From the start of the pandemic, volunteers at Colchester Islamic Community Centre (CICC) came together to set up CICC Sewing-Bees and have been hard at work hand-crafting reusable face coverings to distribute, free of charge, to vulnerable people within the Colchester community. The idea for the project was sparked during the first lockdown, following a call to check on the welfare of a CICC member. The member had tested positive for COVID-19 and the whole family had to isolate. At that time, it was difficult to find facemasks, as they were in short supply, and those available were expensive for people of restricted means. A call for volunteers was put out and the CICC Sewing-Bees was formed. After extensive research on what types of fabrics would be suitable for protection and breathability, appropriate fabrics were sourced, initially from members attics and storage cupboards. But supply soon ran out and fabric needed to be bought – not so easy during lockdown. The team of 12, began sewing masks, setting themselves a target of 50 masks.
With their hard work and dedication, this target has been repeatedly exceeded and more than 650 masks have already been donated between C360, Colchester Food bank, Colchester and Braintree Homeless Shelters, First Stop Centre, Beacon House, Firstsite, Refugee Action Colchester and children and adults with special needs. Volunteers have stated, how being part of the Sewing-Bees has been such a meaningful experience; and one noted how happy it made her feel to contribute positively to society. Another volunteer described how great it was to come together, to make a difference by “limiting the virus spreading in our community & to save lives”. We are delighted that the Sewing-Bees continue to this life saving work with their motto ‘Stitch to save lives and livelihoods’.
Discover how to appreciate yourself for who you are, become aware of how Allah is always taking care of you and operate in the world with an awareness of your soul
Move you from feeling like you’re chasing what you want to realising that you already have it
Cement your belief in Allah and realise that he is not indifferent towards you. You will learn how Allah always gives you what you want, exactly when you need it
You will notice your own mentality and how by shifting perspective, you can know that your life is going exactly as it’s meant to be going. You’re exactly where you’re meant to be
Is this for you?
This course is for Muslims who are looking to increase their awareness of Allah and their connection to Allah. If you find that all too often, your connection to Allah lacks stability and your spiritual awareness is constantly yo-yoing up and down, then this is the course for you.
This course will work on your ability to perceive the blessings of Allah in your life. You will notice how directly Allah SWT operates in every aspect of your life and how, in reality, Allah always gives you what you need, exactly when you need it
After completing this course, you’ll spend less time blaming and worrying and instead will focus on how to distribute the gifts within you. You’ll struggle to find time to complain and blame!
A 14 day course – Less than 7 minutes required per day
All students start on the same day
Change your perspective forever
Become a Muslim who’s permanently aware of Allah. Feel the divine presence throughout your life and be acutely aware of how Allah operates in your life
In light of the high number of COVID-19 deaths we have clarified the burial process for our deceased, fulfilling both government and Islamic requirements. Whilst no Muslim burials have taken place in Colchester, we have had losses within our community, in neighbouring towns. We want to reassure our members that steps have been taken to ensure we are prepared to support our community through this.
The key features of COVID-19 burial process in Colchester are:
1- Deaths can now be registered on the telephone within 5 days
2- Contact the funeral directors and Colchester Mosque
Funeral Directors : Hunnaball 01206 760049
Colchester Mosque: Imam Shamsul Islam 07758 003257
Koysor Chowdhury 07907701495
or Bashir Goni 07912026383
You can also contact Colchester Mosque to be put in touch with the Community Bereavement Support Group .
3- The deceased will be taken directly to the Funeral Directors (not to deceased home or masjid).
4- Hunnaball of Colchester Funeral Directors allow us to perform the washing and shrouding of our deceased with full PPE protection (max 2 persons) and for family to see the deceased (max 2 persons at a time).
5- Deceased will be taken directly to the Cemetery (not to the Masjid) for burial. Solaatul-Janazah will be performed at the Cemetery.
6- Colchester Cemetery allows Islamic burial with shroud only (no coffin required). Max 10 persons may attend burial. No PPE necessary but 2m social distancing applies. Please do not attend if you are suffering with coronavirus symptoms, self isolating or shielding.
We have formulated a Burial Guidance Document to allow greater understanding of what happens and to fully prepare in the event of someone in the near family passing away.
It features a Practical Guide of what needs to be done, fulfilling both government regulation and Islamic requirements. Thereafter it goes through the complete Islamic rites of passage, including the relevant prayers.
May Allahﷻ bestow His infinite Mercy upon us, Pardon our faults, Cure our sick and allow our deceased, eternal paradise without reckoning. Ameen.
Sometimes we
underestimate how connected we are as a Muslim Ummah. The bond which unites us
together brings us closer to each other than we could ever imagine.
Alhamdulilah,
on Sunday 5th April, twenty plus brothers came together to join our first
weekly Brothers’ Online Meet Up.
In our
session we focussed on:
Our connection to Almighty Allah SWT
Our connection to each other
We began
with everyone informally introducing themselves. As nearly everyone there had
been trying some YouTube courses to improve their connection with Allah, we took
some feedback and encouraged each other to continue learning and developing
their connections to Allah
Then we touched upon why it’s so pertinent to connect to Allah.
Check our 8-part short video clips from the session
So, we
appreciated that, if we want to become better Muslims, we do need to actively
focus on improving our connection to Allah.
This
requires a basic understanding of our soul and the spiritual world. The more we
develop our awareness of Allah, the more we notice the effect of this even in
the physical world…
This insight is incredibly powerful.
2 ways of learning
Information
Activation
In the physical world we often learn through information. However, activation is actually much quicker.
How to have more activations
All Muslims
will have different types of activations throughout their spiritual journeys.
However, it is possible to actively seek activations
There are 3
courses on YouTube which are especially effective at delivering these activations:
Whilst on
our spiritual journey, we’ll realise that breathing is very important.
On Sunday we all did a breathing exercise together. Please bear in mind, that although you may think you are very competent at breathing, you probably can still improve a LOT.
Unconscious energy
This term is
used in the breathing video above. It’s useful to be able to notice this…
Keep in mind
that we often are a little scared of our mistakes. So, we’ll unconsciously
avoid them – at all costs. Once we give this avoidance a name, it becomes much
easier to notice it and to easily navigate around it.
Live activation
On Sunday, we had a live activation session. Together, we learnt to make a dua to Allah, to help us concentrate whilst reciting the Quran. We also noticed unconscious energy and had many insights on how to be more connected to Allah.
Impact awareness
We finished
the session by bringing awareness to the importance of community. We all
encourage each other and we all depend on each other’s support.
It’s also
useful to be aware of the impact which you’re already having on others. We will
call this “impact awareness”. Notice the positive impact you have on your
kids/parents/siblings/relatives/friends and your environment.
Appreciating your current impact makes it easier for you to enhance your impact.
I really
enjoyed hosting the class on Sunday. I’d like to mention that it can only
happen if you guys attend and really try and join in as much as you can. I
really appreciate the positive vibe all the brothers maintained throughout the
session. It really made it enjoyable.
I hope you all take benefit from the free courses on my YouTube channel. They will help your spiritual journey I look forward to seeing everyone at 2pm every Sunday until 7th June.
Book your places of the Brothers’ or Sisters‘ Sunday Online Meet Ups!
On the 13th March 2020, CICC Trustees took the important and timely decision to postpone and cancel all CICC events in order to safeguard our members and the public.
We understand this has been disappointing but we felt that we all have to play our part in flattening the curve and curb the spread of this virus in order to stop it being passed on to those who are vulnerable and protect our NHS services from hitting capacity.
We thank our members for their support and encouragement over the last few weeks. With the country on lockdown, we can see that the right decision was made.
Despite these exceptional circumstances, CICC organisers have shown fantastic commitment in keep some of our events going.
We are delighted to announce our Sisters and Brothers Sunday Meet Ups over Zoom. These sessions will continue until June 7th in order to keep us connected during lockdown InshaaAllah.
We are all excited that our Learn to read and write Arabic course and our Sisters’ Weekly Qur’an and Tajweed classes are now taking place online via Zoom. Please contact Sheikh Ismael for information on Arabic classes and Sister Shoomi for information on Sisters’ Qur’an and Tajweed classes.
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