BRAMPTON — Muslim volunteers in Ontario’s city of Mississauga have launched a new campaign to raise environmental awareness, planting 300 trees in the wooded areas in the Peel region.
“We wanted to teach kids the notion of ‘sadaqa-e-jariya’,” Abdul Wahab, head imam of Muslim Welfare Centre, told Northumberland News on Tuesday, June 3.
“We also wanted to preserve the conservation area along Mississauga and Brampton,” said Wahab.
In a campaign sponsored by Mississauga’s Muslim Welfare Centre, more than 100 young Muslim volunteers participated in the one-day drive and planted hundreds of trees.
The volunteers included around 80 students, ranging in age from grades 1 to 12, as well as teachers and volunteers from Muslim Welfare Centre.
Cooperating to make the event successful, Mina, one of Canada’s leading halal food companies, sponsored the event and provided free food and drinks to all participants.
Though it is the first to be led by the Islamic center, Sunday’s event is not the last.
Wahab said that MWC hoped to continue tree planting next year.
The MWC is a community service group, which operates under the slogan that 'Service to Humanity is Service to Allah'.
Muslims make around 2.8 percent of Canada's 32.8 million population, and Islam is the number one non-Christian faith in the country.
A recent survey showed that the overwhelming majority of Muslims are proud to be Canadian, and that they are more educated than the general population.
‘Sadaqa-e-jariya’ (continuous charity) is a kind of donation, which is highly encouraged in Islam.
Under this category, the donor is believed to keep getting rewarded as people, as well as all other living creatures, are benefiting from the charity, even after the death of the donor.
This article was originally published on OnIslam on June 4th, 2014.