The answer was not difficult for the Mufti of Muslims in Ukraine, Saeed Ismailov, when asked what to do if the Russian forces invaded his city, he said, "I will not remain a mufti, I will go out and fight the occupiers of the free Ukrainian lands, I will die or win."
The United Nations has reported that 1.3 million refugees have already crossed from Ukraine into the European Union in eastern Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and northern Romania, since the start of Russia's war on Ukraine.
Although the warm welcome for Ukrainian refugees in Europe sparked a tinge of bitterness about the treatment of Arab and Muslim immigrants years ago, Muslims around the world recalled their memories of war and asylum, and expressed their sympathy with the Ukrainians who were forced to leave their country and coexist with their plight, and provided refugees with their food, housing and mosque, and even Threatening their lives to save those stranded in Ukrainian cities.
The Mufti of Ukraine is fighting for his country
The Mufti of Muslims in Ukraine, Said Ismailov , is one of the most important Islamic figures in the country. Ismailov did not lead a quiet life as anyone in office would expect. He left his hometown in 2014, when Russian-backed separatists occupied eastern Ukraine, and they tried to capture and assassinate him after he became active against them.
Ismailov moved to Kyiv, but now - with the missiles falling around him - he fears for Ukrainians in general and Muslims in particular, because he witnessed Russia's actions in the Crimea, after it annexed the Ukrainian territory, and does not bode well for the Ukrainian Muslim community.
The answer was not difficult for Ismailov when asked what to do if Russian forces invaded his city, where the mosque where he prays and his office in the Islamic Cultural Center, he said, "I will not remain a mufti, I will go out and fight the occupiers of the free Ukrainian lands, I will die or win," and appealed through his own account On Facebook, Muslims of the world should stand by Ukraine, because - unlike Russia - a country that respects Islam.
Said Ismailov was among many Ukrainian representatives of religious and national minorities who spoke out in defense of Ukraine, after Putin declared war in the early hours of February 24 and called on Muslims in Russia not to take part in the war.
Muslims in Nottingham
The Muslim community in the city of Nottingham launched an appeal to help those fleeing the Russian war on Ukraine, and the Islamic Cultural Center organized a solidarity event with Ukraine, asking the British to donate food and clothing to those who crossed the border from Ukraine to Poland.
It was Edita Glush who came up with the idea, who is Polish, grew up in a Christian family, but converted to Islam at the age of 22, after she met a Muslim man, read about Islam, and changed her view of him, and she is now married to this man, and runs a handicraft store, and they have two children She believes that she has become more religious than her husband, because her passion for Islamic knowledge has not ceased.
Edita moved to help the Ukrainians after she was affected by footage she saw of women and children suffering for food, and the British helped her collect canned food in response to her call, and the local mosque contributed to spreading the appeal, and indeed the Islamic Cultural Center collected hundreds of boxes, and shipped them to pass across the Ukrainian-Polish border, where It will be distributed to Ukrainian refugees.
The experiment succeeded in collecting enough supplies for 7 shipments for the next week, due to the propaganda taken by the mosque and the Islamic Cultural Center, but Edita is concerned that the donations will not reach the needy, after she followed up on reports of discrimination between people according to race and religion at the borders.
Mosques in Europe open their doors
More than 1,000 Ukrainian refugees arrive daily in Germany via Poland, most of them women and children, after a journey of at least 90 hours. The refugees arrive without luggage, food or money, to look for a temporary hosting center, to protect their children from the bitter cold, and to sleep for a few hours to make up for the nights they did not sleep under the bombing.
Therefore, the Central Council of Muslims in Germany called on mosques and Muslim NGOs to support the Ukrainian refugees who had just arrived at the train stations. Indeed, mosques have collected donations and transformed their classrooms into shelters and bedrooms for refugees, and one mosque receives at least 50 people, who stay in it until they determine their next destination, and they receive care and financial and psychological support under the supervision of imams.
Mosque officials helped refugees find safe places, booked train trips for families planning to travel to Norway, and helped others apply for asylum.
The story was repeated in Italy, after the Federation of Muslim Communities in Italy urged Muslim communities in the country and throughout Europe to open the doors of their centers so that they would be a safe haven for those fleeing the war in Ukraine, and Muslim communities throughout Italy organized local initiatives to collect food and medicine that would be Donate to Ukraine.
Islam Al-Ashery, the savior of the Arabs
Russian missiles bombed roads and stations, and it is no longer possible to get out of Kiev anymore, and whoever thinks of crossing the border by taxi finds himself obliged to pay more than two thousand euros, but the situation of foreigners from Africans and Muslims in Ukraine is more difficult, because of the racist treatment they receive, and refused The Ukrainian army left the country.
Amid these adversities, social media in Egypt buzzed to celebrate the courage of the Egyptian young man, Islam Al-Ashery, who took it upon himself to save the families stuck in Ukraine, after the Egyptian Minister of Immigration Nabila Makram published a video of Al-Ashery in his car with a group of Yemeni children and their Ukrainian mother, in response to their father’s distress, which He published it from Yemen, to help his family in the most burning Ukrainian city, but Al-Ashery appeared in the video clip, trying to make them happy and reassure them with the sound of music and songs to cover up the sound of missiles along the way.
This was not the first time that Al-Asheri's courage appeared since the start of Russia's war on Ukraine. He rescued an Iraqi mother and 4 children, and before that he rescued a Saudi citizen, and pictures spread of Al-Ashery saying goodbye to his friends before his trip to save a Lebanese family.
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