by MWN Hub Team

Charity begins at home. But how often do we truly embrace this? Across the UK, many Muslim households are experiencing falling living standards. Last month, the Muslim Census released a report highlighting the cost of living crisis is far bleaker for Muslim women: they are twice more likely to use food banks and their net finance is four times worse than men. While the findings corroborate with previous research from Muslim Women’s Network UK and the University of East London on lived impact; it also calls for action to bring Zakat home.

 

Even though, Muslims are four times more likely to donate than the average UK adult to charitable causes[1], most goes international. Domestic ring-fenced funding for Muslim women-led charities are often overlooked. To shift focus, we highlight here the organisations that directly support Muslim women and those that have a specific hardship fund.

Where funding landscape for women-led services is scarce, donations through Zakat appeals provide sustainability for core services.

Muslim Women’s Network (MWN) Helpline

For over a decade MWN Helpline has been advocating for Muslim women and girls at risk of and experiencing forms of abuse. In recent years the helpline has seen an increase in the volume of calls for financial aid. Most calls are from survivors of domestic abuse, with a portion from those whose monthly income does not cover essential living costs leading to debt. To support these women, the helpline offers a limited number of hardship grants for emergencies. While demand for this grant has doubled over the last 3 years the available budget has remained unchanged. More donations are needed to meet the increased demand.

 

Solace UK

Solace has been supporting women who have embraced Islam by providing holistic care tailored to the needs of those accessing their service. Last year, the charity received over 1,200 requests for support and provided 58 women with financial assistance, so that they can remain safe and secure in their homes.

 

Nour Charity

Nour is mainly run by a group of volunteers providing trauma-informed, culturally sensitive services to adult survivors of abuse. It is committed to changing the narratives and systems that enable abuse to thrive. The charity has been campaigning for social equality and justice, educating communities and working with faith and community leaders to challenge harmful ideologies.

 

Amina – The Muslim Women’s Resource Centre

Amina aims to promote the social welfare of Muslim women and minoritised women by creating pathways for inclusion and removing barriers. They work with policy makers and mainstream agencies in Scotland to inform understanding of barriers that are preventing Muslim women from being able to fully participate in society. The charity provides a range of services, including a helpline service, financial support and legal advice.  The Amina’s Hardship fund uses public donations to help women, including those with no recourse to public funds to buy essential items.

 

Nottingham Muslim Women’s Network

Nottingham Muslim Women’s Network is a grassroot organisation engaged in raising the voices of Muslim women to shape policies on social equality and justice. Their services include delivering educational workshops, community events and legal advice surgeries to empower Muslim women to be confident and actively participate in society.

 

Hhugs

Founded in 2004, Hhugs supports families affected by national security legislations. They have helped hundreds of families access financial aid, emotional support and empowerment services. This Ramadan they are fundraising to support families in the UK, especially vulnerable women and children faced with financial hardship.

 

Nisa Global Foundation

Nisa Global Foundation strives for improving the lives of women and girls from disadvantaged communities in the UK and globally. The charity uses a grant making approach focussed on capacity building with local women-led organisations to ensure long-term sustainable change. Their UK work has previously involved giving out Ramadan packs for women prisoners and emergency hardship support for victims of domestic abuse.

 

National Zakat Foundation

The National Zakat Foundation has established a Muslim Women’s Zakat Fund an initiative fostering economic justice for Muslim women in the UK. Through this fund they support women, many who are single mothers struggling with living costs.

 

Islamic Relief

The Empowering Women campaign is part of the UK programmes fund that Islamic Relief is running to help and empower disadvantaged women.

Feed the hungry, visit the sick and set free the captives. (Sahih Al-Bukhari)

Regular donations close to home will lift more out of poverty. As there is real understanding of the issues, this creates real opportunities for putting local interventions in place. Often it is the smaller charities with a shoestring budget that are delivering the most impact.

 

Giving to Muslim women-led charities will provide vulnerable Muslim women access to services that mainstream support fails to. It ensures continuous investment in specialised, by and for services, which are among the most underfunded. In a rapidly growing anti-Muslim climate, these services are crucial for empowering Muslim women and being a vehicle of change informing policies for tackling gender-based violence and religious discrimination.

 

Let's bring Zakat home. In these final 10 days of Ramadan, consider giving your Zakat to one of these organisations.