Ramadan has begun and with it comes the time to review and reflect not just on our own spirituality but also on the trials and tribulations facing our ummah.

These remain manifold and getting worse year on year. Only in the last 16 months, we have seen Gaza levelled in a live-streamed genocide, the decimation of parts of Lebanon, and Yemen subjected to devastating airstrikes.

The biblical scale of the suffering faced by our brothers and sisters in some of these areas has been hard to stomach or comprehend. The horror is compounded by the realisation that the pain and torment will continue because those targeting the ummah with oppression and violence seek nothing less than our submission or annihilation.

Nationally too, we face unprecedented challenges arising from an explosion of anti-Muslim antipathy fuelled by politicians and media who rely on Islamophobia at home to legitimise their violence against Muslims abroad. We have been thrown into the unenviable space between two wretched poles: assimilation at the hands of a ideologically driven monocultural state and the violence/hostility of the resurgent right.

It is in these troubled times that our faith is tested. When there is no one to comfort the bereaved, treat the wounded, house the displaced, love the orphaned, and heal the mentally scarred, we are the ones who rise to the challenge of supporting the ummah.

Whatever the scale of the problems confronting us, we remember that despair does not feature in the vocabulary of the believer. No force in this world is more powerful than Allah (SWT) and for that reason the nation of Muhammad (saw) is always optimistic and never loses faith in His justice. As the Quran reminds us in Sura Ale Imran, verse 139, “Do not falter or grieve, for you will have the upper hand, if you are true believers.”

With you behind us, IHRC has always been at the forefront of responding to injustices against Muslims wherever they arise, whether that is in Myanmar, India, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, or Yemen, just to name a few. Wherever and whenever the need has arisen to come to the aid of our stricken brothers and sisters, together we have answered the call. We have been there for those the world has forgotten, for whom there is no helper, such as in Nigeria where Muslim political activists have suffered indescribable persecution at the hands of the state and in the UK where the receding public welfare system has left many people without vital support.

Despite our relatively small size, IHRC has built an enviable reputation for punching well above our weight.

We enjoy consultancy status at the United Nations, a position that allows us to pressure the organisation to address injustices worldwide.

IHRC has spearheaded boycott campaigns against the Zionist state and its financial supporters. Over time our Boycott Israeli Dates campaign has been taken up by the entire Muslim community in Britain and is now extended to all Israeli products and pro-Israel companies.

At home, we are the only Muslim organisation to have a dedicated legal department, supporting the needy and vulnerable at a time when access to the law is increasingly dependent on the ability to pay.

All this has only been made possible with your help, for which we are eternally grateful. As a donor you have given us the means with which to carry out this vital work. It is your continuing support and prayers that keep us going, even in the face of increasingly aggressive efforts by our adversaries to shut us down. Their aim is not just to close IHRC, but to sever the lifeline we extend to the oppressed, in pursuance of their heinous goals.

Remember that by helping IHRC and positioning yourself as a part of the struggle to establish justice, Allah has promised you his assistance on the Day when there will be no one to help you. The Prophet (saw) said in a famous narration. “Whoever relieves the hardship of a believer in this world, Allah will relieve his hardship on the Day of Resurrection. Whoever helps ease one in difficulty, Allah will make it easy for him in this world and the Hereafter….” So, in helping the ummah, you are in fact also helping yourself and preparing yourself for the Day when none can avail us except Allah. And remember, in this world too, one day it could easily be you or your loved ones who end up needing the help of organisations like IHRC.

Just as our beloved Prophet (saw) used to increase his charity during the blessed month of Ramadan, we should also dig deeper at this time to relieve the burdens of the ummah. I hope and pray that you can continue to support our efforts. Together, we will strive to create a better and just society for all, insha-Allah.