PETERBOROUGH – The Muslim community of Faizan‐e‐Madina Mosque in Peterborough has raised thousands of pounds of food to help needy people all over the world, Peterborough Today reported on March 3.
“The Muslim worshippers are always raising money through weekly donations to help people needing emergency relief. We raise money where there is a need. Our community is very generous and kind,” said the mosque chairman, Abdul Choudhuri.
The mosque members were able to raise £2,500 for the Islamic Help’s appeal in Yemen, where there are shocking levels of malnutrition.
The Muslim community was also able to collect a sum of £4,000 for charity to help the people of Tharparkar in Pakistan, where there is a terrible lack of food, water, and medicines.
Mosques are not merely places of worship with many mosques being used to help the community.
In February 2019, three mosques in the UK have been recognized through the ‘Beacon Mosque’ initiative for their remarkable achievements and positive contribution to their wider communities.
The three mosques which received the first awards were all from London, the UK.
Peterborough is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England, with a population of 196,640 in 2015. Christianity has the largest following in Peterborough, in particular, the Church of England, with a significant number of parish churches and a cathedral.
Muslims of Peterborough
About 56.7% of Peterborough’s residents classified themselves as Christian in the 2011 Census. Recent immigration to the city has also seen a substantial increase in the population of Muslims.
In comparison with the rest of England, Peterborough has a lower proportion of Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, and Sikhs. The city has a higher percentage of Muslims than England as a whole; 9.4% compared to 5% nationally.
The majority of Muslims reside in the Millfield, West Town and New England areas of the city, where two large mosques, including the Faidhan-e-Madina Mosque, are based.
As one of the Five Pillars of Islam, zakat or donating and charity is a religious obligation for all Muslims who meet the necessary criteria of wealth.
It’s a mandatory charitable contribution, the right of the poor to find relief from the rich, and is considered to be tax or obligatory alms.
Islamic Shari’ah also has another type of optional donation called Sadaqah. This term was used in the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah for both zakat and charity.
The estimates of 2009 suggested a total of about 2.4 million Muslims over all the UK. According to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, the number of Muslims in Britain could now be around 3 million.
Between 2001 and 2009 the Muslim population increased roughly ten times faster than the rest of society. Most Muslim immigrants to Britain came from formerly occupied nations.