Islamic Relief at the Big IF London: A Huge Success!

Islamic Relief at the Big IF London: A Huge Success!

Islamic Relief has played a leading role in mobilising the Muslim community along with other key Islamic agencies including MADE In Europe and Human Appeal International throughout the campaign since its launch in January this year. Julie Siddiqi, Director of the Islamic Society of Britain, spoke highly of the campaign efforts of the Muslim agencies involved in Enough Food for Everyone IF and was cheered on by the crowd.

Many members of the public engage with Islamic Relief staff and supporters, as did Nasheed Artist Saif Adam, and Imam Ajmal Masroor led peacefulprayers for the G8 with supporters. A beautiful display of activities including many people who stopped to have their hands painted with henna were amongst the stand activities, lots of people ended up getting into long chats with volunteers about the positive work of Islamic Relief. Members of the public were invited to ‘post a message to world leaders’ by writing their message on a post-it note for the Big IF, adults and children were delighted to write their personal messages about hunger which made a wonderful montage. Allah tells us in the Qur’an: “O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah” (4:135) This Saturday we were able to do this by being at Hyde Park!

The Big IF London event on 8 June urged the G8 leaders to act on hunger, and the success of 45,000 people gathered in Hyde Park to support the end of hunger was clearly visible. A colourful installation of 250,000 plastic flowers, the petals of which represented the 2 million children who die every year as a result of malnutrition, was the central point for the rally, organised by the IF coalition. The coalition includes Save the Children, Oxfam, UNICEF and Christian Aid as well as Islamic Relief, together we are calling on G8 industrialised countries to be more active in stopping the silent scandal of hunger.

World leaders today signed a global agreement claiming to equip the developing world with the means to beat malnutrition. Government Secretary of State, Justine Greening announced moves to improve the nutrition of 500 million pregnant women and young children, reduce the number of children under five who are stunted by an additional 20 million and save the lives of at least 1.7 million children.

Islamic Relief would like to thank everyone who took part in showing their support for the end of hunger by being at Hyde Park amongst the thousands on Saturday, it was an incredible day and a huge step towards success in achieving the goals of the campaign ahead of the G8 Summit taking place on 16^th-17^th June in Ireland. For photos from the event please see here and media related queries please contact Martin Cottingham at [email protected]