ICC London and the Saudi Ministry of Islamic
Affairs sign a MOU to promote real image of Islam
Dr. Mozammel Haque
The Islamic Cultural Centre (ICC), London, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for cooperation and coordination with the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Daw’ah and Endowment on Tuesday, the 10th of May, 2011 in the presence of Prince Mohammad bin Nawaf bin Abdul Aziz, the Saudi Ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland, Kuwaiti Ambassador Mr. Khaled al-Duwaisan and the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates and the Muslim community leaders and media personalities.
The MOU agreement was signed by Sheikh Khaled al-Suwailem, head of Daw’ah (Overseas) on behalf of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Daw’ah and Endowment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Kuwaiti ambassador Mr. Khaled al-Duwaisan, on behalf of the Trust of the Islamic Cultural Centre, London, as the vice-chairman of the Trust, to promote the real image of Islam.
After the signing of the MOU, the Kuwaiti ambassador, who signed the MOU as vice-chairman of the ICC Trust, gave a brief speech in Arabic expressing his gratefulness and thanks to Sheikh Khaled Suwailem, Dr. Fahd Ali Slihem and to all the members of the delegation from Saudi Arabia and to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia “for giving us this support”.
According to the terms of the agreement, the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs will cooperate to serve the Muslim community in the field of education, teaching Arabic language and training teachers and training for anybody who is dealing with the Muslim community especially in the field of education. Under the MOU, there will be cooperation and coordination in organising seminars, holding conferences and meetings and visit of delegation.
MINAB Vice-Chair. Seyyed Ferjani
On behalf of the British Muslim Community as well as on behalf of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board (MINAB), Mr. Seyyed Ferjani, the vice-chair of the MINAB, expressed thank and gratefulness for the agreement between the ICC, London and the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs and said, the Muslims here and the Muslims in the Muslim majority countries should play the role of a bridge between this country and other countries. “The minority here wishes to bring a lot of good and benefit to this country as well as to the Muslim world and to the other Muslims,” he said.
Mr. Ferjani is also the President of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB).
Mr. Ferjani also expressed his gratitude and prayed for those countries and individuals who played a major role in establishing mosques in almost all the major cities in the West. “We are grateful to those who helped for building the infrastructure for the Muslim community specially for this Mosque. I specially pray for those countries and individuals who really played a major role in establishing those mosques, we see, in almost all the major cities in the west. These mosques played a great role for the Muslim community. We wish and pray to Allah Almighty and thank them,” Mr. Ferjani said.
Saudi Ambassador Prince Mohammad
Prince Mohammad reminded that the most important thing is, not to forget Allah the Almighty. He said, “This is our duty, at the end of the day, the duty of all of us, not only Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Arab Emirates, Egypt, Morocco and Yemen. All of us are doing what we have to do to help our brothers in Islam. The most important thing: not to forget Allah the Almighty. If you forget Allah, Allah will forget you. We are doing what we have to do as a duty of Muslim to our brothers. We think we are not doing enough. We have to do more.”
Thanking Kuwaiti and Emirates Ambassadors, the Saudi Ambassador said, “I am here with my colleagues my friends and my brothers the Kuwaiti Ambassador and the Arab Emirates Ambassador along with others to demonstrate that we are committed to help as much as we can our Muslim brothers here as long as they always put the God in their eyes. And as a part of the community here, they should obey and abide by the laws and take part in all their works and activities and this is very important for our works also.”
Ambassador Khaled al-Duwaisan
As the Kuwaiti ambassador Khaled al-Duwaisan spoke in Arabic earlier, I interviewed him after the signing of the MOU agreement and he told me, “We are grateful to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They are always doing the great job for Islam. The MOU agreement for cooperation between the Ministry of Islamic Affairs of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Cultural Centre, London, is a step for more cooperation so that we can preserve the right Islam; the Islam that we wanted to show the West that this is the real Islam and the ICC is taking the lead for giving all the Muslims their essence of Islam. This cooperation will help us to increase our activities here, in the Centre and we hope to reach to every city of the United Kingdom to give the real Islam what the Centre is doing.”
Dr. Fahd Ali Slihem
Dr. Fahd Ali Slihem, Director of Daw'ah for Europe at the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Daw’ah and Endowment, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, who was present at the time of MOU agreement, told me we take good care looking after Islamic centres, supporting them whatever they need; supplying them the translations of the Qur’an and Islamic materials that they do need. He also mentioned about the support and care of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia for the Muslim community worldwide. Dr. Slihem said, “Our Minister Shaikh Saleh bin Abdul Aziz al-Shaikh takes special care and asking us to move on to sign an agreement with the Islamic Centres around the world first and then to be good Muslims.”
“It is our duty here to encourage the Muslims through our activities, lectures and giving translations of the Holy Qur’an and Islamic literature. All theses activities are taking place all over the world and we are taking good care of the Islamic centres in Europe especially in London. We are happy to sign this agreement which is to support. This is the first and right step to encourage and help Muslims in the right way by signing this kind of agreement. This is the right way to give push to Muslims in their community work,” he said.
Dr. Ahmad al-Dubayan
Dr. Ahmad al-Dubayan, Director General of the Centre, described the signing of the MOU as “one of the great achievements.” “Today it is one of the great achievements we have. We manage to sign this Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation and coordination with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Daw’ah and Endowment of Saudi Arabia,” he said.
“The MOU has come in the field of serving the community and the society at large. It is, of course, one of our aims and objectives to serve in the education sector in this country, especially for the Muslim community; Islamic education, teaching Arabic language and training for teachers, training for anybody who is dealing with the Muslim community especially in the field of education,” Dr. al-Dubayan said.
.
Under the MOU, the cooperation and coordination comes in the area of organising seminars, holding conferences and meetings; visit of delegation. “This agreement will really open more doors, more horizons, for our work to serve the British society and the Muslim community in the UK,” said Dr. al-Dubayan and mentioned, “This is actually we are building bridges with different countries to bring all these more ideas, more funds for activities and more experience to have it here.”
Speaking about future programme, Dr. al-Dubayan said, “We are going to move to have Memorandum of Understanding with other Muslim organisations, such as ISESCO in Morocco; then we are going to have soon with the Hasan Foundation in Morocco; another one with Al-Azhar in Cairo, Egypt. We are going to have one each with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs in Kuwait, Qatar and Arab Emirates.”
Background of the MOU Agreement
It is more than two years the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Daw’ah and Endowment has been studying about this sort of cooperation. The Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs is concerned about spreading the real message of Islam to the West and everywhere among the Muslim communities. “They would like to establish relations with the main organisations, helping them in correcting the image of Islam and building more bridges among the Muslim communities and other faith communities and others, supporting more tolerance. All these things are actually the aims and objectives of the Ministry itself and also that of the Centre itself, as a western Islamic organisation,” said Dr. Al-Dubayan.
“Since the two institutions have the same concern, have the same objectives; we come to this cooperation and coordination Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to sit together and to sign it. Hopefully, we are going to suggest to the Ministry some activities to be done in the UK; some services to be rendered to the Muslim communities, giving chances also for the Muslim communities for more bridges, supporting, what you call it, integration in the society both as Muslim and British at the same time,” said Dr. al-Dubayan in an interview with me and mentioned, “This is the extension of the message the Ministry is really trying its relations to serve and to do with us. This is also our message here, of course, supporting Arabic language; since it is the language of the Qur’an; supporting the classes of the Qur’an, and supporting more awareness for the youth. This is very very important for the new generation and that’s why we come to this Memorandum, Insha Allah, trying together to reach this target.”
In this connection, it should be recalled that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has given a call for interfaith initiatives and dialogue in 2007 and continued his journey of interfaith dialogue in Makkah and Madrid, Spain. Accordingly, the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs continues this approach to build bridges with Muslim communities worldwide.
Dr. al-Dubayan said, The Ministry of Islamic Affairs has this interest. We are working together and may be arranging for training for some people working in the field of charity. The ICC Director also mentioned that the Centre “gets support from the Ministry” regarding its activity in the centre.
Affairs sign a MOU to promote real image of Islam
Dr. Mozammel Haque
The Islamic Cultural Centre (ICC), London, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for cooperation and coordination with the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Daw’ah and Endowment on Tuesday, the 10th of May, 2011 in the presence of Prince Mohammad bin Nawaf bin Abdul Aziz, the Saudi Ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland, Kuwaiti Ambassador Mr. Khaled al-Duwaisan and the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates and the Muslim community leaders and media personalities.
The MOU agreement was signed by Sheikh Khaled al-Suwailem, head of Daw’ah (Overseas) on behalf of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Daw’ah and Endowment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Kuwaiti ambassador Mr. Khaled al-Duwaisan, on behalf of the Trust of the Islamic Cultural Centre, London, as the vice-chairman of the Trust, to promote the real image of Islam.
After the signing of the MOU, the Kuwaiti ambassador, who signed the MOU as vice-chairman of the ICC Trust, gave a brief speech in Arabic expressing his gratefulness and thanks to Sheikh Khaled Suwailem, Dr. Fahd Ali Slihem and to all the members of the delegation from Saudi Arabia and to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia “for giving us this support”.
According to the terms of the agreement, the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs will cooperate to serve the Muslim community in the field of education, teaching Arabic language and training teachers and training for anybody who is dealing with the Muslim community especially in the field of education. Under the MOU, there will be cooperation and coordination in organising seminars, holding conferences and meetings and visit of delegation.
MINAB Vice-Chair. Seyyed Ferjani
On behalf of the British Muslim Community as well as on behalf of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board (MINAB), Mr. Seyyed Ferjani, the vice-chair of the MINAB, expressed thank and gratefulness for the agreement between the ICC, London and the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs and said, the Muslims here and the Muslims in the Muslim majority countries should play the role of a bridge between this country and other countries. “The minority here wishes to bring a lot of good and benefit to this country as well as to the Muslim world and to the other Muslims,” he said.
Mr. Ferjani is also the President of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB).
Mr. Ferjani also expressed his gratitude and prayed for those countries and individuals who played a major role in establishing mosques in almost all the major cities in the West. “We are grateful to those who helped for building the infrastructure for the Muslim community specially for this Mosque. I specially pray for those countries and individuals who really played a major role in establishing those mosques, we see, in almost all the major cities in the west. These mosques played a great role for the Muslim community. We wish and pray to Allah Almighty and thank them,” Mr. Ferjani said.
Saudi Ambassador Prince Mohammad
Prince Mohammad reminded that the most important thing is, not to forget Allah the Almighty. He said, “This is our duty, at the end of the day, the duty of all of us, not only Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Arab Emirates, Egypt, Morocco and Yemen. All of us are doing what we have to do to help our brothers in Islam. The most important thing: not to forget Allah the Almighty. If you forget Allah, Allah will forget you. We are doing what we have to do as a duty of Muslim to our brothers. We think we are not doing enough. We have to do more.”
Thanking Kuwaiti and Emirates Ambassadors, the Saudi Ambassador said, “I am here with my colleagues my friends and my brothers the Kuwaiti Ambassador and the Arab Emirates Ambassador along with others to demonstrate that we are committed to help as much as we can our Muslim brothers here as long as they always put the God in their eyes. And as a part of the community here, they should obey and abide by the laws and take part in all their works and activities and this is very important for our works also.”
Ambassador Khaled al-Duwaisan
As the Kuwaiti ambassador Khaled al-Duwaisan spoke in Arabic earlier, I interviewed him after the signing of the MOU agreement and he told me, “We are grateful to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They are always doing the great job for Islam. The MOU agreement for cooperation between the Ministry of Islamic Affairs of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Cultural Centre, London, is a step for more cooperation so that we can preserve the right Islam; the Islam that we wanted to show the West that this is the real Islam and the ICC is taking the lead for giving all the Muslims their essence of Islam. This cooperation will help us to increase our activities here, in the Centre and we hope to reach to every city of the United Kingdom to give the real Islam what the Centre is doing.”
Dr. Fahd Ali Slihem
Dr. Fahd Ali Slihem, Director of Daw'ah for Europe at the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Daw’ah and Endowment, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, who was present at the time of MOU agreement, told me we take good care looking after Islamic centres, supporting them whatever they need; supplying them the translations of the Qur’an and Islamic materials that they do need. He also mentioned about the support and care of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia for the Muslim community worldwide. Dr. Slihem said, “Our Minister Shaikh Saleh bin Abdul Aziz al-Shaikh takes special care and asking us to move on to sign an agreement with the Islamic Centres around the world first and then to be good Muslims.”
“It is our duty here to encourage the Muslims through our activities, lectures and giving translations of the Holy Qur’an and Islamic literature. All theses activities are taking place all over the world and we are taking good care of the Islamic centres in Europe especially in London. We are happy to sign this agreement which is to support. This is the first and right step to encourage and help Muslims in the right way by signing this kind of agreement. This is the right way to give push to Muslims in their community work,” he said.
Dr. Ahmad al-Dubayan
Dr. Ahmad al-Dubayan, Director General of the Centre, described the signing of the MOU as “one of the great achievements.” “Today it is one of the great achievements we have. We manage to sign this Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation and coordination with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Daw’ah and Endowment of Saudi Arabia,” he said.
“The MOU has come in the field of serving the community and the society at large. It is, of course, one of our aims and objectives to serve in the education sector in this country, especially for the Muslim community; Islamic education, teaching Arabic language and training for teachers, training for anybody who is dealing with the Muslim community especially in the field of education,” Dr. al-Dubayan said.
.
Under the MOU, the cooperation and coordination comes in the area of organising seminars, holding conferences and meetings; visit of delegation. “This agreement will really open more doors, more horizons, for our work to serve the British society and the Muslim community in the UK,” said Dr. al-Dubayan and mentioned, “This is actually we are building bridges with different countries to bring all these more ideas, more funds for activities and more experience to have it here.”
Speaking about future programme, Dr. al-Dubayan said, “We are going to move to have Memorandum of Understanding with other Muslim organisations, such as ISESCO in Morocco; then we are going to have soon with the Hasan Foundation in Morocco; another one with Al-Azhar in Cairo, Egypt. We are going to have one each with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs in Kuwait, Qatar and Arab Emirates.”
Background of the MOU Agreement
It is more than two years the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Daw’ah and Endowment has been studying about this sort of cooperation. The Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs is concerned about spreading the real message of Islam to the West and everywhere among the Muslim communities. “They would like to establish relations with the main organisations, helping them in correcting the image of Islam and building more bridges among the Muslim communities and other faith communities and others, supporting more tolerance. All these things are actually the aims and objectives of the Ministry itself and also that of the Centre itself, as a western Islamic organisation,” said Dr. Al-Dubayan.
“Since the two institutions have the same concern, have the same objectives; we come to this cooperation and coordination Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to sit together and to sign it. Hopefully, we are going to suggest to the Ministry some activities to be done in the UK; some services to be rendered to the Muslim communities, giving chances also for the Muslim communities for more bridges, supporting, what you call it, integration in the society both as Muslim and British at the same time,” said Dr. al-Dubayan in an interview with me and mentioned, “This is the extension of the message the Ministry is really trying its relations to serve and to do with us. This is also our message here, of course, supporting Arabic language; since it is the language of the Qur’an; supporting the classes of the Qur’an, and supporting more awareness for the youth. This is very very important for the new generation and that’s why we come to this Memorandum, Insha Allah, trying together to reach this target.”
In this connection, it should be recalled that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has given a call for interfaith initiatives and dialogue in 2007 and continued his journey of interfaith dialogue in Makkah and Madrid, Spain. Accordingly, the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs continues this approach to build bridges with Muslim communities worldwide.
Dr. al-Dubayan said, The Ministry of Islamic Affairs has this interest. We are working together and may be arranging for training for some people working in the field of charity. The ICC Director also mentioned that the Centre “gets support from the Ministry” regarding its activity in the centre.
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