,” he added.
What inspired was Barakat’s last FB post with a picture showing him feeding the homeless in North Carolina, has now gone viral leads to a nationwide charity food drive.
Victim’s Kin have urged US Muslims to respond to hate with love and kindness. “One month later, we still grieve the sudden loss of our family; the silver lining in this tragedy is amazing efforts like FeedTheirLegacy. The amount of food charity given in their memory comforts us tremendously, knowing that their lives inspired so much good,” said Deah’s Sister Suzanne Barakat.
After two weeks of work, 230 mosques, Muslim Student Associations (MSAs), schools and churches nationwide have registered to host canned food drives to feed the hungry in their communities, giving all cans to local food pantries.
Over 60,000 cans have been collected within two weeks of the launched of website, enough to feed the entire homeless population of North Carolina five times over.
The young US Muslims of North Carolina, Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, were found dead at a condominium complex off campus.