The National Trust and the Muslim Duty
“It is He who has made you custodians, inheritors of the earth.” (Qur’an, 6:165) At the beginning of 2011, the PEW research centre released statistics stating that Muslims currently make up one fifth of the world’s population. With our increasing numbers comes increasing responsibility. Muslims must do their best to re-evaluate their role in the continuous destruction of the planet, which is seen by many experts to be one of the primary factors in climate change and the current disasters we are witnessing around the world. Solitude and taking time out from day to day worldly activities is from the…
Muslims & Disability: Journey to Inclusion
Our last article by Somayya Patel discussed the plight of deaf and disabled Muslims in the UK and their lack of access to Islamic education. This week, we are continuing the theme of Muslim attitudes to disability. Social inclusion for ethnic minorities is a big issue, and when you are disabled, you are a further minority within a minority, and feelings of marginalisation and isolation are realities for many. However, there is light amongst the darkness. And this is perhaps an opportunity to draw attention to one organisation that is truly making a difference on the ground. UK-based Kitaba, the…
Live below the Line
Extreme poverty is a worldwide problem and few of us have any idea what it means to live in such a dire state. That is why an initiative like ‘Live below the Line’ is so important in trying to help us understand the constricted lives of many who live below the poverty line. ‘Live below the Line’ is a challenge to participants to feed themselves on £1 a day (the UK equivalent of extreme poverty) for 5 days. It is running from 7-11 May 2012. It’s an invitation to be creative, whilst at the same time, raising one’s own, as…
A Duty of Care
A report by Which? last month labelled home care for elderly people as “shocking and disgraceful”. This followed two earlier reports published last year by the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Care Quality Commission, which found “systematic failures” and that over half of English hospitals were failing to meet key standards of dignity and nutrition within elderly care. These findings are deeply troubling, especially when one considers that according to recent government statistics, there are now, for the first time ever, more people of pensionable age than there are children under the age of 16. Against this backdrop…
