“I feel like I am in constant state of emergency. Though our mosque buildings are closed, we are still here, and people are reaching out to us. I’m grateful for that, but it isn’t always easy. It can at times feel overwhelming to feel the intensity of the needs of others, whilst managing my own anxieties about my children and family.
Most people will have read about the disproportionate impact on BAME people and within Luton’s Muslim community, we are experiencing this first hand. There’s always a message, an email, a missed call by the time I wake up in the morning and it’s always someone in crisis. There’s no food, there’s no money, they’ve run out of electricity, they need nappies for the babies. At the worst end, they are calling because a family member has passed away. I’ve never experienced anything like this before. We have buried more people these last few weeks than we normally do in a year. Yet despite this, I am so humbled by the way in which our community come together to support others. Whether it’s been cooking meals, delivering food parcels or helping get PPE to key workers, they have risen to the challenge.
It has been a physically and emotionally draining time, but I can’t think of a more meaningful way to spend Ramadhan than in the service of others.”
Faisal Hussain (Suffa Tul Islam, Bradley Rd, Luton)
