Advertisement

President Halimah Yacob urges compassion for less fortunate ahead of Ramadan

Singapore's President Halimah Yacob at the Nanyang Technological University on 23 July 2019. (PHOTO: Dhany Osman / Yahoo News Singapore)
Singapore's President Halimah Yacob (FILE PHOTO: Yahoo News Singapore)

SINGAPORE — President Halimah Yacob has urged Muslims in Singapore to show compassion to the less fortunate people, and commended community efforts in helping vulnerable groups ahead of Ramadan, which begins on Friday (24 April).

In a post put up on her Facebook page on Thursday, she said that Ramadan is a time for Muslims to strengthen their faith and show greater compassion and kindness to everyone.

“The current COVID-19 outbreak is a testament of how the community has rallied to help the vulnerable groups,” she wrote in the post.

“Ground-up initiatives such as the #SGUNITED Buka Puasa will be providing meals not only for the vulnerable groups in the community, but also the healthcare professionals and their families who have been at the frontline managing the COVID-19 outbreak.”

The #SGUnited Buka Puasa project aims to provide 20,000 meals to be delivered daily to healthcare workers and their families to break fast throughout Ramadan, as well as to needy households. It also aims to raise $2.5 million to support local businesses and healthcare workers.

It is a collaborative effort by MUIS, mosques, the Rahmatan Lil Alamin Foundation charity group, the People's Association, inter-faith initiative Roses Of Peace, and the Singapore Malay Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Adjustments to Ramadan practices

The COVID-19 circuit breaker measures, which were extended until 1 June, mean that there will have to be adjustments to Ramadan practices such as buka puasa (breaking fast) with friends and extended families, as well as performing special tarawih prayers at mosques.

Halimah said that, while Muslims here would not be able to “enjoy the warmth of the collective Hari Raya Puasa prayers” this year, she is confident that the community will emerge stronger in their faith from this pandemic period.

“These are exceptional times requiring us to take really difficult measures. I have no doubt that we will emerge even stronger in our faith and as a community out of this experience,” she wrote in her Facebook post.

“I am also proud of our Muslim community who have taken these measures in their stride in order to combat COVID-19 and keep all Singaporeans safe.

“Let’s continue to support one another and have a spiritually fulfilling journey in this blessed month. Let me wish all Muslims a blessed Ramadan and Selamat Berpuasa (happy fasting).”

Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore

Other Singapore stories:

COVID-19: 6 weeks' jail for man who went to eat bak kut teh while on Stay-Home Notice

COVID-19: S'pore crosses 10,000 mark with 1,016 more cases; confirms 8 new clusters and 12th fatality

COVID-19: 16 malls with high traffic urged to conduct contact tracing of customers

COVID-19: SAF to further suspend basic military training till 1 June