Football: The Investment of Life

Football attracts the largest growing dynamic part of our society: the youth. It has become the new way of life for young people, one of the few superpowers of social change.

Football reflects the new philosophy of working with the grass root community, and differentiates from the visionary of those who are long-sighted to those who are short-sighted.

Let us recall two of the best football teams in the UK and in Egypt: Manchester United of the late 80’s and Al Ahly of Egypt at the beginning of the 70’s.

Both teams were in very bad shape, Al Ahly was even at the bottom of the premier league in 1966. The long-sighted vision of both clubs was to focus on the new social power of change: the *youth*. With this drive both teams invested heavily on youths aged between 16 and 21 and subsequently produced multiple successive results in individual tournaments over the coming years.

These teams have given us the direction to:

1.      Communicate

2.      Invest

3.      Empower; and  

4.      Partner

The new superpower of social change has emerged bottom-up from the community grassroots. These youth are;

1.      The future breadwinners of the family

2.      The best freelance advocates for aims and objectives of organisations

3.      The best free and dynamic thinkers

4.      The fastest acting volunteers

The multiplicity of young peoples’ diverse dreams and the spirit they have creates self- regenerating energy in our societies.     

Invest in the youth. It’s the only way forward.

The Plea of HIV by Hibo Noor

HIV is an ongoing pandemic upon every creed,

We are all one and the same colour blood we bleed,

Millions affected and for our help they plea,

But instead stigmatization is the only action we see

Islam teaches compassion upon one another,

So helping the people of humanity is upon us,

Raise awareness and promote fairness,

Equality is a right no matter faith or status

Speak up and don’t hide the fact,

AIDS is having an increasing impact,

On some Muslim and non-Muslim lives,

For their health and support we must give and strive

To help sufferers to attain a better quality of life,

Give mothers the chance to see their seeds blossom with light,

Help increase the chances of children’s playful living,

A chance of childhood is the best form of charitable giving

HIV is something we all know of,

But our voices are too silent to help the sufferers among us

Those affected across the globe lack basic prevention,

As a result the death toll rises within many nations

Discrimination and prejudice is practiced among the affected,

Because of these views the help for humanity is neglected,

The International HIV fund aims to help and create awareness,

Working together is essential, our capability is not effortless

Along with your help we can achieve,

And sufferers can overcome stigma within the lives they lead.

Man, the Child of Woman

Women are vital creatures for the sustainability of humanity on earth. Women’s role in any society is internal as well as external. They have a diverse ability of leading a community from the backseat as well as the front seat.

Women make up the constituency of the mother, the wife, the daughter and the sister without whom society cannot exist. Women themselves can flourish through the E³ Factor. So what is this?

The E³ Factor is made up of:

·         Education

·         Engagement

·         Empowerment

Education

Education is the source of knowledge which shapes the future of any nation on earth. A famous Arab proverb states, “Mother is an institution. If you invest in her, you invest in the whole nation.” Mother is the first and only sustainable educational institution in any country around the world.

Engagement

The physical and intellectual ability of the individual to lead is a result of their engagement in society. We cannot afford to not engage in our society and expect to succeed. If we consider man to be the child of a woman, we must engage the woman in society to enable her to produce the best leadership of a nation whether the child becomes a man or woman. Engagement is a proven, not a political decision. Engagement is a culture and a common shared value.

Empowerment

Once woman becomes engaged in society, she’ll be confidently empowered to take the lead not only in her chosen job, but in society. The parameters of the success of this “E Factor” process are the value, culture, and faith of the society that we represent. While we educate, engage, and empower everyone in society we should maintain respect and develop our cultural faith-based values to create a civilisation that carries our fingerprints and our identity.

By Dr Hany El Banna (Chairman, International HIV Fund)
As ever feel free to leave your comments and let us know you think! :)

The Alan Sugar Formula

A social problem is a problem that affects individuals of a society, irrespective of age, gender, and race. Social problems can be medical, educational, political, economic, religious and much much more. Quite often ineffective social leaders file these problems away without discussing the issue at hand. They think a disease will be cured without treatment, the economy will grow without progression, the nation will be literate without education, or that the country can defend itself without an army.

If every disease has a cure and every problem has a solution, social problems will not be present. However, not every leader has the courage to use the correct treatment or implement the most effective solution. In the case of HIV, it is not only a problem but a pandemic that has infiltrated the very fabric of our social infrastructure, globally, in every community.

What have we learnt from the recent series of The Apprentice?

We have learnt the necessity to be like Alan Sugar, constantly firing the ‘apprentice’ every week for the inability to respond positively to the needs of the community.

Let us tackle the root causes of such a pandemic and plan for the coming 20 years to eradicate HIV by using the Alan Sugar Apprentice Formula. We might even be able to eradicate it earlier than our planned deadline. We should be sweet, sour, and firm in tackling social problems. Rather than filing them away we should be firing them.

A Reality for The Coming Months

Despite the gravity of the issue, HIV and AIDS remains very much in the shadows in terms of an effective global response. Since the virus was formally identified in the 1980s we have witnessed the deaths of over 25 million people across the globe.

Here are a few stark realities of what 2011 holds*:

• Around 2 million people will die this year from HIV and AIDS.
  
  
• There will be an estimated 2.6 million adults and children newly infected with HIV. Of this, an estimated 1200 children will become newly infected each day.
  
  
• More than 2 million children will already be living with HIV and AIDS. Most of the children live in sub-Saharan Africa and were infected by their HIV-positive mothers during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding. Although mother-to-child-transmission is avoidable, access to preventive interventions is still low in most developing countries.
  
  
• Just over 5 million HIV-positive people have access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in low- and middle-income countries, however, global coverage of this treatment will remain low. There are over 33 million sufferers worldwide, 14,600,00 of whom (in addition to the 5 million) are in need of ART. ART is not a cure – there is currently no cure – but it suppresses the HIV virus.
  
  *Statistics taken from the World Health Organisation and UNAIDS
  

It is clear to see from the above that more commitment, collaboration, and effort are needed on the part of national governments, development agencies, faith leaders and grassroots activists. One body cannot bring everything to the table but everyone can contribute something.


 
(Editors note: Thank you for reading our blog and please do continue to share them with your friends and colleagues).

What will your New Year’s Resolution be?

As we end one year and enter a new one, we should one moment to reflect – to reflect on our responsibilities. We have responsibilities to our family and friends, and our colleagues at work or at school. We should also remember our responsibility to our fellow human beings who may not as better off as we are.

Many of us will be setting New Year’s resolutions to lose weight or try something new every day for the next year. With so much suffering in the world, surely one of the new things must be to help people who maybe suffering from illness and are in poverty. It is our duty not just as Muslims, but as simple human beings to help our fellow man. We shouldn’t stand aside and let suffering affect people who aren’t so different from us.

Most of us have so much to be thankful and grateful for. While we are in our warms homes, there is someone out there in the cold; while we are eating our hot dinner, there is someone out there starving; and while we are fit and healthy, there is someone suffering from illnesses such as malaria or HIV/AIDS.

Are you doing enough to help those suffering? Why not make it your New Year’s resolution to start something new and actively help someone who needs that something small to make a difference.

Islamic Dawah at a Critical Crossroad (By Dr Hany El Banna)

Islamic dawah (Islamic education) has reached a critical crossroad. At one side of the crossroad is the dire need of the community for knowledge to be used as action and to be carried by religious and community leaders. On the other side of the crossroad there is a plethora of religions and community leaders who are airing their views through magnanimous road show events.

The people in the middle are desperate, confused, and bewildered.

The glamour of the road show does not solve their personal or community problems. Family issues such as marriage and divorce, violence, denial of rights, as well as general bad habits such as the chewing of qat, paan, and supari, stop some of these community leaders and Imams from fulfilling their duties.

This reminds us of the teaching of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) when he reminded the community that the curse of God will affect the people of knowledge and power before affecting the general people since these leaders did not execute their knowledge to help and serve the community.

The first three people that Allah (SWT) will throw into hellfire are as follows: the martyr, the hafiz, and the scholar who became what they were so that they could be called a martyr, hafiz, and scholar. They did not act sincerely upon the knowledge they had.

I hope that we act upon the little knowledge we have to save the greater community that we belong to.