Members of Dundee’s Ahmadiyya Muslim community took to the streets this week to distribute clothing and food to the city’s homeless.
Volunteers visited the city centre on Boxing Day to hand out warm clothing, food, sweets and greetings cards to people sleeping rough in Dundee.
As well as handing out goods, members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association also spent time with those begging on the streets before visiting Balhousie St Ronan’s Care Home to visit residents there.
Shoaib Khan, youth leader for Scotland Ahmaddiyya Muslim Youth, said: “Our passion, as proud Scottish Muslims, comes from our faith which teaches us to serve those in need regardless of their faith, gender or background.
“Islam also teaches that the elderly must be respected and treated kindly. Therefore it is our obligation that we visit the elderly, who were very happy to see us.”
Other groups working to help Dundee’s homeless include the Eagles Wings Trust, which runs a soup kitchen in the city.
Members of Dundee’s Ahmadiyya community have regularly carried out community work in Dundee this year.
Earlier this year they paid for adverts on 25 city buses urging people in the city to “Unite Against Extremism” following the death of Glasgow shopkeeper Asad Shah.
Sunni Muslim Tanveer Ahmed, 32, from Bradford, stabbed 40-year-old Asad Shah outside his store in what police described as a “religiously prejudiced” attack in Shawlands on March 24.
Ahmed was told he would serve a minimum of 27 years in prison when he was sentenced in August.
The minority Ahmadi sect, which originated in the Indian sub-continent, is not recognised by many mainstream Muslims as they believe the Prophet Muhammad was not the final prophet.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association has said it intends to continue its community work in 2017.
It is planning a clean-up of litter on The Law and to raise funds for The ARCHIE Foundation.
