Dear Members,
Salaamun Alaikum
InshaAllah, I pray that you are all well.
It has been over eight months since we have taken office and Alhamdulillah with your support we are making progress on the pledges I have made. So far I have been providing updates during various speeches and thought you would find it useful if this time round I provide an update via email.
Our Community has been very busy with various activities and I will not be able to cover them all within this email. InshaAllah you should find a more detailed summary in the AGM report. This email focuses on some key updates.
Resident Alim
As you are aware, Shaykh Nuru Muhammad arrived in Birmingham in December 2016 as our new Resident Alim.
I would like to thank all those who have helped us and Shaykh in anyway to ensure he and his family settle well into Birmingham. Moving with one’s family into a completely new environment is not easy, hopefully, we can all continue to provide our support so that inshaAllah Shaykh becomes a proper Brummie soon.
As you can imagine, Shaykh has lots of ideas about how we can develop our Community. In order to effectively do this, he will structure his time to ensure good coverage across the range of projects and activities. Shaykh is also meeting various Sub-Committees in order to get insight into their activities. Shaykh has already been meeting members, supporting and advising them on personal aspects. Shaykh will be available on the following timings for such meetings:
- Mondays: 10am – 12pm
- Tuesdays: 7pm – 9pm
- Fridays: 2 hours after Juma
You may contact him directly or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. indicating your preferential slot and this would be provided based on availability.
If you would like to invite Shaykh to conduct a Programme outside our Organisation and for Private Programmes, you are requested to first get in touch with our Secretary General Tawfiq Jivraj.
Shaykh will begin conducting brief Fiqh sessions with Q&A as part of our Maghribayn Jamaat Namaz Programmes every Saturday and Sunday.
As you may be aware, we had created a Team to look into the effectiveness of our Programmes and how they could be enhanced. InshaAllah this team shall be sitting soon with Shaykh to discuss further and create plans for our future Programmes.
Abbasi Islamic Centre
The Building Committee has been working hard to ensure all documentation is in place to comply with The World Federation Capital Projects requirements. Our Project was tabled firstly at CoEJ Council Meeting and thereafter at The World Federation and Alhamdulillah we have been granted Approval in Principal for Phase 2 of our Project, which is the construction of the multipurpose hall. Once the detailed plans are ready, we shall call an EGM to seek approval from our members. The World Federation approval means we shall be allowed to fundraise globally from Members of our Community.
My team and I have also been spending time with Members of our Community to understand their concerns about this Project so that we can move forward together.
Formation of the Madrasah Board
Following the resolution passed at the AGM in April 2016 regarding the Education Board focussing solely on Secular Education, I am pleased to inform you that a new Madrasah Board has now been formed, with the first meeting planned in the next 2 weeks. Below are the members of the Madrasah Board:
- Principal (Chair): Faiza Mawji
- Deputy Principal: Mohammed Abbas Jivraj
- Resident Alim: Shaykh Nuru Mohammed
- EC Representatives: MohamedRiyaz Sachedina, Sajeda Sajan
- Staff Representative: Yasmin Bai Meghjee
- Parent Representative (Primary & GLC): Afroze Zaidi-Jivraj
- Parent Representative (Secondary): Sayyid Aliraza Naqvi
- Community Representative: Fatma Bai Ramji
- Safeguarding Officer: Anam Panjwani
- Registrar Officer: TBC
I will not hesitate to repeat that Madrasah is a key pillar of our Community. The EC and I will ensure we provide the necessary support to ensure this important institution is successful in delivering on its objectives.
CIO Constitution: Registration and Adoption
Further to the resolution passed at the AGM in 2015 regarding converting our Charity registration to a Charity Incorporated Organisation (CIO), I am pleased to inform you that last month we received confirmation from the Charity Commission that our application has been approved. This means that all our assets and formal documents and positions shall be transferred to the new CIO entity.
In light of the above, we need to adopt a Constitution for this new entity. We have drafted a Constitution based on our current one and the template provided by the Charity Commission. Please see the attached version that was used for the registration purposes.
We will soon be calling an Extraordinary General Meeting to adopt the Constitution in addition to obtaining approval for the next steps to complete this process.
If you have any queries on this matter or would like to submit amendments to the Constitution, please contact MohamedRiyaz Sachedina, Riyaz Ladak or myself.
New Organisational Structure
As our Community has grown over the years, Alhamdulillah various Members have initiated a range of Projects, Programmes and Activities. It is important that we create an environment where people providing similar services can collaborate and work together. This helps with maximising the impact of their activities and allows for consolidation where possible.
Over the recent months, the Executive Committee has conducted an assessment of all of our Sub-Committees and come up with a new structure which consists of eight Departments. Each Sub-Committee has been linked to a Department. These Departments are based on ‘themes of services’ provided by our Jamaat. Please find attached further information on the eight Departments and the EC members allocated to those Departments.
Over the next few weeks, all Heads of Sub-Committees will be contacted by the relevant EC Members who will provide further information and work with you to agree on a new process based on this structure. If we happen to have missed out any Sub-Committees from the attached document, I apologise in advance, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we shall address it appropriately.
If you have any ideas or would like to initiate any further projects, please contact the EC Members linked to the Department you feel your project or initiative would be most closely aligned to.
I hope you have found this update useful. I would like to remind you that I continue to hold surgery sessions once a month, so if you would like to speak to me in confidence please feel free to contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and they will book a slot accordingly.
I once again thank all of you for your support, guidance and feedback.
With Salaams and Duas
Gulam