FOSIS Community Project

Turning Dissatisfaction into Action

I have spent most of this Sunday afternoon thinking about what to write for this month's newsletter, and how to introduce to the members of the national FOSIS team what the FOSIS COMMUNITY PROJECT (FCP) is about. I was recently watching a documentary on Mahatma Gandhi's 140 anniversary and contemplating on the following quote: "Non-cooperation with evil, is as much a duty as is cooperation with good". It may at first appear strange that I am introducing this campaign by using Gandhi's quote, but I hope that in what follows, the reader will get an idea of why FCP wants Muslim students to volunteer actively in their communities, and to help fight domestic injustices in the UK, irrespective of race, religion, age or colour.

I was trying to look for a Muslim counterpart of Gandhi's quote and came across with Omar ibn Alkhattab: "if a dog was to starve new the Euphrates, I would be held accountable for its hunger until I feed it". Omar ibn Alkhattab lived all the way in Medina, which was a good four months travel on horseback away from the Euphrates. We believe that he said that, not because he was the Kalif, but because he believed he was able to make a difference. And that is what FCP is all about, making a difference, albeit a small one.

So what is FCP then? FCP is an initiative started by dissatisfied young Muslims. Dissatisfied with the plight of the homeless and needy in the UK. Dissatisfied with the blind eye society has turned towards them. And dissatisfied with the lack of Muslim contribution to the betterment of the community.

Our Campaigns team felt that there was a limbo in our Muslim Communities when it came to helping the needy in the UK: the beggar outside our local TESCO shop, the lonely aged man who dies in an elderly home out of solitude and the terminally ill child in GOSH hospital in Euston Square (London) who is deprived of going to school and of Christmas or Eid presents. FCP wants to show all of these people that they are not forgotten members of our society, and that the Muslim students in the UK and Isocs up and down the country care about them.

The three main pillars of our campaign are:

1.      Feeding the homeless: "He is not a true believer who eats his fill while his neighbour lies hungry by his side"

2.      Visiting the elderly: "He is not one of us who does not show mercy to our young ones and esteem to our elderly", "If a young man honours an elderly on account of his age, Allah appoints someone to honour him in his old age."

3.      Caring for the young (visiting ill children, taking care of orphans)

We have had trials in London, Cardiff and Wales this summer, and pray you all join us in this initiative which has been launched this academic year. In light of what Gandhi and Omar ibn Alkhattab said, FCP believes that if we help the needy in our communities, we will be helping not only be helping them, but also showing them and society at large what Islam really teaches, and how beautiful our deen is. Brothers and sisters, please join us in this initiative, and let us start a revolution.

Sylvia Nicolai is a member of the Campaigns Committee and runs the FOSIS Community Project. She can be reached at communityproject@fosis.org.uk