MA join cancer fight

MA join cancer fight      

As VOC took up the fight against cancer on Global Pink Hijab Day on Wednesday, a group of motor-racing enthusiasts are also doing their bit to promote cancer awareness.the cancer cause. Other than fast cars and fancy modifications, staff at Mag Addiction Centre in Grassy Park are also dedicating some of their time to cancer victims.
As part of corporate social responsibility, staff at Mag Addiction Centre in Grassy Park have been donating 10% of their sales to a particular cancer group every Monday in October, deviating from their normal business of fast cars and fancy modifications. Speaking to VOC, Shamiel Reganie, the manager at the centre, said it was time the company gave back to the community.
“We felt it was important to do something from our side by supporting this serious illness,” he said. “There are many other things that one can raise funds for, but this time we chose to look at cancer, and we will be donating the funds to a group called Survivors of Cancer. ”The group is affiliated to the Cancer Association of South Africa, also known as CANSA, a non-profit organisation established to fight cancer and offer support cancer patients and their families. The organisation hosts awareness programmes every month to educate the public on early detection and treatment.
“We have been sponsoring them with travel expenses, caps, sweaters and lots more for the duration of their programmes. We are willing to spread the awareness and feel that it is important that the community join in, insha’Allah.” Raganie said his passion for the cause was spurred on by his personal experience with those affected by cancer.
“Unfortunately, not many of them have made it and had passed away over the years. We have a family member who is also affected by the illness and this has really opened our eyes,” he continued. He said although Mag Addiction has taken on the challenge to support cancer for the first time this year, they see it as a long-term project.
“I don’t want this to end here. I want to challenge other businesses as well to take on these challenges for a good cause and have various fundraisers, as it will benefit many in our community,” said Raganie. “Many of the people in our community who are supporting our business are affected by cancer, so why not give back to them. What is Mag addiction without our loyal customers?"
The centre will host various events throughout the month for both adults and youth. If you would like to know more about Mag Addiction’s cancer awareness project, you can contact Faizal Reganie on 021 691 7190 or 073 655 4204. VOC (Aishah Cassiem)

Moulood alive in Melbourne

Moulood alive in Melbourne      

Hajjah Fatima Asvat from Melbourne AustraliaAishah Cassiem

The tradition of Moulood is an annual spiritual gathering for Muslims within the Cape Town community and in many other parts of the world for many years. For some, thikr has become a monthly fixture to keep Muslims spiritually energized in their communities, but for others, where Muslims are a minority, the lack of a thriving Islamic culture can create a spiritual vacuum.
With this in mind, Hajjah Fatima Asvat, who lives in Melbourne, Australia took it upon herself to initiated moulood in her own community. Asvat is the wife of Riyad Asvat, the author of 'Economic Justice and Shari'a in the Islamic State' and a student of Shaykh Abdalqadir as-Sufi and Shaykh Umar Vadillo. South African born, she has been living in the small community for the past 24 years.
"The first few years of living there, I always wondered what I was doing there,” said Asvat, relating her story at a recent women’s conference held at the Jumu'a masjid in Cape Town. “I soon realized that this was my husband’s destiny to be in the Melbourne community and his desire to complete his PhD. I don’t think he would have done it better anywhere else.” Melbourne has a small Muslim community of only four families. To keep their faith alive, they have Islamic classes every Friday night, said Asvat.
“We use to have it at my home, but then we soon realized that in order for women to participate we were going to have to rotate and have it at different homes.” The Muslim community embarks on various spiritual activities which include recitation of the holy Quran, qasidah groups and many more. “We have four young men who are being taught how to sing the qasidah and I’m very proud to say that since I’ve taught them, they are doing really good,” she said. “They are learning more and more every day and we have seen a great improvement, alhamdulilah.”

Starting the moulood

The small community have been hosting moulood celebrations for the last three years and its been a positive influence on university students. "Although people were having moulood privately, they were actually afraid to come out and do it in a big way. This is when my husband decided he is going to host a moulood in a small public venue and invite different groups to attend," said Asvat.
“The first time we hosted it, I thought to myself, how are we are going to make this a success because it’s going to take a lot of money to feed all these people. My husband told me that if our intentions are good than Allah (swt) will make it easy for us. Then when the time came, we had a huge event with lots of food and everything you will find at a moulood event. I still don’t know where the money came from, alhamdullilah.”
Asvat related that Australian Muslims from various nationalities came to the event and were amazed by the uplifting feel and the sense of community togetherness at a moulood. This spurred them on to host a bigger moulood and this year, more people attended along with guests from Sri Lanka. “The problem in Australia is that it’s a multicultural country with lots of Turks, Bosnians and Albanians. They are very tight and therefore we host these events with the aim of bringing them together all in the name of Allah,” she said.
“Alhamdulillah, that is the way of doing things and hopefully it opens the hearts of people.” This small act of remembrance has had a positive impact on the Melbourne Muslim community - a tradition they hope to keep alive. “We hope to grow our community and become like other Muslim communities, insha Allah. But it is only through the blessing of Allah (swt), who gives life to our small community, for through him we have what we have here today.” VOC (Aishah Cassiem)

Norwich Muslims growing

Norwich Muslims growing      

Malika Abdurahman from Norwich Muslim community.

Islam has increased tremendously over the past few decades and Muslims from various communities across the world are using da’wah as a means of calling people to understand Islam. And women, often taking the roles of educators and care-givers, are at the forefront of da'wah. In this regard, a ladies conference was held at the Jumu'a masjid in Orange Street as part he 2012 Moussem in honour of world renowned Sheik Dr Abdalqadir As-Sufi.
Various Muslim women from around the world attended the event and were given the opportunity to speak about their experience as a Muslim female in their home country. Speaking about her life in Norwich in the UK, Malika Abdur Rahman said there has been great progression within the community, as many Muslim women and youth become more active in Islam.
“Things never used to be the way it is in our community today. It has changed a lot for our young people and their involvement in Islam. Both young men and woman were put together as a core group to help with the emirate, and many of us have since been working on the mosque management committee," she said. Abdur Rahman said they recently acquired a huge building next to the community masjid. The premises was once an orphanage home for girls in the late 1800. In more recent years it was a refugee space for woman and has been empty for the past three years now. "We recently went to the city council and said we want the building and we got it...”

Exciting time

She said they were granted a 15 year lease on the building and aim to create a great atmosphere in the centre of Norwich. “It’s an exciting time for us and an absolutely huge project we will be working on. Our intention for the basement is to create it into a cafe and restaurant space, with the middle floor for a wellbeing and health centre and the top floor for our operating offices.”
The community has beneficial thikrs every fourth night to strengthen and keep themselves on the right track. "We are very much blessed to have some great sheiks who are at all times with us. We have classes as well, which teach us all aspects of Islam,” she said. “Some of the teachings that we are taught are from Sheik Abdalqadir As-Sufi and his book ‘Indications from Signs’.”
She said women are also allowed to attend various classes throughout the week and a madrassa is opened to all Muslim children for two hours after school. Whilst they used to celebrate Eid in the community mosque, now it’s different. Abdur Rahman said they are now sourcing larger venues and recently hired an activity centre where they had rope climbing and various activities and games for the families. “The young people love to have fun and it was really good. We also had a bit of comedy that was performed and sketches about the community were on show that got everyone involved. Although we had comedy programs and light fun, we also looked at the seriousness of the day.”
Because Norwich is small, the Muslim community has a very prominent presence in the area. “We have lots of activities and projects in our Norwich community that I would like you to read about. The Muslim community is very strong and we are always finding ways to strengthen and broaden it. I am hope that Allah will grant you the ability to visit our community soon, inshallah.” VOC (Aishah Cassiem)

Swiss Muslims growing

Swiss Muslims growing      

FEATURE - "We are only a handful of Muslim people in the Swiss community, but we are trying our best to grow Islam and pass on the teachings.” This was the start of a conversation with Hajjah Hajar Mossiman, who hails from a small town in Switzerland. The elderly woman came to speak about her experience as a Muslim female in her community at a recent conference held at the Jumu’a masjid in Cape Town.
The Swiss Muslims are one of many small communities around the world who lack prayer facilities and Islamic classes for women and men. Many of these Muslims struggle to benefit from the teachings of Islam. However, after a great effort from the passionate community a few years ago, Muslim residents are now able to benefit from a small Jamaat khana in the area.
Mossiman along with her translator Hajjah Khadija Leuenberger spoke about the expansion of the Swiss Muslim community. “A few years ago Sheik Abdalqadir sent us to Hafith Abdellah Castineira and his wife, Aisha Hernandez. He told us to find a room that will be solely for the purpose of thikr and prayers in jamaah,” she recalled. The community acquired a room and soon after immediately started Qur'an classes with Hafith Abdellah.
“Not only have we started to do our prayers and thikrs in this space, but we also made use of it during the month of Ramadan where we finished our taraweeh salaah every night," she said. “Everybody has been happy and content with the facility since we have it. It has strengthened the Muslim community by bringing us closer to each other.” Mossiman added that like any small community, this one has its factions and politics. “We always find a way to make up and keep our Muslim community strong.”
She said the leader of the small jamaah now offers various Islamic classes throughout the week. Every Wednesday Hafiz Abdellah gives of his time to teach the community both hifz and the Quran. On Friday, residents will all gather for Jumu'a prayers as a group, and will have thikr to maintain a sense of spiritual upliftment. “Many of us are grateful for this and have benefited from it, alhamdulillah.”
She said the number of people attending the thikrs has increased over the past few years. “Since we started the monthly thikrs, the crowd has surprisingly got bigger with many people from Italy, England and other countries attending.” With her time being spent in Cape Town for the past couple of days, she is thankful for the respect and hospitality that has been shown to her from the Muslim community in the Mother City.

European Muslim Union

Another guest speaking at the conference was Hajjah Sumayya who spoke about the European Muslim Union (EMU). The union was established to serve the Muslim community in Europe and to promote and facilitate the dialogue and mutual improvement of the host societies and the Muslims, where the Muslim communities live in minority. Sumayya was recently appointed as the women’s coordinator of EMU.
"My message is to promote the union as we are about bringing together experience and generations of all kinds.” The organizations goal is to also establish a European foundation for a Muslim corporation progress in future. At a gathering last month, members lauded the contribution of women representatives in the union.
"The good points that came out was that of opening more women forums and independent youth groups for Muslims, which we are looking to do in the future," she said. “Where ever we stand this is where we need to participate and it’s not about competition but rather that of cooperation,” she said. If you would like to know more about the European Muslim Union, you can visit the union’s webpage at www.emunion.eu VOC (Aishah Cassiem)

Teaching Quran in Morocco

Teaching Quran in Morocco

FEATURE - About 14 190 residents are situated in Kalaat M'Gouna, a quiet town in the Ouarzazate province of Morocco. Amongst the population lives a small Muslim community who bear the daily struggle of implementation of the holy Quran of which many have not heard of before. Khouloud Elboumashouli, a young Muslim female from the small town was amongst many foreigners who attended a women’s conference held at the Jumua masjid in Cape Town on Tuesday 9 October.
Elboumashouli who serves and teaches Arabic to young Berbers (Al-Mazigh) in the Zawiyya of Moulay Abdal Malik in her town, said after being married for eight years, she and her husband Shaykh Murtada Elboumashouli continue to help Muslim men and women with their day to day challenges and the teaching of the Quran.
“Many people in Kalaat M’Gouna have no idea what Arabic is. In Morocco there are different types of Berbers and a particular group of them are in our town who knows nothing about the language,” she said. “At the moment I teach the illiterate as well as young women. I want to specifically implement the language to them as much as I can so that they can read the Quran fluently.”
Elboumashouli said she had seen a great improvement in the women in the community. "Alhamdulillah, in these few years of my marriage, the women have started reading the Quran and speaking from it.” At first women were not allowed to study and could not to do much in the community. According to her, they never knew anything about the world outside their own. “Now it is different and the Zawiyya is bigger," she said.

Zawiyya history

The Zawiyya goes back a very long time ago and was filled with a host of scholars and sheiks. It was a place where one would study all different types of sciences like fiqh, Arabic and jurisdiction, said Elboumashouli. “The Zawiyya is based on a very sensitive time in Morocco. During this period they were very prejudiced against the Arab Berbers and the sheiks had a lot of clashes with Berbers because they always worked to help people with marriages and disputes.”
“Then one day rain came down and destroyed the whole Zawiyya. Soon after a new generation came, along with Shaykh Murtada, who wanted to continue the message of Islam,” added Elboumashouli. She said that Muslims within the community plan to build a bigger Zawiyya than the one that had previously been destroyed. “There is one at the moment, but we want to make it bigger and once we have succeeded with this, there will be a matter of great implementation of the teaching of the Quran, its haadiths and many more, inshallah.”
Elboumashouli said not only have the community been implementing the Quran and its language, but they have also promoted taariqa’s amongst men and women for the past few years. “We want the community to grow and hopefully it will. I am grateful to be part of the Muslim community and only wish that I could speak English so that I could pass on the message of Islam to many more around the world inshallah.” VOC (Aishah Cassiem)

Fundraising for Aqueelah

Fundraising for Aqueelah         

The family of six year old Aqueelah Williams is calling on the community to support their upcoming fundraiser event in aid of the little girl’s second cochlear implant. Speaking to VOC Afternoon Cruise in a plea to raise funds, Beulah Williams said after a successful implant last year, they are now faced with another financial challenge. “We were approached by Aqueelah’s doctor a few weeks’ ago. He said that her right ear had also been deteriorated, and therefore she needs another implant as soon as possible,” said Williams.
“Last year we managed to collect the full amount of R250,000 for her operation - alhamdulillah it was successful. However with the unfortunate news, we have no choice but to raise that full amount again.” Williams said many friends and family members have already come forward to support the little girl. “We decided that we going to have a market day to raise funds for Aqueelah,” said Williams. “This is one of many fundraisers and I therefore urge the community to support my grandchild.”
The concerned grandmother said the market day will be an opportunity for the family to raise the majority of funds needed. “Not only will we be collecting funds, but people will also have an opportunity to bring their whole family and enjoy themselves with the various activities that we have set out for the day.” A variety of entertainment will be available on the day which includes the Hout Bay Brass Band. The well-known brass band will invite the community to the event by marching down various streets making their way to the center. “We will also have activities for adults and children, as well as various food and clothing stalls available for people to enjoy.”
The market day will take place on Saturday 3 November at the Weltervreden Recreational Centre in Rocklands. Ten stalls are still available to book and those who would like to sell goods on the day are to contact stall coordinators as soon as possible. If you would like to know more about the market day in aid of Aqueelah Williams’s cochlear operation, please contact Beulah Williams on 021 465 9228 or 0780313779. VOC (Aishah Cassiem)

NH turns 130

NH turns 130       

The Nazareth House has been serving the community of Cape Town for more than a decade providing vulnerable children and elderly with care and love. This month, caregivers at the home are calling on the public to support them as they host the organisation’s first huge fun fair in commemoration of its 130th anniversary.
Speaking to VOC, Sister Margaret Hope, a social worker at Nazareth House said members of the organisation have been working hard to make the special event a success. “We have been planning this fun fair for a very long time and this will be our first huge event,” said Hope. “We have many more fundraiser’s coming up, but this particular one is special, and I would love the community to come out and get to know these great people living at the home."
Food, crafts, design and decor are amongst the many exhibitions stalls that will be available on the day. There will also be a 'Flavours of the World’ food extravaganza that will be available for the two days. Hope advised carnival goers to try some of the world most delicious foods and sweets ranging from India, England, SA, Malaysia and lots more.
A variety of entertainment is set for the weekend anddvised people to come early to get a taste of the full programme. “We will be having various singers along with some great activities which include sumo wrestling, Babble Ball, Xbounce and Battle Gladiator. It will be catered for both adults and children,” she said. Hope said the proceeds of the fun fair will contribute to various needs at the home. “We are dependent on the public to feed and care for these people. The number of children and elderly who are being admitted to the home is increasing tremendously and therefore we need to be on our feet at all times,” she said.

Desperate cases

“Sadly, there are many elderly people still on the waiting list, to be moved over to our home, but because there are many little kids coming in at all times, we are forced to take in the most desperate cases of homeless kids,” she said. There are many homes in Cape Town who can take these kids in, but if they are unable to, the facility has no choice but to intervene. "These kids need to be accommodated as soon as possible and cannot be left alone on streets any longer.”
The elderly taken in are mostly from hospitals in the city. Many of them had strokes and are not able to cope on their own anymore. They need nursing care at all times. Many of them are visited by family and friends, but there are a few cases where some are not visited by family at all. She said it is important that the humanitarian home networks with other organisations. “We work with similar homes in Cape Town as well as the local hospital and the South African Police Services. Working with the police service helps us to determine where children are left abandoned and caught up in terrible situations." The organisation has a 24 hour service available to the vulnerable at all times.
Meanwhile, coordinators are calling on the public to drop off wearable clothing and food items at the home. “Some of these items will be sold on the day of the event to raise funds for the home. The food items will contribute to the dishes that will be served at the fun fair,” she said. “However, we have charitable shops available to the public every month and are contributing tremendously to the needs of the home. If you are able to donate any of these items please do come forward."
The special event is set for Friday 26 and Saturday 27 October and will be held at the Nazareth House in Vredehoek. Entry fee for adults are only R25 per person and R15 for pensioners and children under the age of 18. If you would like to know more on the Nazareth House or how you can contribute towards the home, you can contact Beverly Florence or Gayenor Milne at 021-461 1635. You can also visit the home’s webpage at www.nazhouse.org.za. VOC (Aishah Cassiem)