24th March 2018

CICC held our first fundraising dinner on Saturday 24th March and it truly was a night to remember. The event was sold out, hosted 130 guests and was sponsored by 18 generous local and national businesses, each taking either a bronze, silver or gold sponsorship package.

I have been fortunate enough to attend fundraising events in the past. They often vary in style and execution, but all share the same aim of raising as much money for the intended cause.  CICC’s fundraising dinner was a standout event and one I will long remember.

As Master of the Ceremony I had the great pleasure of welcoming our distiguished guests, thanking our generous sponsors and  introducing our excellents speakers. We had an amazing agenda and excellent hosts. CICC Trustees Sohail Choksy and Maria Tonnessen inspired the audience with our ambitious vision and achievements, followed by our excellent guest speaker. We were fortunate to have well known IQRA TV host Moulana Rayan Mahmud, an experienced fundraising host whose charisma captivated the hearts and minds of our generous guests. You only need to spend a small amount of time in his company to appreciate how motivating and charismatic he is as a fundraiser. Moulana Rayan and I had a brief chat where he stated that we could by the grace of God reach our fundraising target.

My first thought was, ‘Wow! There is no way we can do that’.

I had anticipated that we could cover the cost of the event and hopefully raise somewhere between £20,000 to £50,000 for our Mosque and community centre. In that moment I was elated by the thought that we could, InshaaAllah, raise £20,000 to £50,000.  Well let’s just say I was lost for words and inspired when I witnessed the generosity of the community and the motivation our guest speaker instilled in all of us including guests and volunteers.

By the Grace of Almighty God we raised an amazing £183, 960.

This exceeded all of our expectations and demonstrated the immense generosity and commitment our diverse local community has towards CICC’s vision and goal.

My Highlights

The night had so many highlights. The exquisite 3 course meal and Dedham Assembly Rooms gave us a wonderful venue amongst stunning historic surroundings.  The night was truly spectacular.  I would not have imagined we could have achieved such fine dining experience on such a strict budget. The food was beautifully crafted by Silver Service Catering who also provided excellent service.  However, the greatest highlight for me were our amazing guests.

Without the guests the whole event would not have had the success it did.  The guests arrived promptly for the scheduled start time.  They politely mingled before being seated. I noticed our guests were smartly dressed, this caught my eye the moment I entered the hall.  They looked amazing in their dining attire with some going for more traditional customs that added an exquisite level of elegance to the event. From the onset, the atmosphere and energy in the room was electric.

The programme began, and our guests were attentive, latching onto every word uttered by the speakers.  Without hesitation our guests generously donated when called upon.  Very noticeably one our guests took it upon themselves, (after donating) to ask others to match theirs or compete in light-hearted banter to raise even more funds.  This incident was impromptu and done in such a heartfelt manner it could not have been planned any better.   I was even more motivated after this, as were our guests.  With our spirits lifted and the communities support behind us, CICC’s hope and confidence in making our vision a reality was reinvigorated and renewed.

You too can join in this brilliant project and donate towards our goal of a new community centre and Mosque in Colchester. Donate here.

May Allah SWT continue to bless our generous community. Ameen.

By Shoomi

6th July 2018

A massive well done to CICC’s Youth Circle who collected donations over Ramadhan for the Colchester Foodbank. Nearly half a tonne of items were donated.

Earlier in Ramadhan on 2nd June, the Youth Circle visited the Colchester Foodbank to find out how it operates and to briefly help out. 

One of the mum’s said, “It was a really great day. Alhamdulillah. The children really got stuck in, they have such a fantastic attitude towards helping out. MashaaAlllah. 

The full story was featured in the Gazette. Article by Katie Palmer below.

Colchester Foodbank thanks Muslim community

by Katie Palmer

A FOODBANK has thanked generous young Muslims for helping local people in crisis this Ramadhan.

Half a tonne of food and toiletries have been donated to Colchester Foodbank by the Muslim community and young people at the Colchester Islamic Community Centre.

Members had started a Youth Circle’s Ramadhan Foodbank Collection, and has just delivered the food and cash to staff at the Moorside Business Park site.

Michael Beckett, Colchester Foodbank leader, said: “The charity is very grateful for the generous donation of 488kg of food and toiletries and £55 from Colchester Islamic Community Centre. A massive well done to the Youth Circle for leading what is simply a brilliant collection.

“Colchester is having Universal Credit full roll out and recent statistical evidence from the Trussell Trust projects an average 52 per cent rise in demand for the Foodbank in the forthcoming year, so the timing of these gifts of food and money is perfect. Our community is fantastic in supporting our work to help local people facing hunger.

“We know that without your help, there would have been families who would have struggled to put food on the table. Thank you so much for your kindness.”

The Colchester Islamic Community Centre runs a monthly Youth Circle for local Muslim girls.

The group visited the foodbank to help and find out how it operates and then went on to collect donations from their families, friends, neighbours and communities.

Dr Sohail Choksy, CICC Chairperson, said “We want to create an inclusive community, provide much needed services and build solidarity. We hope to achieve a sense of being and compassion within our diverse Muslim community.

We aim to serve the whole community in Colchester, thereby breaking down barriers, building bridges and improving cohesion through interfaith work and partnerships with other charities and organisations.”

The foodbank is always grateful for donations – they currently need lifelong juice cartons, carrier bags, longlife milk, washing powder and washing up liquid.

Our Bring a Dish Iftaar Party on Saturday 26th May was wonderful. It was a combination of delicious food, brilliant company and a generous community spirit. The event brought together nearly 150 people from Colchester’s diverse Muslim community. This really showed in the wide selection of delicious food from the Subcontinent, Middle East, Africa and Europe.  MashaaAllah TabarakAllah.

At the event we launched CICC’s Ramadhan Challenge to help us raise funds towards our Property Appeal to help build a Mosque and Community Centre in Colchester.

Ramadhan is the most blessed time of year and the best time of year to generously donate to charity.

In the Holy Qur’an, Allah SWT says,

“The example of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah is like a seed which grows seven ears, in each ear is a hundred grains. Allah multiplies His reward for whom He wills, for Allah is vast and knowing.”

Surah Al-Baqarah 2:261

We  are delighted to announce that we raised £7,430.00 on the evening, kicking off our Ramadhan Challenge with some great momentum.

Allahu Akbar!

This was raised within a mere 5 mins. Imagine how much more we can raise in this blessed month of Ramadhan.

YOUR CHALLENGE

We want you to contact your family and friends and aim to raise £1000 amongst them. If we all did this we could get even closer to our £500,000 initial target.

May Allah SWT make us successful and put Barakah in it. Ameen.

Share and donate now.

A massive thank you to everyone who brought food, volunteered their time and made donations on the evening. These events aren’t possible without help and support from all the community.

By Safiyah, Aged 8

5th May 2018

The Ramadhan workshop is where you do lots of fun activities, for example, in the bog girls room there were bunting, pompoms decorations, Qur’an bookmarks, Tasbeeh [prayer beads], Ranadhan cards and Happy Ramadhan bunting.

The bunting and pompoms were the best but the hardest. We also played outside in the mini playground. At the end we all took a Ramadhan quiz and I got it all right, It felt good to meet so many Muslims because we don’t do this at school.

P.S. There were 18 kids in the big girls room and 55 kids altogether.

By Dr Mohammed Abid Yusuf

7th May 2018

With Ramadan fast approaching, the title of this talk was a fortuitous one: Nutrition, Lifestyle and Islam. Making the wrong culinary choice is commonplace in Muslim households during Ramadan and outside of it, so this talk covered the importance of certain foodstuffs and interventions, as advised by the Prophet (ﷺ), which provide added value to a person’s health and well-being, both preventing disease as well as treating it.

The speaker, Dr Muhammad Shareef, is a Consultant Neurologist at Colchester Hospital, and is well versed in Islamic Medicine as detailed in the Quran and Hadeeth.

He covered the need to lead a healthy existence, and the Prophetic advice of using only a third of one’s stomach for food and leaving the rest for water and air is a fundamental part of this. The Prophet (ﷺ) is reported to have said, ‘The worst container that a person can fill is his stomach.’

In terms of food that provides health benefits, he made mention of the pomegranate, and a narration advising that every pomegranate contains one seed from Jannah. Sayyidunaa Ali (رضي الله عنه) is reported to have ensured that no seed of the pomegranate went to waste in order to gain the blessing of this chosen seed. Research has shown the pomegranate to contain a number of constituents such as antioxidants which are beneficial for health.

Olives come from a blessed tree (‘shajarah mubaarakah’) and olive oil is mentioned in the verse of Surah Noor where Allah describes His Divine Light, where the oil is almost incandescent due to its properties. The various benefits of this oil were also mentioned.

There are three types of honey depending on where the bees have nested, as this will have a bearing on the nectar used in the honey making process. The aayah in Surah Nahl says, ‘And your Lord revealed to the honey bee to take homes in the mountains, the trees and on the ground’.

The next aayah advises, ‘It contains a cure for Mankind.’

As for the black seed, the Hadeeth states, ‘The black seed contains the cure for every ailment except death.’

Quince is a fruit that did not grow in the Arabian peninsula, but the Prophet (ﷺ) was familiar with its beneficial properties.

Dr Shareef advised that eating a slice of quince in the morning will keep a person satiated until lunch, and there are other benefits to this fruit.

A form of treatment used by the Prophet (ﷺ) was cupping (hijaamah). There are specific areas of the body where it can be particularly beneficial, such as the back of the head.

During the spirited Q&A session at the end, a question arrived about milk. Milk is mentioned in the Quran as palatable for the drinkers (لبناً سائغاً للشاربين). In his own experience, Dr Shareef has found that  many of those with a weak swallowing reflex due to a neurological defect or old age can still drink milk.

Dates were also mentioned; there is value in eating seven dates each morning, and عجوة (‘ajwah) holds particular virtue.

The session carried a great many lessons for all present, along with practical advice that we could all bring into our daily lives. May Allah reward Dr Shareef for delivering this illuminating talk and may He continue to benefit the Ummah with his knowledge. Ameen.

CICC was featured in the Colchester Daily Gazette on 11th March 2018.

Text from article by Katie Palmer below:

“HALF a tonne of food has been donated to help those in need – one of the largest donations yet.

Colchester Islamic Community Centre collected the supplies over a few weeks.

They include 447.6kg of tinned food, rice, jam, fruit juice, toiletries and crisps.

The donation was about three times bigger than the average supermarket donation.

Shoomi Chowdhury, from the Colchester Islamic Community Centre, said: “The community centre has the aim of making sure we help our local community and do as much as we can.

“This was a call to action for us to so something and everyone put in a lot of effort.

“Donations came in from all over Colchester and Ipswich, and that is how this amazing donation came together.”

Michael Beckett, Interim Manager of Colchester Foodbank, said the charity really appreciated the generosity.

He said: “It is a very large donation of almost half a tonne, which we gratefully received this week. As a small local charity we rely on donations from the public of food and indeed financial donations to help us, continue to provide emergency support for local people in crisis.”

Colchester Foodbank, which has branches at Wivenhoe and Brightlingsea, helps identify people in crisis and issue them with a foodbank voucher.

This entitles individuals and families to receive an emergency foodbank parcel of three days’ nutritionally balanced, non-perishable food.

Mr Beckett added: “Volunteers provide a listening ear to clients over a warm drink, and signpost people to other charities and agencies who can help resolve the underlying cause of the crisis.

“Most clients are able to resolve their crisis with just one parcel of support, except in exceptional circumstances, we don’t normally supply any more than three parcels in any six months period to try to prevent dependency.””