A series of lectures and interviews on the ongoing massacre in Gaza and our duties towards the Muslims there.

Available here

NewHorizon, the magazine published in English on Islamic banking and insurance, runs a feature on Sheikh Haitham al-Haddad and presents his views on the problems with Islamic finance in the UK.

From the article, '‘We Muslims should hold firmly onto the value that the interest-based system is prohibited.’ However, Al Haddad is also a prominent critic of supposedly Shari’ah-compliant finance in the UK and elsewhere. His main criticism is the way in which riba is interpreted in a literal, semantic way by equating it to the word ‘interest’. What this allows is for a system to be devised in which the flow of money and the share of risk between agents is completely equivalent in a supposedly halal transaction to a conventional transaction based on interest. ‘My problem with Shari’ah-compliant finance is that the whole process is more or less the same’ as conventional banking, he explains. The effect of this is that the prohibition of riba makes no noticeable difference to finance.'

Read more here.

Sabeel courses are continuing to progress very well. The last course on Sciences of the Qur'an was again very beneficial and introduced a new lecturer to Sabeel: Shaqur Rehman.

The director of MRDF participated in this international conference on Islamic finance organized by MEGA Middle East Global Advisory.

The director along with Mufti Barakatulla, Islamic Sharia Council and Dr Humayon Dar, Chief Executive Officer of BMB Islamic UK Limited addressed the audience on the issue of standardisation of Shari'ah requirements within Islamic finance.

MRDF recently partook in a Conference (15th June 2008) hosted by the Lewisham Islamic Centre. Topics included defining the path of believers, faith and principles governing interaction with others. An e-mail letter of thanks was sent from the Imam of the Centre. The beginning of the letter reads:

"This brief email is to thank all of you for attending and delivering excellent lectures at Lewisham Islamic Centre last Sunday. The Community benefited immensely - Jazakumullahu Khayran. The topics that were covered clarified many issues for our Community and insha'Allah will be a great step for us to move ahead."

MRDF received a letter of thanks from the Secretary of the NNMA (Norwich & Norfolk Muslim Association) with regard to an event held on the 20th June 2008 in conjuction with the University of East Anglia (UEA) Islamic Society. A portion of the letter reads:

"As a Muslim community in excess of 1,500 Muslims, we are in a desperate need to educate, develop and sustain our community in the correct manner. Unfortunately we lack scholars or students of knowledge in our community and there is a grave danger in the community growing in number in the absence of any form of serious tarbeyah."

A message from one of the organisers

Alhamdulillah, by the mercy of Allah, the event went well and the overall feedback received was very positive. Attendance was at the maximum of 100 (75 male and 25 female).

The order of speakers was Shaikh Haitham (Introduction), Ustadh Wasim (Qur’an), Ustadh Abu Talha (Sunnah), Ustadh Abu Rumaysah (Ijma’) and Ustadh Fraz (Qiyas). The nature of the review course was limited in comparison to the original retreat as the tarbiyah and interaction involved was very limited. However, the aim was to cover the subject matters to an adequate level. The speakers did a good job of covering two days of material in a single day. A ‘Question Time’ activity was both informative and humorous.

It would have been nice to interact with everyone there, but due to time constraints, we were only able to speak to some. We hope that we are able to meet and interact with more participants at the next retreat insha’ Allah.

Jazak Allahu khairan

Asif Uddin

Following the success and popularity of the first Sabeel Study Retreat, iProgress is planning a second retreat for August. However, for those who could not attend the first programme, and for those who attended and need a refresher, there will be a One-Day Review Course for the first programme, ‘Understanding the Sources of Knowledge’, which will be run as an intensive course studying, as in the initial weekend programme, the methodology of deriving rulings from the sacred text. Whilst the objective of the course is to cover the knowledge-based component of the first programme, it is not intended to replace the actual retreats, which encompass several aspects of tarbiyyah (Islamic development) including personal and interpersonal manners and skills further to the knowledge being imparted. The One-Day Course is also open to sisters.

One of the objectives of MRDF is the development of the Muslim individual and community. A part of this includes facilitation for those wishing to pursue the path of sacred knowledge. Anyone who wishes to follow such a path must be well-versed in Arabic, such as to have access to the primary sources of Islamic knowledge as well as to the dearth of classical works by Islamic scholars that have been preserved over the centuries, not to mention the more contemporary works by modern-day scholars.

Another aspect of Muslim development is spirituality, which applies not just to seekers of knowledge but to every Muslim. An integral part of this is one’s relationship to the Word of Allah, the Qur’an. For one to have a full relationship with the Qur’an, one should have a grasp of the Arabic language.

For these reasons, MRDF is pleased to announce, in association with the renowned Fajr Centre in Cairo, Egypt, the Intensive Summer Programme 2008.