An evening with the Muslim Facebook crew

Sarfraz Manzoor celebrates an iftar meal with homeless people and his fellow Muslims, a web-generated ‘flashmob’ observing an Islamic tradition of generosity to the needy

It is sundown in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, a large outdoor square behind London’s Holborn Underground station. I am here to meet a man called Miqdad Asaria who had invited me to attend what he had described as a ‘flashmob iftar’. During the month of Ramadan, which ended last week, an iftar is the evening meal that marks the end of the fast and it is traditional to celebrate it with family and friends. Asaria had a more ambitious proposal.

‘During Ramadan Muslims get a glimpse of what it is like to be hungry,’ he had told me earlier in the day, ‘and I thought, what better time to share our food with those who are hungry all year round?’ He wanted to find a way to help the homeless but make it fun and not involve any of the usual Muslim organisations.