Have you ever thought about giving blood? No? Well, why not? Don't like needles? Fair enough. Perhaps you think it's your 'red stuff' to own? Or that it takes too long? Maybe you'd not considered it as something you could do. I myself have heard many a surgeon complain about the NHS procedures, as they have, on some occasions wasted hundreds of pints of it trying to save the life of an internally and externally bleeding person who has been in surgery and who will, even if saved, live the rest of his or her life on a machine being non-communicardo.

Nevertheless, on balance, giving blood for healthcare professionals to use can lead to a minor miracle and therefore, to me, the act of giving it is invaluable, especially in a market where the product is always in demand as there is never enough given. In Islam donating blood is also an act of charity. Muslim jurists unanimously agree that blood transfusion for medical purposes is permissible. It might save the life of a person who is in desperate need of it. Allah, the Almighty says: "… and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind." (Al-Ma'dah: 32). Just one pint of blood can save up to three lives; and it is also now made very easy and quick to give, with approximately 10 locations within any 3-mile radius of a London postcode.

There's almost no excuse to dedicate an hour or so every few months to give up some of the petrol of our bodies, and moreover never, ever, think you're the exception to the rule. If you think it's a completely selfless act you'd be wrong. If there's anyway to be prepared for life it is to look at it this way, you're probably going to get cancer, you're possibly going to be involved in an accident, and it's more than likely that you or someone you know will, at some point in life, be needing blood. Yet currently the rates of blood donation are very poor from ethnic minorities, for what reasons I'm unsure, perhaps it's just awareness and promotion, and that is precisely why I've written this.

'It's so easy to save a life. Just show up at a blood donor session, sit back and share a pint with us. That's all it takes'. www.blood.co.uk

Zainab Yate