Eid Mubarak from NHS Muslim Network
On behalf of the NHS Muslim Network, we would like to extend a warm Eid Mubarak to all of our members, allies and colleagues in the NHS. We hope that the month of Ramadan was a fantastic opportunity to reflect and reconnect, and we hope that everyone’s Eid is a day of celebration and festivity.
Spiritual Reflection
Every year Muslims redesign their lives to focus on the goals of Ramadan: increasing awareness of Allah (God) and showing gratitude for whatever blessings He has granted. Ramadan is a fundamental pillar of Islam and is something that is key in the Islamic calendar.
Few things are more demanding than eliminating bad habits, since they are part of our daily routines and personality. It takes days of patience and practice to break old habits.
However, the good news is, Ramadan offers a perfect and natural environment for moral training. Interestingly, researches from “positive psychology” (scientific study of successful people) have repeatedly shown it takes 30 days to kick a bad habit and develop a new one.
In addition to the physical discipline in the 30-day boot camp of Ramadan, the increased spiritual exercise and connection with Allah, can transform your habits for life. As we reach the end of Ramadan, these changes starts to become our new ways of life, a pathway to improve and sustain the changes as we reach Eid ul-Fitr.
Eid ul-Fitr
Reconnecting with Allah (God) and spiritual reflection, is followed by Eid ul-Fitr, which is traditionally a day where family and friends get together to attend special prayers and celebrate.
Eid al-Fitr is sometimes referred to as the Sugar Feast, a nod to the fact that a large constituent part of the meal one eats at the festival is desserts.
During Eid, one of the most common things you’ll hear people say to one another is “Eid Mubarak!” This literally means “blessed Eid” and is a way of expressing celebration.
Muslims dress up on Eid morning in their best, often brand-new clothes and many decorate their houses for the occasion. Muslims greet one another on Eid day. This is to create a feeling of good will and unity. People also visit relatives throughout the day, enjoying food at every stop.
In the last days of Ramadan, the head of each family is obligated to pay a charitable tax, known as Fitra or Zakat Al Fitr, to help those who are less fortunate celebrate the occasion. Even when celebrating, Muslims must be mindful of families within the wider community who may be struggling, so no one is left out.
NHS Muslim Network – Eid 2022 party!
The NHS Muslim Network is looking to host an in-person Eid party, open to all of our members, allies and colleagues. Stay tuned for our next newsletter which will confirm the details, including some very special guest speakers!
This month we also held our yearly Zakat session where we shared guidance on paying Zakat as well as answered your questions.
What is Zakat?
Zakat (zakaat, zakah), or almsgiving, is one of the five pillars of Islam. This means that Zakat is mandatory for Muslims. For every sane, adult Muslim who owns wealth over a certain amount – known as the Nisab – he or she must pay 2.5% of that wealth as Zakat.
What is Nisab?
The Nisab is the minimum amount of wealth a Muslim must possess before they become liable to pay Zakat. This amount is often referred to as the Nisab threshold.
Fast-a-thon 2022
We held our annual fast-a-thon in the month of Ramadan to celebrate and create awareness of this holy month. We saw both, Muslim and non-Muslims colleagues across the NHS and beyond join us to fast for all or part of the day and help us raise funds for Trussell Trust who help us better support food banks in this time of uncertainty. The aim of the fast-a-thon was to:
- raise awareness of the holy month of Ramadan amongst colleagues and the wider public.
- donate to the charity: Trussell Trust Food Banks If you are unable to fast but would like to support the cause, please feel free to Donate
We would like to thank everyone who participated in this year’s Fast-a-Than who will also receive the certificate to show and share their achievements.
The following guidance has been developed which covers specific advice for colleagues and how line managers can best support Muslim colleagues in the workplace. We encourage our members to share the Ramadan and Eid guidance with line managers and teams.
The guide includes:
- At a glance – Ramadan
- What do Muslims do during Ramadan?
- Advice for employers
- Advice for colleagues who are fasting
- COVID-19 Vaccine, Testing and Fasting
- Eid ul-Fitr
Thank you for all your support
We would also like to thank everyone who got involved this year, helping arrange many of the engagement sessions for our members, this included our regular members catch up, Welcoming Ramadan, Zakat awareness session, Fast-a-Than as well as daily social healthily body and healthy soul posts. All these engagements reached over 165,000 people.
The Physical Activity Clinical Champions
The Physical Activity Clinical Champions (PACC) programme is part of the Moving Healthcare Professionals Programme (MHPP) is a partnership programme led by OHID and Sport England, which aims to increase awareness, skills and change clinical practice of health professionals in the promotion of physical activity to patients at risk of, or with, health conditions.
The role of the Physical Activity Clinical Champion is to organise and deliver standardised peer-to-peer online training on physical activity in clinical care to other NHS health care professionals.