A GoFundMe page has been set up to try to raise enough money to send the wife of an Indian farm labourer, who gave away all their Hajj savings to help COVID-19 victims, on the pilgrimage next year.
Farm labourer Abdurrahman Goodinabali and his wife, from Mangalore, were planning a pilgrimage to Makkah next year, but when the coronavirus crisis hit India they showed huge generosity in selflessly donating all their savings to feed the poor during the lockdown.
55 year old Goodinabali and his wife feared that holding on to their money would bring them a curse when people around them were suffering due to the coronavirus lockdown.
After seeing the couple’s story on 5Pillars, Bilal Chawala from Manchester vowed to send the pair on Hajj. He subsequently learned that Mr Goodinabali’s Hajj had recently been financed by a benefactor but his wife’s hadn’t.
Chawala said: “I have managed to track down Mr Goodinabali’s son and a local Mufti has agreed to finance his father’s trip to Hajj, Alhamdulillah. That leaves the farmer’s wife, Mrs Goodinbali. Let’s give this family the best Eid present ever and repay their selfless generosity by raising the money needed for them to fulfil their long held dream together.
“The charity you give will be your shade on the Day of Judgement (Prophet Muhammad PBUH). Once the target has been reached, I’ll transfer the funds to their son. Any additional money raised will be donated to poor families seeking to make the pilgrimage to Hajj. Let’s seek success in this blessed month of Ramadan, Insha’Allah.”
A few weeks ago Elyas, Abdurrahman’s son, alerted the world to his father’s story in a Facebook post which has since gone viral.
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“Like any Muslim, my parents too wished to go on the Hajj and had saved money after working for years,” Elyas said. “My father is a coolie and my mother rolls bidis for an earning. My father had been saving money for years to go to the pilgrimage. But he felt when people around him are suffering due to the lockdown, holding on to the money would bring a curse upon him. So he decided to feed the needy.”
While the family did not disclose how much they had saved for the pilgrimage, which costs several thousand pounds, Abdurrahman has so far distributed rice and other food essentials to 25 families in Goodinabali village of Bantwal taluk in Mangalore.
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