Help for victims
Dr. Faisal Qazi, a neurologist in Pamona, California, about 40 miles (65 kilometres) west of San Bernadino, is a part of a faith-based non-profit group called Minds that provides training and aid to those in need. The help they give is not connected to religion, Dr. Qazi said, but is instead “a community services charter.”
When he heard of the shooting he and other Muslim-American friends who are a part of Minds went to LaunchGood, an Islamic-American funding site, and opened up a page for donations to the families of the San Bernardino shooting.
Then they heard the killers were Islamic extremists and became unsure if they should continue, briefly taking down the page. Dr. Qazi, 41, and his friends “weren’t sure what kind of backlash would come to our charitable work” but upon reconsidering they put the page back up.
The tragedy having occurred in a community near to where they worked, they found they had patients with connections to victims and it was hitting them literally close to home. As Muslims, as Americans, they wanted to help.
“The American Muslim community has had extensive and intense conversations in the last decade about our role in society,” Qazi told media. “What you’re seeing is the coming of a new generation of American Muslims being emotionally and physically invested in whatever transpires in society.”
Sending “powerful message”
To date the ‘Muslims United for San Bernardino’ campaign has had almost 1,600 people contribute money, people from numerous states including Florida, Michigan, New York, Ohio and Tennessee. It ends on December 30 at which time ‘Minds’ will transfer the money to the San Bernardino County and United Way for distribution to victim’s families.
“The San Bernardino families lost their loved ones in a deplorable act of violence,” their funding site reads. “This is why a collective of American Muslim leaders and groups have united to raise funds for the victims’ families.
“We wish to respond to evil with good, as our faith instructs us, and send a powerful message of compassion through action,” the site continues. “Our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said: “Have mercy to those on earth, and the One in the Heavens (God) will have mercy upon you.”
They hoped to raise $20,000 but it now seems they will easily exceed 10 times that amount.
