The amount gathered exceeded an initial goal to raise QAR 30 million.
An online fundraiser successfully raised QAR 32,999,944 in just three hours on Monday to help more than 10,000 internally displaced persons (IDP’s) in Syria and Yemen.
Dubbed “The 27th Night Challenge”, the Qatar Charity online fundraiser was the biggest of its kind and led by some of Qatar’s most prominent figures, including Abdulrahman Al-Harami, and content creators Abdulla Al Ghafri and Mohamad Adnan.
During the event, one generous donor who remained anonymous donated one million riyals specifically for Yemen.
“The Prophet peace be upon him said ‘May God bless our Yemen and our Sham [Syria]’ and we say may God bless who contributed to our Yemen and our Sham [Syria],” Al-Harami gleefully announced during the fundraiser.
Speaking to Qatar Charity during the event, Al Jazeera journalist Muna Hawwa said: “What caught my attention in the campaign is Yemen’s name. Syria is present and the bloodshed is ongoing, and we should all join efforts in for them, but with Yemen’s presence, which is often forgotten, carries a really important message,” Muna Hawwa, Al Jazeera journalist, told Qatar Charity during the event.
The event coincided with the 27th night of Ramadan, which is widely considered to be the holiest in the Muslim month. Muslims are encouraged to spend the last ten nights of Ramadan in worship, and good deeds like donating to charity are highly recommended.
Qatar has long been involved in humanitarian relief efforts in Yemen and Syria, both of which have faced years of conflict that have left hundreds of thousands displaced.
Since 2014, Yemen has been mired in a deadly war between the Saudi coalition and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels following the latter’s capture of the capital Sanaa.
The war has turned Yemen into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and has internally displaced 4.5 million people.
Over in Syria, the deadly decade-long war waged by Syria’s Bashar Al Assad regime has created the world’s largest refugee crisis. Since 2011, more than 14 million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes, with 6.8 million internally displaced, per United Nations figures.
