Assalaamu-alaikum wa rahmatullah,
Its been a busy month!
- Another record month for distribution
- London shelter two weeks from launch
- Winning champions announced
- Don’t miss NZF at the City Circle and other upcoming London events
- Local support for the Manchester shelter
- A moving personal encounter
Another record month for distribution
The National Zakat Foundation distributed over £40,000 to almost 60 deserving beneficiaries in September alhamdulillah. This brings our total distribution for 2012 to £200,000. Yet again, your support has been crucial in helping vulnerable members of our community lead safe and dignified lives. You can keep up to date with some of the cases we are dealing with by reading our blog.
London shelter two weeks from launch
The launch date for our 14-bed London shelter for homeless Muslim women is Monday 15th October. This is when our staff will start at the premises and undergo induction and training insha’Allah. After another couple of weeks the service will be ready to receive referrals for those in need of emergency accommodation and support. Please make du’a for its success!
Winning Champions announced
After much deliberation, we have now decided on the prizes for the winning Champions from this summer’s NZF campaign. I must emphasise that this has been an incredibly difficult decision with almost ten Champions in contention for the top three prizes. Ultimately of course the real reward for the amazing efforts of our volunteers is with Allah. But in recognition of their great dedication, not only with fundraising and task completion but also in helping recipients, prizes have been awarded as follows:
- 1st place – Salma Khalid (Manchester) – Umrah trip
- 2nd place – Ayah Siddiqui (Leicester) – iPad 3
- 3rd place – Sohail Basharit (London), Fiona Ahmed (Scotland), Zohura Choudhury (London) – £100 gift vouchers each
A very special mention for Zarnaz Hadi from Wales, who raised £750 at the age of 13 mashallah!
We would also like to recognise the excellent contributions of the entire team at Mercy Mission (AlKauthar Institute, Ramadan TV and Little Explorers), Rochdale Dawah Centre, Nu’maan Mahmood, Parvez Patel, Irfaan Momin, Fazal Khan, Azhar Siddiqui, Irfan Farook, Lathifa Chowdhury, Rukia Bibi, Zabeen Patel, Iram Khan, Afshan Butt, Omar Anwar, Syed Rakid Uddin, Fatima Malik, Aisha Ibrahim, Farhana Khundmir and last, but definitely not least, the East Ham crew (you know who you are!)
Please forgive us if we have omitted your name in error. We are truly grateful to all those who have made an invaluable contribution to our work.
Local support for the Manchester shelter
The NZF team would like to say a big jazakAllah khair to Altrincham Muslim Association (AMA) in Manchester for donating the proceeds from their Annual Eid Fair to the homeless women’s shelter project in Manchester. The fun filled event attracted over 1000 people and included stalls, activities and entertainment for the local community to enjoy. Alhamdulillah, AMA raised over £4500 for the shelter, with many local people also pledging their support by volunteering their skills for the project.
For more information about AMA, please visit http://www.ama-online.org.uk
A moving personal encounter
There have been so many wonderful NZF highlights to share with you this month alhamdulillah. But on a personal note, the one moment that stood out for me was bumping into an elderly man of Bangladeshi origin just outside Victoria station in London. Thrown out by his family and with an uncertain legal status, he was lost, hungry and alone. Being unable to speak proper English didn’t help either. After talking to him and getting to understand the details of his situation so that our distribution team could pick up the case going forward, I took him into the station and gave him £100 emergency funds for his immediate needs. I will never forget the incredulous look on his face as he gratefully received this small amount of help after what must have seemed to him like a miraculous encounter. Right in the midst of the hustle bustle of a weekday rush hour, he spontaneously broke out into tears and raised his hands up making du’a in gratitude.
Don’t miss NZF at the City Circle and other upcoming London events
The National Zakat Foundation will be presenting its work at the following upcoming events insha’Allah:
- City Circle presentation – Poverty on our doorstep – Friday 5th October
- AlKauthar course – Understanding Allah, The King of Kings – Sat-Sun 6-7th October
- Association of Muslim Lawyers Gala Dinner – Saturday 13th October
- Newham Eid event – Jack Cornwall Centre E12 – Monday 29th October 2-6pm
- Eid in the Wharf event – Wharf Muslim Association and Clifford Chance – Friday 2nd November
- Eid in the City – Emerald Network – Saturday 10th November
We will be updating more events details on our events page:
https://nzf.org.uk/About/Events
I ask Allah to accept the prayers of those in need and I ask Him to extend the acceptance of their du’as to the entire team at the National Zakat Foundation as well as all our donors, supporters and volunteers.
Wassalaam,
Iqbal Nasim
Project Manager
National Zakat Foundation
