BENGALURU: Ramadan is a special time for the entire Muslim population in India. People come together in huge numbers, building a sense of community. And not to mention, the delicious food served in the form of Iftar.
However, a huge part of why Ramadan is so special is because of the feeling of giving back to society and preserving what we have. MS Sufiyan, who runs a males PG on Queen’s Road, says that keeping his surroundings clean and reducing wastage/garbage is something him and his group of friends have tried to implement every year. Last year, Sufiyan and his friends collected over `2 lakh to replace plastic utensils used during the breaking of the fast with melamine ones, and managed to reduce garbage by 45% in 52 mosques in Shivajinagar. “During Ramadan, we pray five times a day at the mosque, so it’s the perfect time to spread the message of an eco-friendly Ramadan among the masses. This year, we focused on water wastage. Before breaking our fast, we need to wash our hands, feet and faces, and with the sheer number of people coming to the mosque each day, we realised that a lot of water is being wasted,” says Sufiyan. He says that they have made posters and stuck it on the walls of the mosque.
“In our book of rules, the Profit advices us to conserve natural resources, especially water. We’ve taken those words and printed them on the posters so that it appeals to people. We started this on the first day of Ramadan, and even stand around telling people about the importance of saving water,” he says.