Surrey Muslim Association

SURREY MUSLIM ASSOCIATION

MINUTES

Date: Wednesday 22nd April 2015

Venue: Royal Holloway University, Egham Hill, Egham TW20 0EX. Main Building, Founders East, Room 139

Time: 7.00pm - 8.30pm

Present: Kauser Akhtar, Mariam Gamiet, Saima Wasim, Humaira Ahmad, Noor Hayati, Mariam Musa, Afreen Chaudhry, Rehana Hussain, Karen Holdsworth-Canon, Dr Abbas Naqvi, Dr Zafar Iqbal, Said Shah Abbas, Sarfraz Ali, Nabil Hawa, Riaz Kaaba, Nabil Sarwar, Mushtaq Deshmukh, Rashid Laher, Ahmed Rizwi, Abdul Majeed, Dr Husni Hammuda, Arshad Gamiet.

Apologies: Imam Hashmi, Dr N Zaidi, Br Nisar.

The minutes from the meeting 17/12/14 were accepted as a true record.

Presentation : Brother Arshad delivered a power point presentation on ‘presenting a mosque visit’

Comments from presentation :

 Planning is key to organising the visits. What will visitors expect from the mosque?, who is coming?

 Visitor’s profile, purpose of visit? It would need to tailored depending on who is coming. Is it a school visit or Police training day, interfaith groups, cultural sensitivity etc.

 Topics to cover, Intro to Islam, role of the mosque, Hajj, Islamic Art, Muslims in Media.

 Time allocation needs to be considered. 1-2 hours, and be generous with question time.

 Making sure you have team leader details, contact details, phone/ email address etc., in case of last minute changes Brother Arshad went on to tell the group how he welcomes visitors at the Stoke Poges lane mosque in Slough and what topics are covered during the day. Part of the activities includes asking the Muslim children to demonstrate prayer postures and try and engage visitors to ask questions. The ladies also have a session on how to put on a hijab. He also covers the 5 pillars of Islam and explains the mosques role in the community and what function can be held at the mosque. As well as this they also have display panels showing Muslim inventions and History. At the end of the visit, he would summarise that we should respect each other.

SACRE (Standing Advisory council on Religious Education. )

Dr Husni mentioned how the last comment about respect should be incorporated within discussions with SACRE. We should promote more interaction with the wider community. He pointed out that more effort should be made to promote British Islam.

Karen Holdworth- Canon also mentioned that a message needs to go out to schools and to encourage positive feedback about Islam.

Brother Mushtaq mentioned that they already offer the service to schools, and contact the local schools inviting them to come to the mosque .

Dr Zafar also mentioned that we needed to show the British face of Islam. With all the bad publicity, Islam receives in the media, we needed to show the general public that Islam is adaptable. We needed to be careful as political parties such as the BNP send literature to parents claiming that the mosques are trying to convert their children. Photo images of children wearing Hijabs etc, are used in a negative way . They are discouraging parents to allow their children to come on a visit to the mosques and even to study about Islam.

It was agreed that we should look at contributing to the SACRE code of conduct.

SMA Launch Event

Sister Kauser pointed out that so far she has had 50 people confirming attendance to the launch event, including chief executives of organisations and representatives from the Police and other faith groups. Funding needed is approximately £1,200 and so far £600 has been raised. It was discussed that we should ask the mosques within the Surrey area to make a contribution to the launch event. There are 14 mosques affiliated with the Surrey Muslim Association. Brother Mushtaq agreed to contact the mosques to see if they are willing to make a small contribution towards the launch event.

Action Point 1: Brother Musthaq to ring around the mosques and request a contribution.

Sister Kauser requested that everyone should make themselves available for the event and asked for all group members to let her know who will definitely be attending. A few of the group members thought that head teachers from local schools should also be invited to the launch. Brother Mushtaq mentioned he had a contact at Surrey County Council and would be able to get a list of schools in the Surrey area and details of contacts.

Action point 2: Brother Mushtaq to provide a list of all schools and contacts in the Surrey area.

Dr Husni Hummada kindly gave a contribution of £100 towards the SMA Launch event. Sister Kauser accepted the payment, with thanks.

Next Meeting

Although the next full meeting is arranged for Wednesday 2nd September, it was agreed by all, that a Planning meeting before the launch event was needed. To make sure everything is in order and to re-assess any other issues which may arise. Meeting arranged for Wednesday 20th May at the Shah Jahan Mosque in Woking at 7.00pm.

A.O B.

Sister Kauser pointed out that we needed to set up a Bank Account for the Surrey Muslim Association.

It was agreed by all of the group that Karen Holdsworth- Canon would be the Treasurer and the bank account will be with HSBC. This would be recorded in the steering group minutes.

The group also agreed that there would be 4 Signatories: Dr Naqvi, Dr Husni Hummada, Karen Holdworth- Canon,& Kauser Akhtar. The steering group were all in agreement to this.

Actions :

 Planning meeting to be held at shah Jahan Mosque Woking on 20th May 2015

 Action Point 1: Brother Musthaq to ring around the mosques and request a contribution.

 Action point 2: Brother Mushtaq to provide a list of all schools and contacts in the Surrey area.