The holy month of Ramadan is a gift from Allah to us, a time where we renew our conviction to Allah, renew our spiritual strength, purify ourselves through abstentions and gain blessings and bounty from Him.

It is during this month however that the MPACUK workload increases. We, unlike most Muslim organisations, do not believe that Ramadan is a time of quiet contemplation and reduced pace. If anything we want it to be, but the state of the ummah will not allow that. The deep desire to embed ourselves into prayer and contemplation is superseded by the need of the hour. The need to activate, the need to defend, the need to reform. The issue and immediacy of the problems of the Muslims can best be summed up by the poor response to the Action Alert MPACUK put out against the Islamophobic Dispatches documentary.

If Muslims during this holy month can’t motivate themselves to complain, when MPACUK bring them the Alert to their doorstep, when MPACUK write the alert, MPACUK give you the postal address, telephone number and email address, we put it up on our website, we even email over 60,000 Muslims and yet, the same few usual suspects of active brothers and sisters respond.

The masses, ignorant and defeated, bury their heads on their prayer mat and ask Allah for forgiveness. Well Allah may forgive, but your obligation is not just to Allah. You have an obligation to Allah (haku-kul-Allah), and to the Ummah (haku-kul-Ibad, and though Allah is all forgiving, the forgiveness on the Day of Judgement from the dead and crippled Iraqis will not be forthcoming, the forgiveness from the oppressed Palestinians will not be forthcoming, the forgiveness from the team at MPACUK who have tried to wake you up, while you indulge yourself in pious escapism and forgiveness will not be forthcoming. And if hard Sanctions against Iran kill half a million children and who die through lack of medical aid and another glib American Secretary of State says “it’s a price ‘we’ are willing to pay’ then you have no right to ask or get forgiveness. And on that terrible Day, those who like MPACUK worked without your help and those who needed your protection will ask for their due.

The slow drum beat demonising Islam, demonising Muslims, the unremitting microscope highlighting every blemish, projecting idiot Muslims and casting their shadow over all of us. The end result when Muslims talk about Palestine, when Muslims raise their voice against foreign policy, we are already marginalised, we are already on the back foot. We have been beaten mentally and out-thought strategically. In our priviledge in living and being born into countries where our voice can be heard we have an obligation to ensure it is.

Instead we cling to impractical interpretations of faith that justify inactions. One example during the by-election in Southall was when a pious-looking brother tried to argue the point ‘The reason why the Iraqis and Palestinians are suffering is because they have left the deen’. I asked, ‘Could it be that they are oppressed, because Muslims like you, had left the deen and talk when action was needed?’

This discussion isn’t unique, in facts it’s depressingly repeatable. The argument is a facsimile, a cheap copy of a deep Islamic theological argument, parroted by the ignorant, uncomprehending and incomprehensible.

Muslims neither spend their wealth in Allah’s cause, nor do they give their time to ensure that Muslims' concerns were represented in Parliament. Yet they were happy to argue with us, wasting our time, wasting our energy, letting off steam. We were a convenient safety valve, an emotional punch bag, a physical presence they could vent at, and once satisfied walk away, emotional fix completed.

For hundreds of years the Muslims have been in decline, our Islamic institutions have become stagnant cess pools, where pond life flourishes. MPACUK know the futility of harping on about activating these institutions. After all how much wisdom or leadership can you get from a bull frog? But our Media Jihad, our Political Jihad will alienate those Muslim leaders who do nothing. Our message will wake up those Muslims who care about the ummah, who spend their wealth and their time to defend the downtrodden. Our faith is tested by our actions. And we will create change.

We already have dramatically changed the cosy in-groups that used to represent the Muslim community in Britain, we have already changed acceptability of discriminating against women in Britain’s Mosques and we have highlighted the need to ensure that our groups and our institutions are transparent and accountable.

MPACUK need money, and during this holy month, please spare some of your Zakat to help MPACUK defend the ummah. We cannot increase our capability without your generous funding. Currently we are running an Alert against Dispatches for producing a slanted and Islamophobic documentary. We are campaigning against the increase of the detention without trial period from 28 days to 56 days. We are highlighting the crime of Israeli blood dates being sold to Muslims to open their fasts during Ramadan and we continuing to push for the Islamic concept of accountability to be adopted by our institutions. All of this we do without serious funding, without an office and with volunteer staff.

By Allah’s grace, our work and your Zakat we will make a greater difference and on the Day of Judgement your obligation to Allah will insha'Allah be fulfilled and your obligation to the ummah be completed. And MPACUK pray that you will be granted forgiveness and paradise.

May Allah grant you blessing and peace during this holy month of Ramadan.

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