Let's change together as a community.

Assalaamu 'Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah,

We are a group of well-meaning individuals, fellow Muslims and community members residing in the UK. 

We appreciate that mosques face various challenges and obstacles in delivering services to its local residents and carry out much valuable community work. We would like to assist the mosques in building on this to extend its community services to more of our disadvantaged members as well as to the wider community. 

We have identified some key areas we think should be offered by all mosques and have limited our scope to these major groups. We believe these areas need the greatest attention locally and are likely to produce the most benefit with the least use of resources and effort.

Our collective concerns fit broadly into five categories:

1. Lifestyle/Health and diet:

We are concerned at the high incidence and rising trend of Type 2 Diabetes (T2D), obesity and Cerebrovascular Disease (CVD) amongst our population. Many of these conditions are preventable through healthy lifestyle choices.

The mosque is in a unique position to promote healthy lifestyle choices to its local residents and prevent/improve these life changing diseases found all too commonly amongst many of our local communities.  Consuming and respecting food along the principles of Islam would be beneficial and a good point to start. This would prevent the egregious consumption of food and prevent obesity, the onset of T2D and reduce CVD risk.

2. Interaction with our non-Muslim neighbours:

There appears to be little engagement between the mosques and communities of different/no faith groups as well as between the Muslim and non Muslim residents themselves, consequently the Muslim community are misunderstood and appear insular, which can act as a catalyst for islamophobia and ostracisation. Building positive relations with people of other/non faith groups within our communities is important in understanding each other, promoting trust and removing fear.

Our interactions must be in line with Islamic teachings promoting honesty, integrity, compassion and good character.

We also believe our mosques should vehemently denounce all acts of extremism both in words (through mainstream media platforms) and through direct action. Violence and extremism in any form should be condemned regularly through congregational sermons, reminding the audience of the abhorrent view that Islam takes on such perpetrators.

3. Respecting our environment:

The practice of spitting and throwing rubbish indiscriminately is disrespectful, unhygienic and anti-social. It stains the environment and attracts infestations. Promoting recycling and avoiding profligate use of resources such as water is environmentally responsible and advocated in Islam.

4. Parenting and upbringing of children:

Children need good role models. Highlighting the importance of parenting and parental responsibility needs to be an ongoing discourse.  

Poor parenting impacts negatively on the life chances of a child. This has a cumulative effect and often results in lower than expected academic achievement, greater risks of delinquency including joining 'gangs', teenage pregnancies, substance misuse and even child exploitation and abuse. These children can grow up to suffer from long term psychological and emotional burdens arising as a consequence of poor parenting. The effects of poor parenting may have unintended long term effects and hamper the life chances of future generations of the same family.

Our mosques should provide a safe environment for recreational and learning opportunities for our youth to help develop their character through good pastoral care, not only to benefit them but wider society. This should be accessible, inclusive and welcoming to all members of the community. Such an environment would play an important role in social integration and community cohesion.

5. Drugs and alcohol:

This is a real scourge in our community, especially amongst our youth. It not only destroys the life of individuals but also that of the extended family. It is also a contributory factor to criminal activity.

Our most vulnerable group, are those whom have succumbed to drugs, alcohol dependency and other related problems. This group needs to be reached out to especially, and be offered support and guidance. Our mosques can play a key role in prevention too, by promoting positive social activities and encouraging good moral behaviour in a way that is meaningful and engages our youth. This should be promoted not only through regular sermons during congregation but also by organising outreach working groups e.g talks in school assemblies, providing fun youth activities/excursions and events, engaging in rehabilitation programmes, tackling street homelessness, mentoring etc.

We observe the effects of the 'five modern day afflictions' constantly. The disharmony and distress it brings into people's lives, also how it erodes the moral fabric of the community, as well as the character and aspirations of our society.

We believe our mosques have an important and pivotal role in addressing these problems. This may be achieved through regular congregational sermons and outreach work, involving relevant stakeholders and professional bodies.

We believe for sermons and faith related guidance and education to be effective, they must be delivered by an Imam whom has acquired robust, necessary and recognised qualifications. The Imam must also have an on-going relevant professional development plan and regular appraisal. The recruitment of Imams must be open and rigorous and adhere to an expected standard of due diligence and governance. This must include having the relevant procedures in place for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults. We also believe for community services to be effective mosques should take adequate measures to ensure staff and volunteers are trained and vetted. 

It is pertinent for our mosques to work collaboratively with other community organisations, charities, relevant professionals bodies and the local councils to help deliver additional services to the local community in an effective manner.

We are keen to engage and support our mosques to help tackle the aforementioned problems. We would like to understand how local residents and community members can get involved with or develop activities/programmes under the mosque's auspices to help build a stronger healthier community.

Update #16 years ago
We would like to thank you for supporting our petition. The petition is the first wave of a campaign to raise awareness and build a network of support/volunteers, to help our mosques deliver on the five key objectives.
We need your help to build a strong mandate. We aim to reach a target of 10,000 signatories. This will enable us to approach organisations and individuals for funding and resources.
Please forward the petition to all your contacts. Join us, be part of this social enterprise!

Sign Petition
Sign Petition
You have JavaScript disabled. Without it, our site might not function properly.

Privacy Policy

By signing, you accept Care2's Terms of Service.
You can unsub at any time here.

Having problems signing this? Let us know.