Black Dawah Network: Block to Block Dawah in Chicago's O Block
The Black Dawah Network returned to Chicago's South Side this past Sunday, June 27th, for a joint outreach combining two of its core programs: Block to Block Dawah and No Neighbor Hungry. In the Parkway Gardens complex known citywide as O Block, the two programs moved as one operation, delivering both groceries and the message of Islam door to door.
Two Programs, One Mission
Feeding the Block
Volunteers spent the afternoon distributing groceries door to door and corner to corner across the complex, with no forms and no conditions attached. In the Islamic tradition, feeding the hungry is not an act of generosity to be applauded but an obligation to be fulfilled, and BDN carried that obligation into every building on O Block.
A Communal Salah on the Sidewalk
In the middle of the distribution, the team paused for a communal salah in the courtyard of 6444. Prayer rugs went down on the concrete, and what started as a small line of brothers grew as the call to prayer carried across the block. Young men from the neighborhood stepped into the row and prayed shoulder to shoulder with BDN's volunteers and elders, an unplanned, organic moment that became one of the most powerful experiences of the day.
Two people on the block took their shahadah that day, bearing witness that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad ﷺ is His messenger.
Mothers, not yet Muslim themselves, came forward asking for Qur'ans, not for themselves, but for their sons.
Books and New Beginnings
Alongside the food, Block to Block Dawah volunteers handed out free copies of The Clear Qur'an and The Autobiography of Malcolm X, the same pairing that has introduced countless people to Islam.
The Black Dawah Network organizes to promote Islamic values within inner-city Black America and to convey to Black America the intellectual proofs of Islam.
"We love our people. We want to show our people love. The brothers and sisters from the block responded with an openness that speaks for itself, from the row of brothers who joined our salah to the mothers who asked us for Qur'ans for their sons. This is love."
Feed the block. Pray with the block. Let the block see Islam as something already at home there.
This outreach was organized and led by the Black Dawah Network. BDN thanks the partners who supported the effort on O Block:
- Muslimmatics
- Flaming Crescent
- Noor of Peace
- Together We Must
- Saving Our Urban Leaders
- ICNA
BDN also extends its gratitude to Attorney Hakeem Muhammad, Shareef Muhammad, Imam Khalid Griggs, Imam Al Amin, Siddiq Ali, and all those who helped facilitate this outreach.
That's No Neighbor Hungry.
That's the Black Dawah Network.
hakeem@muhammadlawcenter.com | (504) 400-9598
