Wednesday 22 February 2012

Qur'an Memorisation Competition-Prize-giving ceremony


Qur’an Memorisation Competition:
Saudi Ambassador presents the prizes

Dr. Mozammel Haque

The final prize giving ceremony of the Qur’an memorisation competition for the year 1432 Hijri, organised by the Islamic Cultural Centre, London, in association with the Dawah Office of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs of Saudi Arabia, was held at the Saudi Embassy at London, on Friday, 17th of February, 2012, after the Jumah prayer, and the prizes for the winners of this competition were presented by His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The prize-giving ceremony of the Qur’an Memorisation Competition was conducted by Mr. Abdul Rahman Aneezi of the Saudi Embassy at London.

Islamic Cultural Centre, London, every year organised Qur’an Memorisation Competition during Ramadan and it took two months. There were 90 participants in the competition who belonged to London, Birmingham, Cardiff and Edinburgh. The competition was according to the memorisation of the Qur’an into five categories; i) 30 chapter, ii) 20 chapter, iii) 10 chapter, iv) 5 chapter and v) one chapter and not according to age. The winners are mainly from London and Birmingham.

While distributing the prizes to the winners of the Qur’an Memorisation Competition, Prince Mohammed reminded how important the Qur’an is in the lives of Muslims. He also said, it is very important for every Muslim to give some of their times to study the Qur’an and memorise part of it.

Prince Mohammed also mentioned that the Holy Qur’an is, of course, the last revelation from Allah the Almighty. The Qur’an we have it now today, the Ambassador said, is the same as it was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) more than 1400 years ago.

The Saudi Ambassador described all the participants as winners in the Competition. While commending the Islamic Cultural Centre and the Dawah Office for their efforts, Prince Mohammed also thanked the parents and teachers of the competitors for their role in making it a success.

Prince Mohammed also congratulated the parents and the children and he showed his happiness to be with them and distributed the prizes at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The competition was organised into five categories, according to the Memorisation of the Holy Qur’an, first category - the memorisation of the entire Qur’an, second category - the memorisation of the 20 chapter of the Holy Qur’an, the third category - the memorisation of the 10 chapter of the Holy Qur’an, the fourth category - the memorisation of the 5 chapter of the Holy Qur’an and the fifth category - the memorisation of the one chapter of the Holy Qur’an.

Out of 90 participants in the Qur’an Memorisation Competition in the year 1432 Hijri, 12 boys and girls won the memorisation of the Holy Qur’an Competition this year, and received prizes, among them only one who is 24 years old named Hafiz Attaur Rahman completed memorising the entire Qur’an.


Among the rest 11 boys and girls, in the second category of the memorisation of 20 chapter of the Holy Qur’an, there were two winners; First Rahmah Abdun Nasser, aged 11 and second Abdullah A-Mashhud, aged 10.

In the third category of the memorisation of 10 chapter of the Holy Qur’an, there were three winners, First; Hanifa Abdi Naser Ahmed, aged eight; Khaled Abdi Naser Ahmed, aged nine and second Khalil Abdi Naser Ahmed, aged seven.

In the fourth category of the memorisation of 5 chapter of the Holy Qur’an, there were three winners, First; Husna Abdi Naser Ahmed, aged eight; Second, Abu Baqer Mansh, aged 16 and Third, Osama Yasir Chihani, aged 11.

In the fifth category of the memorisation of one chapter of the Holy Qur’an, there were three winners; First, Ismael Asif, aged nine; Second, Abdur Raheem Naeem, aged nine and Third, Muhammad Ebrahim Bah, aged 11.

All of them received prizes from the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the United Kingdom, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz.

Earlier, Dr. Ahmed al-Dubayan, Director General of the Islamic Cultural Centre, London, while describing about the importance of the Holy Qur’an mentioned, The Holy Qur’an is very important for everybody, for all of Muslims. Qur’an is the last revelation of Allah the Almighty to his Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). It is our duty to take care of this precious Book where Allah the Almighty gives instructions and it is also our duty to spread the message of Islam.

Dr. Al-Dubayan said, Alhamdo Lillah, the Muslim communities in the West take care of the Qur’an itself, memorising the Qur’an, encouraging their children to memorise the Qur’an al-Kareem and to study it in many mosques and Islamic centres in the UK and Europe.

He also mentioned you will find those children and those young boys and girls who can memorize some of the Qur’an, also try to learn Arabic language and understand what Allah the Almighty said in His Precious Holy Book.

In this connection, Dr. Al-Dubayan also mentioned about the King Fahd Holy Qur’an Complex in Madinah al-Munawwarah. He said the government and the people of Saudi Arabia have been taking a special care of the Qur’an itself. He extended his thanks to King Fahd bin Abdulaziz Qur’an Printing Complex in Madinah al-Munawwarah for the continuous publication of the Qur’an al-Kareem from this complex.

Dr. Al-Dubayan also mentioned the Islamic Cultural Centre, London, distributes more than 10,000 copies of the Holy Qur’an in different languages, i.e. about 15 languages, in London to many mosques and many Islamic centres.

Dr. Al-Dubayan also expressed his thanks to Mr. Abdul Aziz al-Harbi, Mr. Sayeed and all the staff of the Dawah Office, London and also to the Sheikhs and the Imams who made the judgement of the Competitors; who listened to the students when they recited the Qur’an and of course we have to congratulate the parents those who take care about their children and encourage their children day and night to memorize the Qur’an. May Allah the Almighty accept their good deeds.

This organising and holding the Qur’an Memorisation Competition annually is no doubt a good initiative which works as a great boost to the propagation of Islamic religion, throughout the world, in general and particularly in this country. It also provided the opportunity to showcase the knowledge and excellence of the country’s teeming young boys and girls as well as unearth the unique talents that the nation is endowed with.

Like the previous competitions, the organisation of this year’s prize giving ceremony saw all the 12 young boys and girls receiving their awards to the excitement of those present at the event, including religious Sheikhs and community leaders.

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Muslim Council of Britain Celebrates World Interfaith Harmony Week 2012


Muslim Council of Britain celebrates
World Interfaith Harmony Week

Dr. Mozammel Haque

The Interfaith Relations Committee of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) organised an event under the heading “Building Trust, Peace & Harmony through Interfaith Relations”, on Monday, the 6th of February, 2012 at the House of Lords, hosted by Lord Sheikh of Cornhill. Lord Sheikh who chaired the event, welcomed the audiences including the Guest of Honour Princess Badiya El-Hassan of Jordan who presented a message on behalf of her father, HRH Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan. Guest Speakers at the event were HE Mazen Homoud, Ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in London and Professor Mohamed El-Gomati, OBE, President, Foundation for Science, Technology & Civilization. Mr. Abdul Rahman Shaibani, Deputy Head of the Saudi Embassy in London, also attended the event.

Lord Sheikh
Lord Sheikh said, “It gives me great pleasure to host and speak at an event which seeks to break barriers and build bridges between our communities. Events like this gathering play an important role in affirming and celebrating Britain’s status as a diverse and multicultural society.”

Lord Sheikh said, “I believe that there are more similarities than differences between people and we should highlight the similarities in order to establish closer links between communities.”

Lord Sheikh quoted from the Holy Qur’an (Sura 49, Ayah 13) which says: ‘O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily the most honourable among you in the sight of Allah is he who has piety and righteousness”

Lord Sheikh also said, “Despite the image portrayed in some of today’s media, Islam has a long and proud history of tolerance and respect for people of other faiths. The Holy Koran is emphatically clear on this point, stating ‘let there be no compulsion in religion’, and this has been manifest in Muslim civilization throughout history.”

Lord Sheikh also mentioned, “Islam is one of the Abrahamic religions and we believe in the Prophets who are mentioned in the Bible including the following Prophets (peace be upon them) –Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jacob and Jesus. God’s guidance to mankind started with Prophet Adam (pbuh) and ended with Prophet Mohammed (pbuh).”

With regard to relations with other faith communities, Lord Sheikh said, “Islam in fact regards Christians and Jews as people of the book and Muslims believe that the books of Allah are the Quran, the Torah, the Gospel and the Psalms of David. The Koran also mentions scrolls of Abraham. I may add that the Holy Koran has an entire chapter which is titled Maryam (Mary mother of Jesus).”

With regard to similarities between Sikhism and Islam, Lord Sheikh mentioned, “I would like to state that the foundation of the Golden Temple in Amritsar was laid by Mian Mir, a Muslim holy person. One of the constant companions of Guru Nanak Sahib was Mardana who was a Muslim. He accompanied Guru Nanak Sahib on his journey to Mecca and Medina. In the Guru Granth Sahib there are writings of a Muslim, Sheikh Farid.”

Lord Sheikh has just come back from India where he came to know that “There is now an organisation that has been set up in India to promote interfaith dialogue between the Hindus and Muslims and I have been asked to be its patron,” said Lord Sheikh and added, “Islam and Hinduism are similar in the fact that they believe in the moral responsibility of each individual towards others and in the practice of such virtues as charity, righteousness, forgiveness, tolerance, mercy, compassion, brotherhood, patience and gratitude.

Finally, Lord Sheikh said, “Islam is indeed a religion of peace and everyone one of us should therefore be an Ambassador to convey this message and help promote peace and harmony between various racial and religious groups.”

HRH Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan
HRH Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan in his message emphasized that The developing the rule of law is an absolutely essential to recognise the traditional background of the congenial communities which you hope to direct in promoting the common goal.

Prince Hassan also maintained, “I had the experience of developing an understanding which is basically loosely defined as one emphasizing the association between theology and practicality, that is to say, we accept the belief of all; at the same time we work together on beginning with commonality and in that sense let us take into account the wisdom of the illumination tradition of Asia and the enlightenment tradition of the Europe.”

Prince Hassan divided the world into the land of the Sun and the Twilight zone and said, “Asia possesses the land of vitality, the land of pioneering culture and civilization in our world, temporal zone, birth place of culture and civilization and the Twilight zone which combined the twilight between meditation, consideration and evolution of course to serve mankind.”

While speaking about education, Prince Hassan said, “we tend to be focused on parochial form of education, wherever we are and this is something which I think we need in term of best practice to recognise that Europe has pioneer programme which has culminated today” and indeed in terms of human understanding based on comprehension.

Prince Hassan also mentioned about youth. He said “how rich our shared humanity is particularly our youth.”

Speaking about Arab Spring, Prince Hassan said, “The Arab spring is not spring against anybody; it is a spring that called for its inception for reform based on values and human dignity. That is my understanding, of course things went badly wrong in different parts of our region; but that does not mean that we should not continue to accept our responsibility for our works and for our deeds.”

“It is time to recognise the economic and political dimensions of dialogue,” said Prince Hassan and concluded, “Let us try to meet as human beings in building harmony for the future of generations to come.”

Princess Badiya El-Hassan
Princess Badiya El-Hassan of Jordan said, “We should take care of each other; if we do it together, we can build trust, peace and better life for all.”

Dr. Harriet Crabtree, OBE
Dr. Harriet Crabtree, OBE, Director, Interfaith network for the UK, spoke about the importance of religion. She said religion can be a contributor. She said we have to work together to bring about harmony. Secondly, Dr. Harriet praised the interfaith work of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) mentioning about its membership of the interfaith network. Dr. Harriet also mentioned about trust and participation. This interfaith week, said Dr. Harriet, is a remarkable week and please participates in the week.

In this connection, it may be pointed out that many Muslim countries sponsored the resolution to create United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week as the first week of February each year. “The World Interfaith Harmony Week pioneered by His Majesty King Abdullah II seeks to spread the message of harmony and tolerance among the followers of all the world’s religions, faiths and beliefs. It seeks to do this by promoting the common basis of “Love of God and Love of the Neighbour

“The objectives behind the World Interfaith Harmony Week, in the words of the author of the resolution, Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, are: To Harness and utilise the collective might of the world’s second-largest infrastructure "places of worship" specifically for peace and harmony in the world

The Islamic Cultural Centre, London and Exhibition Islam jointly organised the VIP Event - Islamic Cultural Exhibition which was arranged as part of the United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week 2012, on Tuesday, 7th of February, 2012, at the Islamic Cultural Centre & The London Central Mosque. The VIP event was attended by members of Parliament, including Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, Lord Sheikh of Cornhill, Lord Adam Patel of Blackburn, Ambassadors of the Muslim Countries, representatives of embassies, and members of different interfaith organisations.



The message read out at the VIP Event at the ICC says, “The purpose of the exhibition is to educate the wider community on the Islamic culture and how the core of all mutual prophetic teachings are based on mutual respect, harmony and peace “.

Wednesday 8 February 2012

World Interfaith Harmony Week 2012



World Interfaith Harmony Week 2012


Real dialogue started more than 1400 years ago
by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)

Dr. Mozammel Haque

Real dialogue started more than 1400 years ago by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), said Lord Ahmad of Rotherham, Labour Peer at the VIP Event - Islamic Cultural Exhibition which was arranged as part of the United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week 2012, on Tuesday, 7th of February, 2012, at the Islamic Cultural Centre & The London Central Mosque. The Islamic Cultural Centre, London and Exhibition Islam jointly organised this VIP Event which was attended by members of Parliament, including Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, Lord Sheikh of Cornhill, Lord Adam Patel of Blackburn, Ambassadors of the Muslim Countries, representatives of embassies, members of different interfaith organisations,

Many organisations in the United Kingdom celebrated UN World Interfaith Harmony Week on 6th and 7th of February. 2012. World Interfaith Week was proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations in a resolution: “Proclaimed the first week of February every year the World Interfaith Harmony Week between all religions, faiths and beliefs” adopted on 20 October, 2010.

Lord Sheikh
Speaking at the VIP Event at ICC, Lord Sheikh quoted from his speech in the House of Lords where he stated, “Unfortunately, there is a demonisation of Islam in certain quarters, and it is important that the media act in a responsible manner in this regard and avoid use of inflammatory language. In regard to suicide bombings, Islam forbids suicide. In the holy Qur’an it is written that,“ whoever kills a human being … it as though he has killed all mankind, and whoever saves a human life, it is as though he saved all mankind”. This saying is similar to what is written in the Talmud, where it is written, “if you save one life, it is as if you have saved the world”.”

Lord Sheikh also said, “I believe that there are more similarities than differences between people and we should highlight the similarities in order to establish closer links between communities.”

Highlight the similarities
Referring to the Exhibition Islam at the Islamic Cultural Centre, Lord Sheikh said, “At the Exhibition today we can see displays of various items which give a very brief description of achievements of the Muslims and their contributions to the world in various fields. All these empires and dynasties have contributed a great deal to the understanding and promotion of the subjects I have described.”

Referring to the Hajj Exhibition at the British Museum, Lord Sheikh said, Hajj Exhibition “explains one of the pillars of Islam and creates better understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims.”

Islam teaches us to celebrate differences
Lord Sheikh also said, “Mutual understanding, respect, and inter-faith dialogue are essential if we are all to coexist peacefully. Islam teaches us to celebrate the difference and diversity which God has purposefully created in our world.”

Finally, Lord Sheikh said, “Islam is indeed a religion of peace and everyone one of us should therefore be an Ambassador to convey this message and help promote peace and harmony between various racial and religious groups.”

Lord Ahmad
Lord Ahmad of Rotherham spoke about interfaith dialogue. He said, “It is important that the Islamic Cultural Centre is providing platform for dialogue but the real dialogue started 1400 years ago by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Real dialogue started 1400 years ago
by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)

Lord Ahmed mentioned, “Even long before revelation, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) made a society Halful Fazul and also entered into agreement with the Jewish community and people with faith or no faith.

Lord Ahmed also mentioned about Caliph Omar. He said, “When Caliph Omar (may Allah be please with him) conquered Jerusalem he allowed the Jewish community to return to Jerusalem after 300 years when they have been excluded and he included them in all the decision making process.”

Responsibility to neighbours
“So dialogue started all ago and so we have responsibility to our neighbours,” said Lord Ahmad and then he quoted from the Holy Qur’an, which says, “There is no compulsion in religion.”

This stunning exhibition outlines: Islam – The Religion; Islamic History; Islam’s Relations with other faiths. It also allows visitors to view Historic Qur’ans, Torah Scrolls and Bible fragments from across the Islamic World.

The Interfaith Relations Committee of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) organised an event under the heading “Building Trust, Peace & Harmony through Interfaith Relations”, on Monday, the 6th of February, 2012 at the House of Lords, hosted by Lord Sheikh of Cornhill. Lord Sheikh who chaired the event, welcomed the audiences including the Guest of Honour Princess Badiya El-Hassan of Jordan who presented a message on behalf of her father, HRH Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan.

In this connection, it may be pointed out that many Muslim countries sponsored the resolution to create United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week as the first week of February each year.