Al hamdulillah/ Praise be to Allah,

Team Al Ansaar (The Helpers) from last year has re-grouped to take on yet another charity challenge. Masha Allah - with your amazingly generous help and duas we smashed our targets last year and this year we are looking to do the same :)

Now, the cause this year is very close to home - as the saying goes 'charity starts at home'. We are looking to raise a minimum of £810.00 for St Mungo's Broadway; a charity that helps vulnerable homeless people to:

1. Emergency - Help people out of homelessness

2. Recovery - Help people leave homelessness behind forever

3. Prevention - Help people not to fall into homelessness in the first place

Charity is an amazingly rewarding act that defects tribulations, calms the anger of Allah and opens up multiple doors of Rizq and Barakah into our lives.

It is also quite an emotional deed. We give with our hearts as much as we give with our hands. Some of our donors might say 'There's people in more dire need of our charity in places like Syria, Palestine, Rohingya...' and we don't disagree with that statement. The beautiful thing about charity is that it increases wealth, also that it's not a matter of giving to one place and closing the door on any other legitimate causes. So we say give freely and compassionately following in the example of our beloved Prophet SAW.

Why fund raise for the homeless?

Subhan Allah, I tried to look up hadiths about homelessness and couldn't find anything and realised that although poverty was a reality and challenge for our Beloved Prophet SAW and his community, homelessness wasn't. The community of Sahabas would just build houses for those who didn't have one - not something that can be easily achieved in 21st century cities. Never the less, ponder over this hadith and consider that homelessness is a more dire situation than someone starving in their own home:

Ibn Az-Zubair reported: I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say, “He is not a believer whose stomach is filled while the neighbor to his side goes hungry.”

Sunan Al-Kubra 19049

You know, Allah talks to us in the most amazing way. And right now the repeated Ayat of Surah Rahman comes to mind 'And which of the bounties of Your Lord will you deny?'

Having a house, warm wholesome meals, feeling safe, warmth, dryness when sleeping, knowing someone cares, are all bounties we recognise to come from Allah SWT; Ar Raziq. 

We can't guarantee that we'll have those above bounties till our last breath and nor can you. This act of ours along with your generosity and duas will keep us blessed with such bounties, Bi'idhnillah, till we meet our Lord. And also free us from questioning in regards to our duties to those less fortunate than ourselves.

I want to finish with a Hadith Qudsi - where Allah talks directly to us and we can't help but let it penetrate deep into our hearts :')

This challenge excites us so much - Allah Akbar. It's the first time we are participating with a mainstream charity, because we believe charity (like the above Hadith from Ibn Zubair) doesn't discriminate based on faith. 

So please, help our team to not only reach our target but to smash it! To make a statement that, as believers, no element or sense of inequality or injustice will go unaddressed while we are here and alive to make a difference and to make a change!

Team Al Ansaar

Amin, Momin & Samir