Young Muslims collect hundreds of bags of litter in annual New Year’s Day street clean
Thousands of volunteers have gathered in towns and cities across the UK for an annual street clean on New Year’s Day. Organised by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association (AMYA) volunteers were up early for morning prayers, before heading to their local street to pick up litter. People from all communities joined in the efforts in Bordon in Hampshire, and Crawley in West Sussex as well as other places across the country.
The annual event started in 1995, and this year nearly 3,000 volunteers took part.More than 600 bags of litter was collected in a single morning, making it one of the country’s largest faith-led environmental initiatives of the New Year. Speaking to ITV Meridian, organiser Adeel Shah said: “We were joined by local residents, community members and collected bin bags full of litter.
“Then we had a warm breakfast at around 8 o’clock all across the UK, and that’s how we started our New Year’s Day by contributing to the communities that we live in.”This year’s initiative marks thirty years of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association’s New Year Street Clean-up, with Friday’s event the largest to date. The annual clean-up is deeply rooted in Islamic teachings that emphasise cleanliness and serving one’s nation.
These young Muslims were keen to give up their new year’s morning to help out in their local communities. Farhad Ahmad, the National President of AMYA UK, said: “For many years, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association has been running projects like this to serve the communities and country we are so proud to call home! “At a time when some have incorrectly claimed that Islam is at odds with British values, initiatives like these clearly show the opposite.
“In the last two years alone, our volunteers have contributed over 60,000 hours of service across the UK. We have raised over £84 million for British charities and have helped to provide more than four million meals to those in need.
“We continue to do this because this is what our religion teaches us!”Imam Ehtesham Arif, 24, is one of the youngest Imams in the whole country, and took part this morning.
“Over the past 30 years, tens of thousands of volunteers have collectively dedicated roughly thirty thousand hours to keeping our streets clean,” he said.
“I am now 24 years old and can vividly remember taking part in these clean-ups from the age of five!”What continues to inspire me is seeing children as young as seven waking up as early as six in the morning on new year’s day to pray at the mosque and then take part in these clean-ups across the country.
“These young people celebrate the new year by first praying to God, and then collectively serving His people. It is all part of our faith.”
