Hawzah News Agency (Halifax, Canada) - A growing group of Muslims in Halifax and nearby communities are working together to buy Christmas presents for people who can’t afford them.

“For me, it’s important as a Muslim because our religion teaches us all about charity. It’s all about giving and love,” said Rana Zaman, who is organizing the initiative.

She said she saw a post on a buy and sell group on Facebook recently. The poster had extra Christmas money and wanted to use it to help people who can’t afford to buy presents.

“These are all wonderful people. They’re asking for their children,” said Zaman.

The poster couldn’t accommodate the full demand, so Zaman stepped up to assist the 25 families who responded to the post asking for help.

“One lady, it really touched me, this sad story. She’s going through a hard time and she actually just asked for groceries,” she said. “It really touches your heart.”

Zaman has since asked for help in a Facebook group for Halifax Muslims and 15 people have offered to assist so far.

She said she’s looking for help from anyone that can provide it, not just Muslims.

The plan is to pair donors with families and have donors personally deliver the gifts, allowing the parents to wrap them if they want. Donors can also participate anonymously.

“It has nothing to do with a religious holiday. It happens to be a very special time of day for our Christian brothers and sisters, and we as Muslims recognize that,” she added.

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