The 4th Executive Council Meeting for the term 2006-2009 began with Quran recitation by Sheikh Yusuf Dhirani, Leicester’s resident Alim. This was followed by a welcome address from the President of Leicester Jamaat, Dr. Haider Bhogadia.
The President of The Council of European Jamaats, Munawer Rattansey thanked The World Federation for choosing Leicester as the venue for the 4th Executive Council Meeting. He highlighted the meeting as a historic occasion, as this was the first time CoEJ attended as a member federation. The President of The World Federation, Dr Ahmed Hassam thanked CoEJ and welcomed them as an official member. He also welcomed the fifth nominated councillor, Raza-Aly Hiridjee, who was attending his first Executive Council meeting.
Hajj Forum Update
The Secretary General of CoEJ, Shabbar Dhalla, gave an insightful update on the Hajj Forum, which was held at the Hujjat Islamic Centre, Stanmore on 9 November 2007. The forum was very fruitful, with all but one of the European Hajj groups present. He explained that the purpose of the forum was to find out how CoEJ organisation can add value to these individual groups. He informed the Executive Council that all group heads unanimously requested CoEJ to hold 4 meetings per year in order to facilitate a new era of working together. The heads also agreed to exchange their contact details in Saudi Arabia should an emergency of any kind occur.
MTP Update
The Co-ordinator of the Muballigheen Training Programme, Jaffer Dharamsi informed the Executive Council that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been signed the previous week by himself and Dr Ahmed Hassam with the contractors, to begin construction of the campus. Maulana Zafar Abbas, following his visit during the Holy Month of Ramadhan, addressed the Executive Council and suggested that the vision of previous leaders was now being implemented. He mentioned that in his opinion, this programme forms part of a solution to many of the problems that we as a community face today.
NGO Update
The attainment of NGO status with the United Nations was another historic and momentous event in the history of The World Federation. Shabbir Murtaza Lakha gave a presentation to the council on the attainment of NGO status with the United Nations. He explained how the application was formulated, the process involved and his representation on behalf of The World Federation to the members of the NGO committee at the United Nations in New York. The committee unanimously recommended that The World Federation be accredited with NGO status on 14 May 2007. The formal written confirmation of NGO status was received on 21 July 2007. He emphasised that our application was made as a faith based organisation firmly in keeping with our constitutional objectives. There followed a vibrant discussion on the issues surrounding NGO status. The councillors were extremely pleased with this milestone achievement and paid tribute to Shabbir Lakha for this successful result for The World Federation.
 |
|
Observers at the meeting |
The Journey Home
The India documentary trailer was shown to the Executive Council as part of a presentation by the team. All councillors and observers praised the hard work by the youth, with the Vice President Gulam Dinani passionately expressing confidence in tomorrow’s leaders managing the community. This documentary shall be launched on Eid-e-Ghadeer this year at all Jamaats worldwide, inshAllah.
Capital Projects Working Group Paper Update
The Councillors deliberated on whether schools and other projects besides Mosques and Imambara’s should be included as a process in the capital projects paper. This would mean those applying for funds from the community for such projects would need to meet the criteria laid out in the paper. Dr Ahmed Hassam informed the house that this document is a working paper, which Executive Councillor Masum Somji is co-ordinating. Masum Somji has agreed to look into this and report back at the next Executive Council meeting.
Key Deliverables 2006-2009
The Secretary General of The World Federation, Yasin Rahim, introduced the key deliverables for the term 2006-2009 to the Executive Council. The deliverables, which are in the form of a hexagon chart, have been designed from the outputs of the discussions that took place at the 2006 Triennial Conference. Click here to view the hexagon chart. An important area that is featured in the hexagon chart is capacity building within the community. Click here to view the strategy for capacity building. The Secretary General outlined that the role of The World Federation would be much more strategic and thus there would need to be close working with the Regional Federations in order to achieve the agenda that lies ahead.
The Treasurer Azad Kanani announced an allocation of USD 100,000 for capacity building. All regional federations are invited to apply for the grant.
 |
|
The Office Bearers of The World Federation |
|
|
|
The Council of European Jamaats (CoEJ) presented a cheque of £23,458.13 to The World Federation towards Ramadhan Relief Appeal. This campaign was masterminded by the Stanmore Jafferies, the youth body of the Hujjat Stanmore Islamic Centre, London. |
Agenda item from Regional Bodies
The Council of European Jamaats submitted this agenda item in the form of four questions for the Executive Council to deliberate on:
- How do we as regional federations encourage the development of our youth?
- What will accelerate that development?
- What will come in the way?
- How do we overcome what will come in the way?
A fruitful discussed ensued – click here to view the outputs of this discussion.
 |
|
Discussion taking place between participants |
Presentation of Accounts for the period 01 January to 30 September 2007
The Treasurer Azad Kanani informed of the resignation of the auditors, Merali’s & Co, and proposed the name of Hays Macintyre as the new auditors. Following lengthy discussion it was suggested that the Secretariat look into how the process of nominating the auditors should take place during a term; as constitutionally the Conference would appoint the auditors.
Any other business
A number of issues were discussed and presented, some of them included:-
- Islamic Shia Ithna-Asheri Jamaat of Toronto briefed the council on their mosque project
- Peterborough Jamaat presented on their mosque project
- Executive Councillor Dr Hasnain Walji led a tribute to Dost Mohammed Bhojani, a committed and tireless leader from Pakistan
For further information, email secretariat@world-federation.org