As temperature plunges below zero, mosques in UK, Ireland open for homeless

United Kingdom: As the meteorological department in United Kingdom and Ireland issued weather advisories and temperature went below zero degrees, mosques opened their doors to the homeless people, Aljazeera reported.

On Friday the Met Office issued a red alert for snow for parts of southwest England and south Wales. Red alert is considered  highest level of warning.

According to report Yellow and amber warnings were in place across the UK  while Storm Emma brought heavy snow and strong winds.

Report quoted Rabnawaz Akbar, a trustee of Makki Masjid in the northern city of Manchester, saying that “The temperature is pretty severe, so we thought, ‘Why don’t we do something to help?'”.

Volunteers camped outside the place of worship to provide food and shelter to Manchester’s homeless.

Among one of the homeless is Jamie who said that he  is an addict and has never been to mosque. “I was in two minds over whether to get myself some heroin or crack, so that I could be okay for the night. As I was thinking about this, a guy came from the side and said, ‘You’re homeless, would you like to spend the night in a mosque?’, Aljazeera quoted him saying.

“They made me feel very welcome, gave me something to eat, to drink. Something that the basic council can’t even provide for us.”

Leeds Grand Mosque, Oldham Mosque, Finsbury Park Mosque, Canterbury Mosque and Dublin’s Clonskeagh Mosque, which is part of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland, have also opened their doors to the homeless