It is around 8.30pm.The muezzin at the massive, white-washed green minarate-decorated Sunni Muslim Bilal Masji... Read More

MUMBAI: It is around 8.30pm. The muezzin at the massive, white-washed green minarate-decorated Sunni Muslim Bilal Masjid in Grant Road (East) has called out the faithful for Isha or the night's prayer. While several devout Muslims, clad in white kurta-pyjama, head to the mosque's inner sanctum after doing wadu or ablutions at the front wadukhana, a group of Good Samaritans first finish a big task at hand before joining others at the prayers.

They hand out food packets, each containing containing three rotis, sabzi and achar, to the hungry, impoverished lot who have queued up at the Idgah Maidan on the mosque's eastern flank. Led by spiritual leader Syed Moin Ashraf Quadri (Moin Mian), one of the trustees of Sunni Muslim Chhota Kabrastan Trust which manages both the Bilal Masjid and the Idgah Maidan, this charitable act is unusual if not altogether unique.

For, langar or community kitchen through which some Sikhs distribute free meals to the visitors to a place of worship, especially Gurudwaras, is common. Distribution of free meal at Dargahs or mausoleums of Sufi Saints is also passe. But rarely does a mosque or a trust which runs a mosque manage a langar.

Kicking off the service named Langar-e-Rasool (the Prophet's kitchen) this month's beginning, the trustees have not just begun feeding some of the poor in the city but even revolutionise the role of a mosque. Mosques traditionally are used to pray or even to hold Quran classes at non-namaz hours but, by initiating a free vegetarian meal service and naming it after the Prophet, the trustees have introduced an inclusivity to a sacred space. "The Prophet encouraged people to feed the poor and the hungry and the hungry can be from any religion. We have kept it vegetarian deliberately to widen its appeal to non-Muslims who may not be comfortable to take non-vegetarian food from a Muslim-run organisation," explains Moin Mian whose fellow trustees-Abdul Kader Churatwala, Amin Dabbawala and Aslam Lakha-approved the proposal when one of Moin Mian's followers proposed the idea and initially funded the project. "We have done the maths and can give food to at least 400 people every night. Currently around 100 turn out to receive free meal," informs Dabbawala.

The food, Dabbawala insists, prepared from fresh vegetables and pure wheat flour, at the nearby Madrassa Ashrafia Qadriya (Moin Mian heads it), reach the maidan just before the night prayer begins. As the volunteers bring the baskets, the beneficiaries queue up. Present in the queue are also three sisters-Lubna, Asma, Sana. "We never had plenty of food at home though we are not beggars. These packets supplement what we already have for the dinner," says Lubna. They share it with neighbours if they have collected more than they can bite off. "Sometimes we share with our neighbours if we feel we have taken more than we can eat," says Asma.

The service is earning accolades from the wider community members. "I appreciate the effort to provide some poor healthy and hygienic meal every night. At least these beneficiaries don't have to sleep on empty stomach," says Bandra-based activist Shadaab Patel who wants many more mosques to replicate the service.

Education activist Kazim Malik says that some months ago Bandra-based activist late Ghulam Mohammed sponsored a free meal service on Fridays at a mosque in Dharavi but the service is close since Ghulam Mohammed died. "One of his friends has promised to reopen it soon," informs Malik.

So how will the langar at the Sunni Bilal Mosque sustain? "As the word spread, people have begun contributing to the Trust being run under Moin Mian's guidance. We believe it is not we but God which feeds us and He will keep supplying the food," says Lakha, leaving you almost speechless. You cannot argue much when God appears in between discussions.

