According to recent reports, Muslims in Lanarkshire are struggling more than the majority of other regions in the UK as a result of the cost of living crisis.
UK charity National Zakat Foundation (NZF) which provides financial support to Muslims across the UK has analysed its internal data to reveal the areas where Muslims are struggling the most - with Lanarkshire emerging as the fifth highest.
In Lanarkshire, a huge £251,552 was distributed over the 12 months analysed, helping to support 938 people in the Muslim community.
The study analysed internal data from NZF’s Zakat Live, finding the number of people helped through NZF across 12 months in each local authority in the UK. These were grouped into regions and ranked highest to lowest to find the areas where Muslims are most in need.
The group says that “the recent cost of living crisis has amplified the challenges faced by the British Muslim community, and as a result, there has been an unprecedented surge in applications for financial support through Zakat”.
Lanarkshire was also the only region inside the top 10 to be from within Scotland, with all others being in England.
Dr Sohail Hanif, CEO of the National Zakat Foundation said: “We are seeing an ever-rising number of people asking for help.
“A year ago, Muslims were submitting support applications to NZF at a rate of one person every 30 minutes. Now, we’ve seen the demand rise even further, to one application every 12 minutes.
“Most of our applications used to come from groups such as asylum seekers, but now 70 percent of applicants are British citizens - people who were born here in the UK.
“There are a lot of families struggling and we are seeing people in arrears with their energy bills, families asking for help with day-to-day living costs, and many who may have borrowed money from family and friends and are worried about how they’ll pay that back.”
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