Young Muslim youth across the UK woke up early Wednesday, January 1, to clean streets after New Year’s celebrations, Metro reported.

“Many people will be out on the night of new year’s eve celebrating the start of the new year,” imam Qamar Ahmed Zafar, from Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association (AMYA), said.

“Thereafter we all get together and go out on to the streets to clean up after the celebrations have ended, this isn’t just to keep our surroundings clean, but is also done to remind our young Muslim youth about the duty they have to serve their country.

“More than that, it is also about trying to instill lifestyle changes in the youth, we take for granted the amount of food and plastic which is wasted, and such events are a reminder of how current consumption is destroying our planet.”

After early prayers on Wednesday morning, about 1500 young Muslims put on jackets and collected hundreds of bin bags of rubbish.

Their initiative was led in different cities across the UK from London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, to Walsall, Manchester, and Cardiff.

Muslim Efforts

Though Muslims don’t usually participate in new year celebrations, they usually lend a helping hand to the needy during the festive season.

A group of Ahmadiyya Muslim youth also teamed up last week to deliver 10,000 meals to rough sleepers before December 31, vowing to clean up after New Year parties.

Earlier, a group of Muslim volunteers from Lancashire Council of Mosques (LCM) paid a special visit to patients at Blackburn Royal Hospital, putting a smile on their faces before the holiday season.

Britain’s oldest mosque also opened its doors on Wednesday, December 25, to host the needy, homeless, lonely, and elderly people for a Christmas lunch.