By Anadolu Agency
February 10, 2023 5:25 amLONDON
London’s Arsenal football club have contacted the UK’s Muslim community to help victims of powerful earthquakes that hit Türkiye and Syria earlier this week and caused widespread destruction.
Mohammed Kozbar, chairman of the Finsbury Park Mosque in North London, said the English Premier League club reached out to them to take part in relief work.
“They contacted us, we have this good relationship with them. They offered to give food, some other material, necessary materials to the victims as well to those who are being affected by the earthquake,” he told Anadolu.
Kozbar said they are working with the club to see how they can deliver the supplies to the disaster zones.
Earlier, Arsenal extended condolences to the victims on Twitter, saying: “We are truly saddened to hear of the tragic events … Our thoughts are with all those who are affected.”
Community shocked, but united
Kozbar said the Muslim community in the UK is united in aiding quake-hit victims in both Türkiye and Syria.
He said that like many people around the world, Muslims in London were also shocked when they first heard the news about the earthquakes, “a huge disaster” for the people of Türkiye and Syria, and a “shock for the Muslim community here in the UK.”
“No one knew the scale of the disaster … So many lives have been lost because of this earthquake. And this makes people feel really helpless and shocked,” he added.
Donation drives
Kozbar said that people did not know how to help until the Muslim Council of Britain, an umbrella body with over 500 Muslim organizations, started to campaign, making “the Muslim community get together.”
“They started sending messages through social media, emails and so on, telling people that they can be positive and they can help [with] whatever they can by giving money, make duas [pray], giving money as much as they can and also arranging for if they have any shelters, any clothes,” he added.
The chairman explained that the communities have mobilized, and many activities and charity campaigns are underway and planned in London.
One of them is collecting donations after Friday prayers in mosques, he said, adding that he believes people will be generous enough to support the campaign.
“We are trying our best to help, I know that disaster is huge, it needs a lot of efforts. But if every one of us does even a bit of things Inshallah [if Allah wills], it will have an impact and help these people,” he said.
Kozbar also mentioned that they are currently running an online funds collection campaign through a link, which they distributed on social media to those who would like to donate through the mosque.
He stressed that the raised amount will go to Islamic Relief as well, a member of the UK’s Disasters Emergency Committee.
“We try our best to help our brothers and sisters in Turkey and Syria,” Kozbar said.
At least 18,342 people were killed and 74,242 others injured in two strong earthquakes that jolted southern Türkiye earlier this week, according to the national disaster agency AFAD.
The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes, centered in Kahramanmaras province, have impacted some 13 million people across 10 Turkish provinces including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.
Several countries in the region, including Syria where over 3,300 people were killed, were also affected.
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