In Istanbul, a mosque transformed into a mini-market for the most deprived

Text by: RFI Follow

While the Covid-19 pandemic is hitting economies hard and putting millions of low-income families in great difficulty, in Turkey, an Istanbul mosque has set up a system of mutual aid.

Publicity

With our correspondent in Istanbul, Anne Andlauer

On the shelves where the faithful usually put their shoes, Abdulsamet Cakir piled up packets of pasta, bottles of oil, boxes of tomato sauce. This 33-year-old imam transformed the vestibule of his small mosque, closed to prayers because of coronavirus, into a grocery store. Everything is free here. If you are in need, you must first register on a list, then wait for a message on your mobile phone to come and help yourself. Each can only take ten products maximum, so that there is something for everyone.

“  At this time, collective prayers are prohibited in mosques. We wondered what we could do to keep the mosque alive. We were inspired by an Ottoman tradition, the "sadaka tası", a stele of charity where those who had the means left what they wanted, and those who needed took what they wanted. In the morning, our shelves are always full and in the evening, always empty!  Explains the young imam.

Donations - only in kind - come from companies or individuals. The packages keep arriving, like the poor residents. This is the case of Ebru, a mother who was hit hard by the epidemic. “  I have a child to feed, I am not working and my husband lost his job when his business closed due to the epidemic. He hasn't had a salary for a month, we haven't had enough money to pay the rent. God bless this mosque, we have received no other help.  "

Imam Cakir claims to have helped more than a thousand families in about twenty days. He is now thinking of a way to perpetuate this mutual aid after the epidemic.

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• Turkey
• Coronavirus