37 mosques rally to support SGUnited Buka Puasa

Local mosques give effort a boost with $600,000 contribution by channeling fidyah and donation funds

1. Mosques have channeled both fidyah¹ collections and Ramadan donations to the SGUnited Buka Puasa initiative. 37 mosques have stepped forward and contributed a combined total of $600,000 to this initiative. This amount is on top of the initial $1 million contributed by MUIS towards this cause.

2. SGUnited Buka Puasa is a ground-up effort to provide 20,000 meals daily for breaking of fast during the month of Ramadan to two groups within the community, i) healthcare professionals and their families; and ii) MUIS’ zakat beneficiaries and other families who require meals in this month.

3. Both fidyah and Ramadan collections are contributions from the Muslim community to mosques which are used to cover expenses incurred by mosques during Ramadan. These funds usually supplement daily congregational activities like providing buka puasa and pre-dawn meals, nightly prayers and food distribution to families in need.

4. MUIS’ Senior Director of Mosque and Community Development, Mr Helmy Isa said:

“Ramadan is a blessed month that presents Muslims with the opportunity to donate and perform charity as an act of worship. I commend the generosity of our Muslim community in Singapore as mosques here see continued contributions in the form of fidyah and donations even as the community faces challenging times due to COVID-19. With mosques temporarily closed, we believe that these funds which are typically spent on mosques’ Ramadan activities must be used to support other Ramadan initiatives that provide relief to those in need, such as our zakat beneficiaries. This complements the efforts of our mosque officers to continue to help these vulnerable groups in the community even as our mosques are closed. Our mosques are committed to support the SGUnited Buka Puasa initiative as we strive to build on our social resilience and help one another to overcome this difficult period”.

5. Partnering the SGUnited Buka Puasa ground-up efforts, mosques have also been actively collaborating with service providers to ensure timely contactless deliveries of daily buka puasa meals to the homes of all MUIS’ zakat beneficiaries.

6. Through its fundraising efforts, the Rahmatan Lil Alamin Foundation has raised about $980,000 via Giving.SG and other donations platforms. Together with the initial $1 million donation from MUIS and $600,000 contribution from mosques, this brings the total amount collected for this initiative to $2.58 million, some $420,000 or 14% to go before achieving the fundraising target of $3 million.

7. Tax deductable contributions via the following platforms are still open for members of the public to donate:

• Giving.SG

• Direct bank transfer or cash deposit to RLAF bank account – OCBC Current Account 629-069154-001 followed by an email to

  irdawaty@rlafoundation.org.sg

  with your name, NRIC and scan a copy of the transfer for tax deduction

• Issue cheque payable to RLAF and indicate at the back of the cheque – name, NRIC (for tax deduction), contact number and indicate “SG United Buka Puasa Initiative”. Please mail the cheque to MUIS or Masjid Yusof Ishak attention to RLAF

• PayNow to RLAF’s Unique Entity Number (UEN): 200910530Z. Indicate “SGUnited Buka Puasa” in the remarks column. Email your name, NRIC and copy/screenshot of the transfer to

  irdawaty@rlafoundation.org.sg

  for tax deduction claim

Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura

¹ Fidyah is giving food to the poor. Food here refers to the staple food of the community where the person lives in. In the Singaporean context, it is rice. However, in Singapore, it is definitely more convenient to pay with cash. This is because cash can be give to the poor so that they can buy their own choice of food. Cash is also more convenient as compared to rice which has limited shelf-life.