muslimsforhumanity.org.uk: Muslim youth from the world’s largest organised Muslim community were hosted at the Houses of Parliament with their charity partners and dignitaries by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon today, to mark their contribution to charity and volunteering in British society.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association (AMYA) presented 45 cheques to UK based charities totalling £340,000 that they have raised through fund raising activities throughout last year. This figure brings the total funds raised by AMYA for UK charities to £1.5 million. The list of charities includes the Royal British Legion, Barnado’s, NSPCC, British Heart Foundation, Humanity First, The Silver Line, CLIC Sargent and MacMillan Cancer Support. The majority of the funds are raised through AMYA’s annual flagship charity event called the ‘Mercy For Mankind’ Charity Challenge. ‘Mercy For Mankind’ refers to the title that was given to Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the Qur’an and serves as the inspiration for all charitable work carried out by the group.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon said: “The Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association is reflective of exactly the kind of contribution that many groups make, of different faiths, of different communities, who do the right thing, who do not see that there is a division between society but also recognise that their role in society is to contribute to the society of which they are an integral part and in doing so they make it an infinitely better society and the efforts of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association in this respect are there for all to see .”
Secretary of State for International Development, Justine Greening said: “It goes beyond just raising money, I think what the youth association has really done is to be part of us responding to crisis when they hit. I’ll never forget the discussion around young people in the Ahmadiyya Community going as far afield as down to Devon to help people affected by the floods and closer to home in Surrey, helping people, just being part of that response to those crises I think told me a lot about just how a fantastic group of people they are and I think why it gives us so much hope as we look to the future.”