Nearly 3,000 volunteers from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association (AMYA), Britain’s oldest and largest Muslim youth organisation, are expected to gather after morning prayers in more than 75 towns and cities, including London, Manchester, Glasgow and Liverpool. Working in coordinated teams, they will clean streets, parks and public spaces, giving their local areas a positive start to the new year.
The initiative marks 30 years of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community having organised an annual New Year Street Clean-Up every year since 1995 in the UK. Marking the milestone, this year’s clean-up is set to be the largest the organisation has conducted to date. The annual clean-up is rooted in Islamic teachings that emphasise cleanliness and responsibility towards one’s local community.
Commenting on the initiative, Farhad Ahmad, National President of AMYA UK, said:
“At a time when some commentators have incorrectly claimed that Islam is at odds with British values, initiatives like our New Year Street Clean-Up clearly show the opposite.
For many years, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association has been running projects like this to serve the communities and country we are proud to call home.
In the last two years alone, our volunteers have contributed more than 60,000 hours of service across the UK. Alongside this, we have raised over £84.5 million for British charities and helped provide more than 4.6 million meals to those in need. We continue doing this because this is what our religion teaches us.”
Among those taking part will be Imam Ehtesham Arif (24), one of the youngest imams in the UK, who reflected on the long-standing impact of the initiative:
“Over the past 30 years, tens of thousands of volunteers have collectively dedicated roughly 30,000 hours to keeping our streets clean. I am now 24 years old and can vividly remember taking part in these clean-ups from the age of five.
“What continues to inspire me is seeing children as young as seven waking up as early as 6am on New Year’s Day to pray in their mosques and then take part in these clean-ups across the country. These young people celebrate the new year by first praying to God, and then collectively serving His people.”
The worldwide leader and Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, His Holiness Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, consistently encourages young people to serve their communities and contribute positively to society through meaningful action. It is under this guidance that members of AMYA continue to dedicate their time to public service initiatives.
