A few weeks ago I received a call from a brother in the Cleveland area seeking to donate a few items. I returned his phone call and he introduced himself as Rashid Rashid. By a series of events he explained to me that his business had fallen through and he had a few things to be able to donate. Our garage at Salaam Cleveland was at capacity so I told my brother I will get back to him after looking for another place. After a brief conversation with Uncle Zahid, we decided that First Cleveland Mosque might be a more appropriate place to take these donations. In this meantime brother Rashid had decided to reach larger organizations like Islamic Relief and ICNA Relief. After getting out of the conversation with Uncle Zahid, I spoke with brother Rashid and asked him if he felt that he could help us donate these things to First Cleveland Mosque. I had initially heard it was just several comforters. Brother Rashid told me he would get back to me after hearing back from ICNA and ISNA Relief.
On the following Monday I got a call from Brother Rashid that the oppurtunities with both the organizations had fallen through and he would have to donate locally. So I got in touch with Sister jean and Imam Abbas of First Cleveland and asked if they would be able to take these donations. We asked a couple of brothers to help Brother Rashid and we were on our way for delivery by Wednesday. Come Wednesday we were all at First Cleveland at our scheduled time of 3:30pm, Brother Rashid told me he had been loading the truck since 8am in the morning on the phone. I was a little taken aback not realizing the magnitude of the donations he was loading prior to this. At around 3:30pm brother Rashid brought the first Truck load and it was a full truck load. I saw Imam Abbas next me at the first sight, teary, repeating “God is Great, God is Great,God is Great!” We were all humbled by the way these donations were brought and the gift that was included in it. The donation worth was upwards of $60, 000. We moved these donations into the Mosque as rain poured.
It is said in the Qur’an that if you plant one sapling, it will be multiplied 70 folds for you. This gift was an example of that. We wanted to write this blog post to signify this and also thank brother Rashid Rashid and Rushdi Rashid for the humility and kindness with which they brought these donations. May these blessings continue to expand and goodness continue to prevail.
