By Shazad

16th December 2017

I really wanted to do something to raise money for CICC in a fun and creative way. I wanted to do something that was going to be easy to setup, not cost too much and InshaaAllah generate high donations. A sponsored run was the answer, I did not want to just walk or run so thought why not run with a rucksack full of food cans and run to several foodbank drop off points.

It was a very cold December evening, the temperature was falling below zero. Alhamdulilah,  I was joined by brothers, Dr Ramali & Brother Saleh for the CICC Power Can Run. We ran 10 miles around Colchester. Each of us carried rucksacks filled with food cans, just to make it a little bit more difficult & fun. Our two drop off points en route were at Tesco Highwoods and Asda for the Colchester food bank. This made the run even more worthwhile as we were helping the local community on the way.

The cold temperatures were a battle and ice was forming on the pavement. One thing you certainly don’t realise is how hilly Colchester is when you are driving. By the will of Allah SWT we encouraged each other to carry on. We were motivated by our intentions and Alhamdulillah we managed to finish within 2 hours.  We were delighted to raise just over £2500 for the CICC Property Appeal Alhamdulilah.

By Inaaya

30th Decmber 2017

Ramadan and Eid were fast approaching, the children were really excited about preparing for Eid and feeling like they had a part in preparing for the celebrations too.

The CICC children’s Ramadan and Eid workshops took place 3 times in 2017, It was an energetic and exciting time to bring the children together to make arts and crafts and celebrate their shared faith. The Ramadhan workshop started off with an inspiring talk about Ramadan, the children surprised themselves with their knowledge MashaaaAllah. Very quickly they were having fun and making lots of new friends. It was a pleasure to watch them getting into the celebrations of Ramadhan.

The mums also had a chance to sit down and relax with a cup of tea and mingle with new sisters.
Some of the older children made a banner for the pre-Ramadan dinner. They all made lots of decorations and cards and took home a bag full of goodies to show their families.
This truly kick-started Ramadan.

We also had workshops for both the Eids, Eid Ul Fitr, which we celebrate after the month of Ramadhan and Eid Ul Adha, which we celebrate after the Hajj pilgrimage. It gave the children an opportunity to learn about what we celebrate and why. They also made some amazing arts and crafts.The children were able to move around to different tables and choose which crafts they wanted to do.The workshops were popular with both; mums and children. We are all looking forward to the next one InshaaaAllah.

By Guest Blogger

11th November 2017

Brother Tarek El-Diwany is a long standing prominent expert in the area of Islamic Finance, and a specialist who combines strong analytical views gained from two paradigms in the world of finance; an industrial one as well as an academic counterpart. We were fortunate enough for him to deliver a session to CICC on Saturday 11th November 2017. The session started by identifying some prohibited financial acts in Islam such as:

• Dealing with harmful resource (e.g. cigarettes, alcohol),
• Interest-based transactions (riba),
• Contracts of uncertainty (gharar),
• Limited liability structures for commercial application, and
• Legal tricks (hiyal).

Then acceptable types of financial contracts were discussed from Islamic perspective such as the contracts of Exchange, Investment, and Charity. Finding an alternative to interest based lending was the main topic in this workshop. The true nature of home finance within the Islamic Finance market was discussed by Brother Tarek in the context of money creation and debt based fiat money. The concept of advancing money now in return for more money later and the usury based money creation system found in the west and adopted by Islamic world goes against the Islamic principles of justice and the so called ‘Islamic Banks’ have created the same type of financial products that are traded in the conventional markets and claimed them to be Sharia compliant!

A diminishing partnership model was discussed as one of the proposed ways forward when it comes to Islamic alternatives to a conventional mortgage. The workshop ended with a reminder that the Shariah does not discourage its followers from accumulating wealth but in pursuing wealth the Islamic principle of “Do No Harm” must be adhered to at all times. We should always remember that: Worldly wealth is a temporary thing, Charity does not make the giver poorer, and finally our sustenance is independent of ourselves and it is all in the hand of our Creator.