My Personal Struggle

Islam for me is a beautiful religion and way of life and one of the strongest values that I draw from Islam is compassion. This value is what inspires me the most and I take this value with me in all that I do.

I work to alleviate poverty and Islam is what inspires me to do this. Allah says in the Quran in Chapter 5 verse 32, ‘He who saves a single life, it is as if he has saved all of mankind.’ This is a very important verse for me in that God is telling us in all His wisdom the value of saving a single life and that is not a Muslim life but A LIFE regardless of race, gender or religion. To save the life of a Christian, Jew, Hindu or Sikh is just as important as saving a Muslim life.

Being around my Faiths Act Fellow colleagues and friends we learn from each other’s common values and compassion is one value that is consistently and continually one that we share and arises in our discussions.

Every morning while in Tanzania the Fellows wake up before breakfast and have a brief morning reflection where we take turns leading the reflection and learn from each other and what in our faith inspires us to be on the road that we have chosen to travel along.

Pritpal my friend from Leeds in the UK is a Sikh girl and when it was her turn to lead the reflection she said one thing that really stuck out for me. She told us that “we are like birds, one wing is prayer and the other wing is service. It is only with both wings we can fly successfully”

When I discussed this with my good friend Amy we both agreed that often we as aid workers sometimes lean too much towards service and not enough towards prayer. I for one am extremely guilty for this and in many ways am writing this blog post as a reminder to myself to pray, take time out and remember why we do what we do and then to thank God for what we have and for what we have to give.