Family surprised by presents from non-Muslim neighbour to celebrate Eid

May 13, 2021 Article

A woman has said a gift from her neighbour to celebrate Eid has restored her “faith in humanity”.

Shafaq Hassan, from Streatham, south London, said her neighbour treated her and son Ayaan, 14, to dates and a prayer mat in celebration of Eid, which this year began on Wednesday evening and will end on Thursday evening.

Posting a photo of the gifts to Twitter, Ms Hassan said: “Our non-Muslim neighbour (our biryani pal!) totally surprised us with Algerian dates and a prayer mat for my 14-year-old, who fasted the whole month.”

Ms Hassan, 40, told the PA news agency: “He’s been our neighbour for over 20 years, but completely surprised us with the Eid gifts.

“I didn’t realise he noted Ayaan was fasting the whole month… we were all surprised at his gesture and my son felt really special.

“They’re friendly neighbours, they’re fans of my mum’s biryani so we always send over a box.”

Ms Hassan said the family is celebrating with a meal and a special Eid cake, as they are unable to have a big party due to Covid-19 restrictions.

She told PA: “The whole family fasted but missed a few days, Ayaan fasted the whole month… he was determined to fast the whole month which is quite impressive, if I may say so myself.

“Due to Covid we can’t have big family party, obviously, we’re having a special meal with family to celebrate my son’s achievement.”

Muslims around the world are celebrating Eid al-Fitr in a subdued mood for a second year as Covid-19 forced mosque closures and family separations on the holiday marking the end of Ramadan.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan shared a photo of Trafalgar Square lit in purple lights to celebrate the occasion.

Ms Hassan told PA: “It’s hard we are not able to meet extended family or go to the mosque to pray. It’s isolating not being able to attend the mosque but we’re blessed we’re together as a family.

“Our neighbour’s gesture helps put faith in humanity. We’re a diverse community and its heart-warming that our neighbour was so thoughtful and encouraging of Ayaan and his religious beliefs.

“Eid is about sharing, being charitable and is a blessing.”

Hindus and Muslim men at greater risk of dying with Covid in pandemic

May 13, 2021 Article

Hindus and Muslim men have had a disproportionately high risk of dying with coronavirus throughout the pandemic compared with Christians, figures suggest.

After adjusting for age, location, socio-demographic factors and certain pre-existing health conditions, Hindus and Muslim men were still more likely to die with Covid-19, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

The ONS looked at mortality rates among religious groups between January 2020 and February 2021 and compared differences between both waves of the pandemic, adjusting these for age and other factors.

It defined the second wave as deaths occurring from September 12 2020 onwards, but noted that this analysis is provisional as it only covers up to February 28 2021.

It found that Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Jewish people all had an increased Covid-19 mortality rate compared with Christians across the whole period when adjusting for age.

People who identified as having no religion were 20% less likely to die than the Christian group.

When taking into account location, measures of disadvantage, occupation and living arrangements, and pre-pandemic health status, rates for Jewish and Sikh women were similar to those for Christian women.

But rates for Muslims, Hindus, and Jewish and Sikh men remained significantly higher.

Muslim men were 70% more likely to die with Covid-19 than Christian men, the ONS analysis found.

Muslim women had a 30% greater risk of dying with coronavirus, while for Hindu men it was 30% and for Hindu women it was 20%.

Jewish men had a 20% greater risk and Sikh men a 10% greater risk.

For Jewish and Buddhist men, the excess risk was only observed in the first wave.

Excess risk for Sikhs and Muslim women was only observed in the second wave.

The ONS said the factors it adjusted for account for a large proportion, but not all, of the additional risk.

The residual unexplained risk may be due to factors it did not consider, such as some pre-existing health conditions.

For some religious groups there is considerable overlap with ethnic background, meaning it is difficult to separate any association between risk and religion from risk and ethnicity.

Credit: PA News

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Categories: Christians, COVID, Hindu, Men, Muslim, News, Pandemic