jihad on litter

I came across this on one of my favourite sites, Pickled Politics. A group in Small Heath in Birmingham (just up the road from where I used to live) has 'declared jihad' on litter in their neighbourhood, making a film about the campaign at the same time:

Clean Medina says that Muslim neighbourhoods in the city are far too messy and they want to change that. So they’ve launched a “struggle’ against rubbish and waste, and whilst they’re at it they want to reclaim Jihad as a positive force. ... Rappers, drummers, flag wavers with litter pickers to hand will converge on Small Heath’s Somerville Road to clean up the district. Tired of rubbish-strewn streets, Muslims have decided to clean up and recycle, going from mosque to mosque, starting with Noor ul Uloom mosque, Birmingham’s oldest. The Clean Medina Campaign will be launched with a big push, a shout (Allahu Akbar!) and a (movie) shoot (cast of thousands, mujahidin all).

All (including non-Muslims) are welcome to join in:

As it will already be the fasting month, we won’t be eating until sunset. So have breakfast (Iftar) with us then. All Welcome! These things concern us all. We’ll get the street so clean you can eat off it! … Halal, of course!

There's a good podcast about the initiative here.

I really love the community activism combined with a sense of humour and fun!