"They fulfill their vows and fear a day whose evil is widespread, and give good, despite loving it, to the indigent, the orphan and the captive."
Quran 76:7
The 76th surah, al-Insan, is generally rendered as "Man." In this instance the passage is referring to the pious and how they are supposed to behave. Naturally, if you've been following along all year, you know that I chose this section because of the notion of feeding the indigent and the orphan. I seem to be automatically drawn to any passage that lays out a very tangible path of human conduct. I guess I'm feeling this now because in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic we're facing the prospect of potentially closing the Food Shelf here in South Burlington for a while. I don't know if it will come to that - I suspect we'll just end up giving our prepared food bags at the door for a couple weeks - but just discussing the possibility is distressing. I'm fortunate. I may be in between places to live at the moment, but I also have great friends who happily took me in and gave me a great place to live in their basement as I wait out the self-isolation phase that came with passing through Heathrow Airport on the way back from India. What I'm facing is an inconvenience, whereas way too many people are facing truly dire situations, so when we talk about temporarily closing down the Food Shelf is just pains me. Every time I see pictures of someone who is dramatically hoarding food or supplies in the face of this, or any other, disaster I'm just amazed that this person might also be identifying themselves as people of faith. Is not feeding the less fortunate the most essential act of faith?
Quran 76:7
The 76th surah, al-Insan, is generally rendered as "Man." In this instance the passage is referring to the pious and how they are supposed to behave. Naturally, if you've been following along all year, you know that I chose this section because of the notion of feeding the indigent and the orphan. I seem to be automatically drawn to any passage that lays out a very tangible path of human conduct. I guess I'm feeling this now because in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic we're facing the prospect of potentially closing the Food Shelf here in South Burlington for a while. I don't know if it will come to that - I suspect we'll just end up giving our prepared food bags at the door for a couple weeks - but just discussing the possibility is distressing. I'm fortunate. I may be in between places to live at the moment, but I also have great friends who happily took me in and gave me a great place to live in their basement as I wait out the self-isolation phase that came with passing through Heathrow Airport on the way back from India. What I'm facing is an inconvenience, whereas way too many people are facing truly dire situations, so when we talk about temporarily closing down the Food Shelf is just pains me. Every time I see pictures of someone who is dramatically hoarding food or supplies in the face of this, or any other, disaster I'm just amazed that this person might also be identifying themselves as people of faith. Is not feeding the less fortunate the most essential act of faith?
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