Ramadan Sheffield: Thousands of dates handed out to shoppers to mark start of Islamic holy month

The An Nasiha community group, and members of local mosques, gave out gifts of dates to people through their ‘A Date to Give’ project, offering them to passers-by outside Sheffield Town Hall. Dates are traditionally eaten to break the fast.

Zia Khan, of An Nasiha, was among those taking part, and said offering the dates to eat allowed the An Nasiha volunteers to explain to many shoppers the significance of Ramadan, and that many families took up their offer of dates.

He said Ramadan was the Ninth Islamic month, and was also know as Sawm (refrain), one of the five pillars of Islam.

An Nasiha is a Sheffield community-based voluntary sector organisation that helps disadvantaged people and help others to reinstate their connection with Islam. The group was formed and founded in 2011 and run by Sheffield students. The group also supports other local charities including feeding the local homeless people in the city centre.

Mr Khan said: “We distributed over 1,700 dates to people within the Sheffield City Centre welcoming the Holy month of Ramadhan. A small card containing a saying of the Holy Prophet was given alongside the dates encouraging community cohesion and tightening the bonds between people from all walks of life. The small gesture was appreciated by all who were greeted with smiles from the volunteers who participated in the event despite fasting for almost 15 hours.”

He thanked King’s Madina Dates and Hamza Supermarket who donated all of the dates.