$240,000 raised by Muslims to Help Jewish Victims of Pittsburgh Shooting

This news has been making it to the headlines and we still can’t get enough of it. Of course, it’s a matter of pride for Muslims across the globe, to be involved in the cause to choose humanity over the reluctance due to Anti-Muslim sentiment in USA.

As initiated earlier as well in the article about footsteps of solidarity marked by Muslims after Pittsburgh shooting; the Muslim nonprofit, CelebrateMercy, continues to strive for more funds. The organization has now raised approximately $240,000 within a couple of days for Jewish victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, as reported by Knox News. It all started when a gunman killed 11 people at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue, resulting in nothing but the rain of donation. Even the Launch Good campaign information stated:

“We wish to respond to evil with good, as our faith instructs us, and send a powerful message of compassion through action.”

As more money continued coming in, the campaign upped the goal four times. The last goal of $150,000 was reached in 50 hours. A total of 5,820 donors gave $238,634 — nine times the original $25,000 goal. The money left will go to impact long-term Jewish-Muslim relations and foster Muslim-Jewish collaboration, dialogue and solidarity.

CelebrateMercy, the non-profit indulged in fundraising efforts non-stop, was founded by University of Tennessee graduate Tarek El-Messidi in 2013 to spread message about the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). In this very campaign, they aimed to provide financial help to victims’ families for funeral expenses, medical bills or other needs.

The effort was viral, even praised by CBS’ “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert as well as Whoopi Goldberg of “The View.” Actor Ashton Kutcher posted about it on Facebook, and “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling tweeted about it. Of course, it was meant to be recognized by such renowned personalities!

Adding further to the whole scenario, El-Messidi said:

“It amazed me, and it really inspired me personally. I’ve seen people respond before, but this was on another level.”

El-Messidi, 38 years of age, grew up in Knoxville. He graduated from Farragut High School and earning undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Tennessee. He was also the 2000-02 president of the Muslim Student Association at UT and the 2005 president of the Muslim Community of Knoxville.

Well, interestingly, Unite for Pittsburgh is not El-Messidi's first campaign to help Jews. Infact, he co-organized crowdfunding asking Muslim-Americans to contribute repairing vandalized Jewish cemeteries in St. Louis and Philadelphia, back in February 2017. That campaign had astonishingly raised more than $160,000 in a week and earned immense International media attention.

As an example of one of his great past efforts; El-Messidi’s first crowdsourced effort was after U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens got killed in 2012 in Benghazi, Libya, by Muslim extremists. At that time, El-Messidi asked Muslims to respond to "evil with good" and write condolence letters to Stevens' family. The result was about 7,700 letters from Muslims in 115 countries.

We pray to Allah(SWT) that organizations like CelebrateMercy keep contributing and making such efforts as Islam teaches us the importance of humanity. May Allah(SWT) keep us all safe from such tragic encounters. Our Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said:

“Show mercy to those on earth, and the One in the Heavens will show mercy to you.” ( Tirmidhi)