Masjids in Bloom

Asrar Ul-Haq and his family started the Amaani Initiative with the aim to tackle climate change.

The family led initiative aims to encourage the community to engage in activities that reduce carbon emissions, combat climate change and enhance the beauty of the local environment.

Over the years the Rochdale family’s initiative has had an extremely positive impact on the local community. They have planted over 400 trees in Kirkholt with Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, engaged with various organisations across the borough and the initiative also inspired ‘Masjids in Bloom’.

Five mosques in Rochdale took part in Masjids in Bloom. Each Masjid [mosque] put on beautiful floral and plant displays as part of the Royal Horticultural Society’s North West in Bloom Competition.

Supported by Rochdale Council of Mosques, the five masjids – Neeli, Central, Golden, Jalalia and Bilal were visited by the In Bloom judges in August.

Bilal mosque took the top spot at the awards ceremony on 4th November, after judges were wowed by the attention to detail, environmental efforts and splash of colour.

A special trophy for outstanding contribution was presented for the very first time to Asrar Ul-Haq. The Bill Blackledge MBE Chairman’s Award was presented to him in recognition for his work in the local community and Masjids in Bloom.

Roy Down, Chairman for Rochdale In Bloom, commented: "Asrar thoroughly deserves this prestigious award for his amazing achievements with the project. It's a real pat on the back for him. He doesn't go around broadcasting everything he does, so it's nice that it has finally been recognised that Asrar is making a real difference in the borough."

Style talked to Asrar to find out all about Masjids in Bloom and the work his family are doing with the Amaani Initiative…

Style: What made you want to start the Amaani Initiative?

Asrar: Firstly, it’s a part of our religion to look after the Earth. Islam teaches you to look after the environment.

But what kick-started it was that I’d heard so much about climate change and we discussed it at home with the children [I’ve got two adult children]. My father had passed away as well, so I said: "I’m going to plant a tree and that’s going to regenerate some of the oxygen. It’ll be in his memory, but it will also be good for the climate."

My kids turned around and said: "If that’s all you’re doing for the climate then you’re wasting your time; you’ve got to do something more substantive."

That started the discussion off, and then we came up with the Amaani Initiative and the idea to engage with other organisations. I would give them a tree as a gift and then ask them, on receiving that gift, that they plant one more tree, so that would automatically double our family’s effort. And from that if I could cajole them into planting more trees, then that would be a plus, plus, plus! It was a family initiative; a family discussion.

It’s been going for about three years now and started with olive trees! The Bible and the Quran talk about olives and olive trees and they’re relevant to both religions. I bought some olive trees, gifted them to churches and got a positive reaction.

Then from that I asked Rochdale Council of Mosques to pay for trees to be planted in the church yards. And then I got the Imam from the mosque and the Reverend from the church to plant the trees together, so not only was it about planting trees, it was about all working together to achieve the same objective.

What made you want to start Masjids in Bloom?

Masjids in Bloom started as a spin off from what we were doing with the Amaani Initiative. When I started gifting these olive trees to the mosques, I got them to plant a lot more than just one tree! Then I asked them to buy some hanging baskets as well!

I was then approached by Rochdale in Bloom to link in with them and work together. I said: "We’ve got five mosques involved at the moment, this is going to grow, how about creating a separate section called Mosques in Bloom – Masjids in Bloom?" Rochdale in Bloom found that exciting; they spoke to North West in Bloom who found it really exciting, who then spoke to Royal Horticultural Society who oversee all the In Bloom competitions who really took interest in this.

Rochdale Council of Mosques were instrumental in supporting the Masjids to partake in Masjids in Bloom and very keen to support the green agenda.

In Bloom doesn’t just look at flowers and trees, it looks at what you can do for the local community, what you do for charity and what you do with your green fingers!

What was the community reaction like to the Masjids in Bloom?

The community were quite excited by what was going on. In fact, on Mere Street, because they'd heard what we were doing, all the neighbours got together and wanted to be part of the In Bloom competition. So, that was an immediate spin-off.

On a national level, I’ve had other mosques contacting me wanting to be a part of it and asking how they can get involved in Masjids in Bloom. There’s been a lot of interest in it and hopefully next year there will be even more interest.

It's beneficial to everyone because we’re talking about the environment; we’re talking about saving the Earth.

Lucy Fieldhouse