Not because my money will be going to youth projects, or urban outreach per se – but because the UK community is in dire need of the Mercy of Allāh – and Allāh's Mercy is poured down upon those who obey Him with love.

After my last post encouraging British Muslims to spend their Zakat in the UK, I am finally putting my money where my mouth is.

Tonight, I donated my Zakat to the following three charities:

• JIMAS
• National Zakat Foundation
• iERA Zakat Fund (yes, they're a Dawah org, but they spend Zakat on new Muslim support māshā’Allāh, which is totally 'legit', fiqh-wise).

It is Allāh who decides how much a penny is worth, and how far a pound can stretch. So perhaps my Zakat did not amount to very much; but if it was earned in a halal way, and was spent as it should be, I am certain Allāh will place His Blessing in it, and thereby raise my humble donation to a level that would put billionaire philanthropists to shame – inshā’Allāh. :)

I only share this info to encourage you to donate your Zakat wisely. Allāh says:

“Tell My Servants who have believed to keep up the prayer and give, secretly and in public, out of what We have provided them, before a Day comes when there will be no trading or friendship.” [Qur'an 14:31]

May Allāh accept it from me, and from those who actually do the hard work of spending the money where it is needed – āmīn!

Image Source: National Zakat Foundation.

Alhamdulillah, many of us in the UK are blessed with sufficient wealth that we can pay our bills, send our kids to school, and eat our three meals a day. In the midst of these blessings, it's easy to forget that there are people struggling all around us. The poverty in this country is more hidden than that of overseas, and our government's system of benefits and social care – though a noble ideal – is not perfect, with spending cuts, and many people slipping through the net: especially refugees, a significant percentage of whom are Muslim.

Zakat is a sacred duty, and is not like regular charity that can be given to anyone who is in need, whatever their faith and circumstance. There are specific rules about who must pay, how much, and to whom*: one of those criteria is that priority must be given to the needy people in your own land before anyone else – your neighbours.

Therefore I encourage my fellow British Muslims to seek out such cases, and support those organisations that are working selflessly to make sure that you fulfill your duty to Allāh in the right way.

Two such charities that I know of are JIMAS (http://www.jimas.org/zakahappl.htm) and the newly formed National Zakat Foundation (http://www.letusbelieve.com/). Click through to their websites to read about the tragic cases of Muslims suffering in the UK, and how your Zakat will help them, inshā’Allāh.

True, there are many overseas causes that need our help, both in the 'homelands' of India and Pakistan, as well as in East Africa, Palestine, and so on. I strongly urge you to generously donate your sadaqah (voluntary charity) to charities that work in these areas: both to their emergency campaigns, and those working on long term development.

However, Zakat is special; it must be spent as Allāh commanded – and our Muslim neighbours have more right on us than those who are far away. This is a fact of Islam that cannot, and should not be ignored. So please spend your Zakat wisely, and encourage your families and friends to do the same.

The Messenger of Allāh, Peace Be Upon Him said, “The best of companions with Allāh is the one who is best to his companions, and the best of neighbours to Allāh is the one who is the best of them to his neighbour” 
[At-Tirmidhi]

May Allāh accept it from us. May He alleviate the suffering of those near and far, and make it easy to serve and obey Him in the way that best pleases Him. Āmīn.

—

* Download your FREE guide to Zakat today, as prepared by 1st Ethical: http://www.1stethical.com/2011/07/20/the-official-launch-of-our-free-zakah-ebook/

I had a random thought this evening, perhaps triggered by the charitable atmosphere of both Ramadan solemnity and ‘Īd celebrations.

With all the recent advances in technology, there must be a way for charities to keep track of an individual's donations, from the time it is received, to the moment it is spent and distributed.

In fact, I imagine it could be exactly like the online tracking system used by most courier companies. Instead of lumping all donations in one pot, each amount could be treated as an individual entity, a 'package', which is tracked all the way until it reaches the hands of the person in need. Large donations could be split into smaller packages to be spread over several projects.

I think this would be a great way to encourage people to keep giving, as they could see exactly where their money is going. Photos and messages from recipients could also be easily attached as confirmation of receipt where time and resources permit, in the same way one signs for a delivery.

It's may also be a good way to keep charities open and accountable, and hopefully prevent fraud and corruption, inshā’Allāh.

Has anyone come across such a system in place already? I'd love to see a big Muslim charity, like Islamic Relief, take up the idea. Even if it's just a pilot project in one location, such as their water project in Niger (donate now).

I may suggest it to Dr Hanni of the Muslim Charities Forum myself, next time I see him, inshā’Allāh! It would definitely be an interesting project for a Comp Sci student to manage. Any volunteers? :)

My brother Didier Ambroise is missing and we have not been able to find him. My Uncle Roblain Legagneur and my cousin Namu Corvington and his wife died buried under their house.

Brother Ibrahim Abdoul Salam's house was destroyed and his cousin died.

Also brother Abou Bakr's house was crumbled and his sister died.

Many brothers and sisters are unaccounted for. We do not know if they are alive or dead. May Allāh give ease to them in whatever state they may be. Āmīn.

Read the full letter.

Donate.

Pray.

Please donate online NOW, writing “IMPERIAL COLLEGE” in the comments section of the donation form (we're in competition with the other participating universities). All money goes to Islamic Relief's orphan fund. So be generous! :)

Please also leave a comment below (anonymously if you wish) to let me know how much you donated, so I have an idea of the impact of the video, and also, to encourage others to follow suit, inshā’Allāh.

Update – Photos from the Henna Stall we ran today (Day 4):

Baseera Institute will be launching on 16-20th Oct, 2009, inshā’Allāh. It is a charity dedicated to teaching the quraan to the blind and visually impaired, and is set on a similar model to Madressa Noor in South Africa.

Inshā’Allāh we will be holding braille workshops for people who wish to teach quraan to the blind and visually impaired from 16-20th Oct, 9am-5pm.

If you know anyone who is blind or visually impaired who wishes to study the quraan then bring them along, or if you are generally interested in our charity project come down.

I have attached the poster with all the details to this email [see below]. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

We also have a group on facebook ”Baseera Institute”. If you have not already done so please join and I will send you regular updates.

Click poster to enlarge.

How many barren deserts do we have on the surface of the Earth, that suddenly come to life when Allāh sends the rain down?

“…thou seest the earth barren and lifeless, but when We pour down rain on it, it is stirred (to life), it swells, and it puts forth every kind of beautiful growth (in pairs).” Qur'an, 22:5

I remember reading about such desert plant life when I was little; how in some areas it may only rain once a year, for a few minutes, and then 'whoosh!': flowers begin to bloom, small animals come up from beneath the sand, and every creature makes the most of this brief blessing, before retreating from the heat of the sun.

For this reason, water projects hold a special place in my heart, and why I now encourage you to donate to them whenever you can. In this regard, please check out the following two charities:

• Islamic Relief: “Water for Life”
• Charity: Water (I have linked to the page of fellow blogger, Cookie Monster, as he has set up his own donation page on behalf of Ch:W, and has yet to reach his target)

This morning after suhoor, I was attempting to make wudhu in my bathroom upstairs, but was facing difficulty because my mum happened to be doing the same thing downstairs. All I was getting was random splatters acccompanied by scary sounding gurgling noises – but no actual, running water! I began to get annoyed because I was running out of time before Fajr – but then the thought came to me: “Aren't I blessed to have even this?”. A few seconds later, mum had finished, and the water returned. It was that easy.

But what if it hadn't?

What if it was never there to begin with?

How would I cope?

That's what we have to keep reminding ourselves every time we open the tap…

“Say, 'Just think: if all your water were to sink deep into the earth who could give you flowing water in its place?'” Qur'an, 67:30

The day involved two major meetings, each relating to the two main projects that currently dominate my unemployed life: Deaf Muslim initiatives (e.g., SignLabs), and blogging. As the content of both meetings was pretty much confidential, I'll skip the details, and just describe the basic aims.

In the morning, I met with reps from two different Deaf groups, to discuss a newly proposed plan to translate the Qur'an into British Sign Language. It's a really exciting project, māshā’Allāh, for many reasons, and of course, extremely rewarding on many levels.

Earlier the same week, I had a meeting with another group who were responsible for getting the Friday khutbah at East London Mosque translated into BSL. During that discussion, I was made aware of the struggle of presenting Islam to the Deaf in a clear, non-confused manner, especially when taking into consideration both the numerous language and cultural barriers.

Both meetings, though very useful and informative, highlighted the fact that I am such a newbie. I cannot sign, so I am useless for translating anything into BSL, and have to rely on others to interpret. I am not sufficiently knowledgeable in Islam to act as an aalima consultant-type. I'm not even a media expert to offer video production services on a grand enough scale to make a real impact. At best, I'm another pair of hands, and an extra voice, hopefully making the work of the professionals a little easier, inshā’Allāh.

Anyway, this realization has given me further motivation to start learning sign language properly. I submitted an application for a BSL level 1 course at my local community college, which should start in September (if they accept me; the course is quite popular, apparently). I then plan to apply what I have learnt by volunteering my spare time to London-based Deaf groups: after all, if you don't use it, you'll lose it (“it” being knowledge).

SignLabs started out of pure impulse to do something. Now it needs to mature into something else. I hope, in time, to figure out what that something else is, inshā’Allāh.

Now, onto Meeting 2.

Well, actually, there was a 1.5 hour gap between Meetings 1 and 2. My plan to fill that time by depositing a cheque at the bank failed after it only took around five minutes to cross the road, complete the form with my account details, seal the envelope, and plonk it in the letterbox. Darn. What to do now?

After spending a few more minutes standing outside the bank, looking up into the sky, and tapping my chin, (receiving a couple of odds stares in the process), I decided to risk the bad weather, and nip down the road to the Idea Store (oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I was in Whitechapel all day), which is basically a snazzy-looking public library. I failed to access the free WiFi on my iPod, and couldn't be bothered to open an account just to use the computers, so I did something I haven't done in a long, long time: I grabbed a couple of books, sat down at an empty table, and quietly read for the next hour or so.

Can you believe it?

Me? Read? A Book?!

I mean, I read every day… blogs, articles, instructions on the back of soup packets… but a book? Not even an e-book downloaded from the net! Paperbacks are, like, so 20th century, darlink…

Anyhoo, the first book was a general overview of Evolutionary theory, in preparation for writing my long-promised essay. The second was on the British suffragette movement. I want to know more about how women fought for their rights, as I believe such genuine, sincere struggles are being betrayed by the actions of some modern-day feminists, as well as the newly emerging 'laddette' culture. Unfortunately, I didn't get to finish either book, as I didn't want to go through the hassle of registering for a library card. So I'll have to continue my education some other day.

Finally, the time came to make my way back up the road to the London Muslim Centre, for Meeting 2. Though there is much to say about what happened over the course of the next few hours, for now, I can only reveal that it was about British Muslims and the media. I was there as a representative of the Muslim blogosphere – though I felt like such a tiny, little sardine of a fish in the pond of large tuna-sized media fish, that surrounded me on the table. However, I became more piranha-like towards the end of the meeting, partly out of impatience, and partly because my stupid, big mouth can't help but snap at others sometimes – no matter what their status is in comparison to mine – may Allāh forgive me.

It's funny though, because it was the second time that day that I had touched upon the subject of culture in Islam (that's what my big mouth was debating at the time). My own opinion is that it is fine, as long as it doesn't take the place of religion: though what I class as 'culture' (fashion, food, language and the arts) is regulated by Islam, to varying degrees. This opinion is based on comments made by several respected scholars.

I actually used to be far more hardline in the past, claiming that culture was the 'enemy' of Islam… but that was born out of ignorance, not educated reasoning. Over the years, I have been quite surprised to discover how accommodating Islam, and in turn, the learned representatives of Islam are to a nation's culture, even going so far as to take it into account when formulating legal rulings.

However, my respected 'opponent' seemed to disagree with me. Or at least, insist on not understanding me, because I actually think he shared the same opinion. More likely, I didn't explain my stance very well; I don't claim to be a skilled conversationalist.

Anyway, I have a tendency to dwell on such incidents, because they are usually quite rare (I normally shy away from confrontation); I am sure it has been long forgotten by everyone else (at least, that's what I hope, inshā’Allāh!). If not, I shall blame my behaviour on youthful impetuousness… {cough}

So, basically, that was my day. I went home with a doggy bag full of the yummy Bengali food that had been served as lunch during the second meeting, and ended up napping on the sofa. My tiredness from all the activity makes me wonder how I'll cope with a full-time schedule this coming October. I may have to do some Rocky-style training beforehand, or something.

#Ba baa ba-ba-baa, ba-ba-baa, ba-ba-baa…# [That's the start of the Rocky theme tune, for those of you wondering if I've lost it completely...]

GROWN MEN CRYING…THE SIEGE IS BROKEN… ON THE DAY THE PROPHET WAS BORN

And they entered side by side like heroes, some on foot some in their vehicles, tears, smiles, hugs, flowers. It was historic, it was legendary. Gaza we are here. We have fulfilled the promise – Viva Palestina! The lifeline from the people of Britain to you, the people of Gaza, has arrived.

We have broken the barriers, we have opened closed borders, we have defied the odds,we have overcome the challenges across thousands of miles and three continents. We are here to be with you, to embrace you, to share your tragedy with you.

After another morning of intense negotiations, a deal was reached to allow all of the members of the convoy to go through. In the end, Viva Palestina had to make the sacrifice of agreeing that some vehicles will have to cross the border from the Al Ouja Israeli controlled crossing point. This includes our mascot, the fire engine and the boat. This was due to the restrictions imposed by Egyptian law governing the Rafah Crossing.

A tearful Talat Ali told me that 'Rafah is the most beautiful crossing in the world', he also said that the time , effort and sacrifices put in by all the Viva Palestina family meant that history has been made today – on the day the prophet Mohammed (PBUH) was born.

George Galloway made an emotional speech thanking the people of Gaza for the wonderful reception and assuring them that for Viva Palestina and in our millions, “WE ARE ALL PALESTINIANS!” George also reiterated that the people of Palestine have voted and that their voice should be respected.

Today the convoy will head along the Salah Eddine road towards Gaza City witnessing along the way the destruction and death caused by the Israeli war machine. Along the way they will be greeted by the people of Gaza who will know that Viva Palestina is here and that they will NEVER BE ALONE.

Farid Arada

Sign up for e-mail updates, and donate to the cause at VivaPalestina.org

On February 14th 2009, after only four, short weeks of preparation, the Viva Palestina convoy finally left for Gaza, from its starting point at London's Hyde Park. Watch interviews with the founder, George Galloway MP, the journalist, Yvonne Ridley, as well as a variety of footage from the departure event.

At the time of publishing this video, the convoy had already reached Morocco. Receive daily updates and send in your donations via VivaPalestina.org.