October 5th: National Ramadan Day for Darfur

On behalf of the Darfurian communities in the United States, we would like to invite your org to join us during the holy month of Ramadan in remembering the hundreds of thousands of lives lost in Darfur over the last three years and in praying for a quick and peaceful resolution to this enduring tragedy in our homeland.

As you may know, Darfur has been embroiled in a deadly conflict since 2003. At least four hundred thousand people have been killed; more than two million innocent civilians have been forced to flee their homes and now live in displaced-persons camps in Sudan or in refugee camps in neighboring Chad; and more than three million men, women, and children are completely reliant on international aid for survival.

In order to shed light on the genocide and educate our communities, we ask that your organization make Thursday, October 5, 2006, a day to draw attention to the conflict that has ravaged our friends, family, and country for too long. Some national Muslim organizations have already agreed to work with our communities on this day to promote Darfur awareness and activism. These organizations will ask their members and contacts to organize a Ramadan IFTAR on this Thursday night during Ramadan and then ask their network of Imams to deliver Khutbhat Al-Juma'a about Darfur the next day. Darfurians from across the country will attend these events to provide eye witness accounts about the conflict in Darfur and to share testimonials about the suffering of their friends and families.

It is our hope that your org and other national and local Muslim organizations will help us coordinate even more Iftars and Khutbhat Al-Juma'a on these days. At the same time, the Save Darfur Coalition has also offered to provide some form of subsidization to help facilitate Iftars and the transportation for Darfurians to these gatherings. In addition, the Coalition will invite via email its 400,000 activists and 175 Coalition members to participate in this day by asking them to fast in memory of Darfur. The Coalition will also share information with these individuals and groups about planned interfaith Iftars across the country on this day. The national student organization for Darfur advocacy, Students Taking Action Now: Darfur (STAND), has already begun to reach out to students and Muslim Student Associations (MSA) on campuses across the country.

As a leading voice in the American Muslim community, your organization's participation in our efforts to bring together the Muslim, Darfuri, and activist communities would be instrumental. If your organization would like to unite with us on this day, please email Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim of the Darfur Alert Coalition at mibrahim@afsc.org and (215) 241-7128; and Sean Brooks of the Save Darfur Coalition at sean@savedarfur.org and (202) 478-6197.

Sean has been working closely with our organizations, including in the coordination of a joint letter that we sent to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan two weeks ago. We have included the letter and press release, which outline the demands that our community has for the international community.

We thank you for your consideration of this request, and hope that you will join us during the special time of Ramadan to call attention to the mass suffering of our people.

Sincerely,


Mr. Motasim Adam
President
Darfur People’s Association of New York

Dr. Abdeljabar Adem
President
Darfur Human Rights Organization of the USA

Dr. Mahmoud Braima
President
Darfur Association in the United States

Mr. Suliman Giddo
President
Darfur Peace and Development

Ms. Blanche Foster
on behalf of the Board of Directors
Darfur Rehabilitation Project

Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim
On behalf of the Board of Directors
Darfur Alert Coalition

Mr. Bakheit Shata
Executive Director
Darfur Community Organization (Nebraska)

Mr. Mohamed Yahya
Chairman
Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy
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Save Darfur Faith Action Packets
We have produced a guide to help you mobilize your congregation to help the people of Darfur. These specialized packets provide sample prayers, sermons and congregational bulletin inserts that you can modify to best serve your house of worship.
•Interfaith Action Packet
•Christian Action Packet
•Jewish Action Packet
•Muslim Action Packet