Members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association will be spending the early hours of New Year’s Day cleaning the parks of the Auckland CBD as part of their ongoing New Year’s Day clean-up initiative.

For these youth, the day will start at 4:00 am with dawn prayers at the mosque, before departing for a three-hour clean-up session. “For Muslims, serving the community is a religious duty. That is why we will be waking up at dawn to clean up after the New Year’s Eve celebrations – we want to start the New Year by fulfilling our responsibilities to our faith and to our society. This is something that the local branches of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association are also doing across the world,” says Azeem Zafarullah, president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association New Zealand.

The group will be starting their clean-up initiative at 6:00 am at Albert Park, Victoria Park and Myers Park. Members of the public are welcome to approach members with any questions that they might have, and individuals or groups who wish to take part in the clean-up are also more than welcome to do so.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association is an auxiliary organisation of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, a dynamic and fast-growing international revival movement within Islam. Founded in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in Qadian, India, the movement now spans over 200 countries with membership exceeding tens of millions. Its motto of “Love for All, Hatred for None” is evidenced through the peaceful actions of its millions of followers. The New Zealand branch of the community was established in 1987, and is a registered charitable organisation which strives to be an active, integrated community within New Zealand society.

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