All perfect praise be to Allah Who Conferred upon us the month of fasting, and Bestowed upon us the gifts of mercy and forgiveness in it. May Allah Send blessings and peace upon the best of people, who spent all his life in the worship of his Lord: fasting, prayer, Qiyaam, and all other acts of worship in which he was sincere to Allah, The One, The Judge; as well as upon his honorable family and Companions.
To the dear Imam of the mosque; to him who conveys to the people the religion of their Lord The Almighty; to him who inherited the mission of the Prophets, May Allah exalt their mention, and stood to guard one of the borders of Islam: we present the following good Da‘wah-related idea, i.e. the congregational Iftaar in the mosque.
It is that the Imam of the mosque announces publicly, on any day of this blessed month, that those responsible for the mosque would like to hold a congregational Iftaar, in which the people would get to know each other; the Muslim would feel that he has brothers in (the religion of) Allah supporting him; they would get acquainted with some of the problems facing the neighborhood and seek to find the most suitable solution for them; the poor would be inspected in order to be consoled, the weak to be helped, and the wronged to have injustice removed from them as much as possible.
On that day, and during the congregational Iftaar, the Muslims would disseminate the spirit of brotherhood, the spirit of one body, and the spirit of altruism and generosity, with which there would be neither dispute nor quarrelling, neither shouting nor abusing, and neither arrogance nor ridicule. All the people in the religion of Allah are like the one body, and brothers of one family, i.e. the family of Islam: there is no superiority of an Arab to a non-Arab, nor of a white to a black except by virtue of righteousness.
Thus, O Imam, you urge the people to attend that congregational Iftaar. In addition to that announcement, you may hang in a suitable place of your mosque a note of welcome to those who take part in the congregational Iftaar. If your mosque has other facilities, there will be no harm to assign a place for the congregational Iftaar of women. Arrangements may be made so that each participant would bring from his house what he could afford of food, fruits, juice, or so on. What a wonderful meeting! What a great excellent brotherly assembly!
It is up to you, Imam, to hold it on more than one night of Ramadan.
Finally, it is important on that occasion to take heed, and bring to mind the following points with wisdom and insight:
1- To avoid extravagance in food: not all the available food should be served to those who are eating. But let it be preserved in large vessels, and small amounts taken from it on demand. When they finish, what remains intact and uncontaminated in the large vessels should be put into small bags or containers and distributed among those of the attendants who like to take the food, or sent to the poor in other neighborhoods.
2- To remind people of table manners under Sharee‘ah.
3- To keep the utensils of the people from damage or loss, for instance, by putting a label on each vessel with the name of its owner, or a sign referring to him.
4- To be eager to avoid mixing, and make the place of men far from that of women, in case there will be Iftaar for men and women.
5- To form a committee from the Quran students to organize the place, distribute the people, spread the tables, serve the food, and take all the necessary measures after finishing the food rather than to have the guests do the job.
We ask Allah The Almighty to Help you O Imam, as well as every Daa‘iyah to Allah The Almighty, and Guide us to what He Likes and Is Pleased with.
All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.