Sadaqa Day and the Mainstream Media
Source: Sadaqa Day
March 26th marks Sadaqa Day, an Islamic initiative that encourages Muslims and people of other backgrounds to contribute toward a charitable cause, whether monetarily or otherwise. The website quotes an authentic hadith of the Prophet Muhammad: “Even a smile is charity”.
According to its 2016 report, the day involved 40 events across the country, including soup kitchens, food banks, visits to the elderly, hospital visits, food collections for refugees, toy collections for children, and other activities. Some were held in cooperation with members of other faith groups.
The British Muslim community is reportedly the most charitable religious grouping the UK. Whilst some may interpret this statement to be a mere propaganda point, it has only been made in order to highlight the positive contributions that British Muslims have made to wider society. According to a poll conducted by ICM in 2013, British Muslims were found to donate £371 per person, an amount exceeding those given by Jewish, Christian and atheist donors.
Source: Sadaqa Day
During his 2014 Ramadan Message, David Cameron noted the significant charitable initiatives within the Muslim community, stating: “Charity is one of the things that Islam is all about. Here in Britain, Muslims are our biggest donors – they give more to charity than any other faith group.” In 2016, The Muslim Charity Forum was approximated to have given £100 million to charitable causes during Ramadan alone by the UK Charity Commission.
At a time in which the mainstream media will report en masse on Muslim terror attacks, such as the most recent atrocity in Westminster, it is confusing that any positive contributions from Muslims go largely unreported. To their credit, a number of local media organisations have previously covered Sadaqa Day according to its report, yet there were no national media organisations listed therein. To my knowledge, only the Guardian has provided any mainstream coverage of the events today.
