As Scouts, we embody a spirit of camaraderie, compassion, and service that unites us across different backgrounds and beliefs across the world. Our shared commitment to the values of leadership, community, and support for one another unifies us, regardless of our diverse experiences. In times of challenge, this spirit becomes even more vital, reminding us of the importance of standing together as one global family. A core tenet of Islam is the concept of ‘Ummah’, which is the sense of brotherhood and global community amongst of Muslims that transcends borders, language, race, wealth, and history.
The Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) said: “The believers, in their mutual love, compassion, and sympathy, are like a single body; if one of its organs suffers, the whole body will respond with sleeplessness and fever.”
When one part of the Ummah is in pain, the whole Ummah feels that pain. This is a pain that we, as a global community, experience after every natural disaster, war, and tragedy, and is reflected in how it prompts us to respond with healing and care in any form that we can administer from afar. This can look like an increase in prayers for the afflicted, in raising awareness and championing justice on their behalf, and, as we saw with Muslim Scout groups up and down the country – mobilising and raising hundreds of thousands of pounds through a range of fundraising initiatives to fund humanitarian relief efforts.
The Muslim community has felt this pain prominently over the last 12 months, witnessing the atrocities that continue to be afflicted against Palestinians. We have never felt more helpless than we have whilst witnessing homes, places of worship, schools, refugee camps, hospitals, and lives being systematically destroyed through our screens.
With great sorrow, we receive the news of numerous deaths per airstrike and artillery strike. As Muslim Scouts, we mourn the loss of our fellow scouts who were members of the Palestinian Scout Association; leaders like you and I, and young people brimming with potential like the ones that we help to nurture here in the UK, but for whom the leadership that they developed through Scouting put them on the front line to help and support the relief and rescue efforts of their people under constant bombardment, and ultimately led to them being killed in the service of their community. We have also shared the pain and grief of our fellow scouts here in the UK with roots in Palestine, who have lost scores of family members in this relentless bombardment. Yes, this year has largely been characterised by our shared, collective grief.
But there has been no time to truly grieve – no time to properly begin to process the constant stream of traumatic events we are witnessing. Instead, the Muslim community has had to defend ourselves against harmful stereotypes and accusations. Members of the Muslim community in the UK have continued to face abuse and discrimination, online and in our schools and workplaces, heightened by social media becoming a battleground of misinformation and and our acts of peaceful social activism and solidarity becoming vilified. Sensationalist headlines about Muslims akin to those churned out post-9/11 has led to these stereotypes being perpetuated in the mainstream narrative. It is these harmful stereotypes that led to the far-right Islamophobic riots of the summer. Triggered by a false accusation – but conditioned by years of unfettered and unopposed Islamophobic rhetoric within our political and media apparatus – we all saw just how dangerous the mainstream narrative can be in creating and spreading vitriol and hate.
The fact that it was necessary to provide guidance on ‘How to stay safe when you leave the house today’, and ‘What to do if a riot breaks out in your area’ to our young people was tragic. Feeling intimidated and scared to travel alone and on public transport, fearing for our elderly loved ones as they walked to the mosque for prayers, being advised that our hijabs (Muslim womens’ head-coverings) might make us a target – it was a deeply uncomfortable and unnerving time to be a British Muslim. Despite a major part of our role being to safeguard our young people, no leader should be in a position where they fear for their own safety as well as their young peoples’ while only attempting to go on with their daily lives. Having been active and positively contributing citizens of British society for decades, for many Muslims, it felt like so much meaningful work done to tackle Islamophobia in the UK and strengthen relations with the wider community had been brushed away by a violent stroke of hatred, anger, and bigotry.
In these moments of hurt, fear, and trauma, community was (and always will be) vital. Muslim Scouts across the UK collectively raised over £120,000 for humanitarian relief efforts in Palestine, and groups utilised their spaces to provide opportunities to heal, process, and find productive ways of responding to the events around us. In participating in Islamophobia Awareness Month and delivering IAM activities within your groups, you are becoming part of the solution to the issues that affect so many people around you. Your Muslim neighbours, schoolmates, friends, and fellow Scouts all benefit from the effort you make to be more understanding, tolerant, and inclusive – in fact we all do!
As we reflect on this past year, it’s clear that the challenges we face are immense, but the strength of our community is even greater. The pain of witnessing injustice and the fear stirred by Islamophobia are heavy burdens, but they are not ours to bear alone. Through the values of solidarity, service, and compassion, we find the tools to confront these challenges head-on. Islamophobia Awareness Month is a crucial time to not only highlight the struggles of Muslims but also to actively work towards building understanding and dismantling the harmful stereotypes that fuel hatred.
Together, as Scouts and as a global community, we can continue to uplift one another, guided by our shared commitment to making the world a better place for all. This year’s challenges are a protracted struggle; but it is during these times of great adversity that we are reminded that the work of healing, educating and standing against injustice is ongoing and a collective effort; and only through these efforts can we build a future defined by a sense of unity, compassion, justice and hope.
