Muslim cyclists in UK pedal for a cause

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) – In London, a cycling group set up by Muslims is riding for a greater cause.

Established 10 years ago, the Hope and Knowledge (H&K) Cycle Club and its members have turned their passion for cycling into something bigger than themselves, teaming up with various charities to do their part for others in need.

“It’s a voluntary project ... purely on a voluntary basis. We started off from just the love of cycling,” Shamsul Abdin, 44, told Anadolu as the group geared up for its 10th National Ride.

The event saw more than 140 cyclists ride from London to Bournemouth, a coastal town in southern England, last weekend, raising some £55,000 ($70,500) to build a school in the African nation of Mali.

The club started off with about six or seven riders but the number has grown exponentially over the years, said Abdin.

Its riders are mostly of Bangladeshi origin, as well as Indians, Pakistanis and Turkish, ranging in age from 17 to 58.

The members are predominantly Muslims, although it is open to everyone, said Abdin, who works as a bank analyst in London.

“When we started this 10 years ago, especially around London, there were hardly any Muslim cyclists out there, or any Muslim organization that was organizing events for Muslims,” he said.

Cycling was always known to be “a white, middle-class” thing, but we managed to change that, he added.

He said a lot of people joined the club during the COVID-19 pandemic and all the members have a strong “relationship and bond.”

“While we’re doing something to get fitter, doing a healthy thing, we’re also doing projects for different countries, which is amazing,” said Abdin.

- ‘You serve a purpose’

H&K Cycle Club has three main events – National Ride, Three Cities, and Hijrah Ride.

The National Ride can be between any two cities in UK, the Three Cities event covers cities in Europe, while the Hijrah Ride runs from Mecca and Medina, two of Islam’s holiest sites located in Saudi Arabia.

To raise funds, riders also set up their own pages or reach out to friends and families for donations.

Last year, the Three Cities ride ran from Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina to Nis in Serbia and Bulgaria’s capital Sofia.

This year, the group plans to go across Europe from Sofia to the Turkish metropolis Istanbul.

For the Hijrah Ride in 2022, nearly 40 people pedaled from Mecca to Medina in three days.

They raised some £123,000 (over $156,000), much more than their target.

“With that money, a number of children in Tanzania underwent heart surgeries with the support of volunteer Turkish doctors,” Erdener Uysal, a 57-year-old Turkish man, told Anadolu.

Uysal has been taking part in H&K events for more than a year.

For him, cycling with a team is a great source of psychological support for people.

“It makes you more connected to life. It makes you feel better about life, it makes you physically fitter, but most importantly, it makes you feel that you serve a purpose,” he said.

“In the end, seeing people get a water well or undergo surgery, it gives you an indescribable joy.”

In March, Uysal and four of his friends took part in an 80-kilometer (50-mile) walk from the East London Mosque to Cambridge Central Mosque to raise funds for victims of the deadly February earthquakes in Türkiye.

They collected £18,000 ($23,000) that were used to provide food to some 300 families in Türkiye during the holy month of Ramadan.

Like many others, Mohamed Hajat, 50, said he joined the club for his personal fitness, but has fully embraced the group’s larger purpose.

“The main thing behind this is the charities that we raise money for,” he said, stressing that all of the group’s members are focused on that greater goal.

“What we have been doing here is to give something back to people that need it most,” he said.