Chairman of the Federation of KSIJ of
UNITY, EDUCATION & POVERTY
Ulema-e-Kiram
The Chairman of
President of Conseil Regional – Alhaj Moajesbhai Khamis
The Vice President of World Federation – Alhaj Ahmedbhai Hassam
Vice Chairman – Alhaj Ramzanbhai Nanji and my Office bearers,
Office Bearers of Council Regional the Trustees of the Federation in
The Chairman of various member Jamaats of Africa, Councilors, past Office
Bearers,
Dignitaries, Invitees, The Youth fraternity, My Brothers and Sisters,
Salamun Alaikum.
Let me begin my address by
welcoming one and all of you who have come from near and far to participate in
the 61st meeting of the supreme council of Africa Federation. At this juncture, I would like to welcome:-
The President of Counseil Regional, Alhaj Moajesbhai Khamis, with his two
Vice presidents namely, Alhaj Roshanbhai Jameel and Iqbalbhai Akberali. From the World Federation I welcome the Vice
President of World Federation Dr. Ahmed Hassam and I welcome 4 committee
members out of 5 elected for the constitutional review committee, whose
convenor is Br. Sakalian Meghjee and members are Ashiqbhai Rashid, Dr. Asger
Moledina and Alhaj Amirbhai Somji.
I would also like to welcome the President of all Jamaats of Africa
Federation, councilors, delegates and all overseas guests.
Brothers and Sisters, it is
important to mention your presence and proactive participation in the
proceedings which will determine the way forward for our Community in the
current times and for posterity. Debate
and deliberations are the essence of all meetings. Proposals and suggestions add life to the
discussion and conclusions determine the maturity of the proceedings.
It therefore becomes our solemn
duty to present practical solutions to the myriad of situations the Community
is facing today and to conclude on a positive note, ultimately determining the
destiny of our future generation.
As is our usual practice, let us
remember all those who have left this world. Among those who have passed away,
there were some prominent personalities who were very instrumental to the
progress of the Community in one way or another. It is imperative that we recognize their
contributions and in paying respect to them, we pray that the Almighty bestow
upon them peace………. Ameen
In particular I recall Hujjaatul Islam Marhum Sayed Aktar Rizvi. He
will be remembered for his unflinching devotion to the work of Bilal Muslim
Mission of Tanzania. A man, who was a writer, a historical researcher and had
proficient knowledge in the laws of Islam.
He gave benefits to our community and left an important legacy of Ahlulbait
A.S. for Shias in
Marhum Maulana Feroz Haider – Who
was a Good Orator and Zakir-E-Hussein.
Marhum Nisar Fazel – Who was a
Young Dynamic Social Worker.
Marhum Mulla Mohamedhussein Lakha
(
May I request that we remember them and all our Marhumeens and recite Sura
Fateha for their departed souls.
As I was preparing my address, the war in
The World dynamics in terms of social, political and religious affairs
are changing very fast and our community cannot remain immune to the effects of
this dynamism. We as a community of
The role and function of Africa Federation has to be looked at, from this
perspective.
To begin with, my brothers and sisters,
I want to say and say, with all the conviction that we must hold tight
the rope of Unity.
We must stretch ourselves to enhance co-operation amongst all our
Jamaats, sister Federation and other institutions in the services of our
Community of Africa and the whole world at large. It is also imperative that we maintain and
strengthened our relationships with other Communities.
On the local scene, we have been able to create a strong bond of
friendship and cooperation with the Agakhan Community. This has given us great insight in the
various fields of practice and has assisted us with diverse perspectives at the
administrative, education and health levels.
Unity must begin with our own family. When families are united, we have a
united Jamaat and united Jamaats means a strong Regional Federations.
When we have strong viable and functioning Regional Federations, then the
World Federation will have strong pillars upon which to facilitate programmes
for our communities’ worldwide.
Centralisation is the turn key function to unity. That means -
Centralisation of Huqooq funds, Centralisation of Donations, Centralisation of
Human resources, Centralisation of all activities for Jamaats of Africa
Federation.
When centralisation is being practiced, then, I believe we will be able
to generate sufficient resources for our projects, and for most of our
requirements.
Brothers and sisters,
Our requirements, which are always accompanied with varied challenges,
are many. Challenges create
opportunities to focus firmly on the problems and to counter them.
Today, our most important priority is that we need financial and
intellectual resources that are to meet our three new policies namely,
Education, Economic up-liftment and how to make our Institution stronger. We shall Insha-Allah discuss this during the
meeting.
However, our first priority is to make our Schools provide quality
education to our own children, so that they achieve the best results and go to
the best universities.
At the same time even more challenging upon the parents and the leaders,
is to practice and inculcate good values and morals in our children and ensure
that they practice our faith properly.
We want our boys to follow the glorious path Imam Hassan A.S. and Imam
Hussein A.S. We want to see our girls
following the examples of Bibi Fatema Zahra and Bibi Zainab A.S.
Insha-Allah when we achieve this, we will then have a community that is
based on Amr bil Maaruf and Nahi anil Mukar. We will then have a society whose
foundation is strong and whose future is secured.
For this, our community must have guidance. Africa Federation has a
flowering history of an amicable relationship between our Marjaa and us, as a
community.
I had an opportunity to pay a second visit to Aga’s headquarters, and we
have been assured that Huqooq receipts from him can now be processed in less
than 96 hrs should anyone requests for the same. During the Visit, I had a discussion on the
functions of our various boards and ways of improving prosperity of our
Community at large. We remain in constant touch with Aga’s office even during
the war.
Turning to regional issues, I am pleased to report to you that the
delegation from Africa Federation and the delegation of the Council
Regional met to review and determine the status of the Conseil Regional
des Khojas Shia Ithna Asheri Jamaat del Ocean Indien within the Africa
Federation.
In a
cordial atmosphere of constructive dialogue and mutual respect, the meeting was
successful and a Press release to this effect was circulated. This afternoon the constitution was amended
and finally adopted to accommodate their full status.
Today
we have Conseil Regional who are our members and who will now participate with
us at every level of our work. I believe that by integrating the Counseil
Regional with Africa Federation, together as Africa Federation we will be able
to play our role more effectively within our membership and within the World
Federation.
One of our prime and essential objective is to bring the Jamaats
together.
This is the only way we can begin to understand the needs of individual
Jamaats at grass root level.
We therefore make a point of visiting as many Jamaats as we can. Some of
them are big, some of them are small, some of them are in the cities, and some
of them are in small towns.
Some of them are far and some of them are near. But, all of them are as
special, and I will be pleased to see many of them participating in our
deliberations during the session.
On international level our relationship with other Regional Bodies and
the World Federation is progressing well.
The office bearers have been
attending all the World Federation Executive Council Meetings as much as
possible, and much effort has gone into strengthening our work on matters of
Education, Medical, Setwel and Tabligh.
The World Federation is also
practicing the centralization policy and is therefore actively encouraging the
centralization of all funds destined for various Institutions in
Marhum Mulla Asgher memorial Academic Scheme (MAMAS) was launched during
the last Executive Meeting in
At this juncture, remembering the immense input by the late Mullah Saheb,
may I request you to offer a sure Fateha.
In responding and boosting to our three new policies, the Office Bearers
of Africa Federation propose to present a resolution at the conference of the
World Federation to declare that the fourth coming term of the World Federation
be dedicated to Africa Federation to enhance education, economic up-liftment
and Housing.
As you all know, we are a Business minded Community and many amongst us
have the talents but lack opportunity and courage to expand their present
Business or embark into small-scale industry.
TRUSTEES
Our Trustees have been performing
their duties very well. When we acquired
office, the Federation building in
As for our
Our Properties in
THE BOARDS
1. Tabligh
In spite of being one of the most
important propagation pillars of our
faith, the Tabligh board has been depressed mainly due to lack of co-operation
during the last Arusha session. However,
I am happy to report that the board is geared up towards their duties as stated
in the terms of reference given to them by the Secretariat. My appeal to all Jamaat members is to look
forward and to show their full co-operations towards their duties
I am pleased to report that our
Hilal Committee has carried out its duties extremely well in regards to moon
sighting, and there has been no major controversies to this effect.
I had an opportunity to visit the
2. Education
During our installation night we
had declared our term, “The term of Education.” We have also periodically emphasized the
importance of promoting Education standards within the Community at all
levels. The Education Board, under the
able guidance of Alhaj Iqbalbhai Sunderjee; has exemplified the ideals proposed
by the Africa Federation policy network and has performed marvellously in all
spheres of Education.
The host Jamaat and its members
should be pleased as this board is based in
3. Setwel (Settlement Board)
I am pleased to enlighten this August body, that our brothers and sisters
from
The next challenging task that the Setwel Board has to undertake is to
provide business and employment opportunities to these individuals. At this juncture, I appeal to our
businessmen to give priority by offering employment to our community brothers
in their establishments. A comprehensive
report will be presented by the board at a later stage.
4. CHB (Medical)
A very proactive screening exercise was initiated for Dar-es-salaam
Jamaat by the Central Health Board. This
will now be extended to all Jamaats in the region, thereby ensuring that the
entire Community benefits from this important exercise.
The CHB has also undertaken to send quite a number of our patients to be
treated overseas in the last two years. The Chairman of CHB Alhaj Safderbhai
Jaffer will elucidate the various aspects of the Board activities in his report
which will presented tomorrow.
5. Sports
After the major success of
6. Samachar.
The Federation Samachar and the
editorial team led by Munirbhai Daya need no introduction. Over the last fifteen years, he and his team
have demonstrated absolute commitment in producing the activity chart of the
Community affairs with superb write-ups.
You will find the latest Samachar copy in your folders. Munirbhai Daya
will present his report at a later stage.
Strategic Planning
Ladies and Gentlemen, this board
is the “Guide-Beacon” of our Community affairs.
We were fortunate to select some of the Youths from Dar-es-salaam to
work on the strategic plan. They have
just been appointed and will need all the support and cooperation from all the
Jamaats. Dar-es-salaam Jamaat is
fortunate that these youths responded favourably to my earlier appeal. The co-operation extended by Dar-es-Salaam
Jamaat is truly remarkable and I am sure that the same will continue throughout
their appointment.
Since the activity spectrum of
this Board is vast and diverse, the
Secretariat has initially asked them to gather a census data of our community
in
They are: Education
Economic
Upliftment and
How to make
our institutions stronger.
We will hear more from them
tomorrow.
Finally, I would like to conclude my address on two important
considerations.
Firstly, on some positive
note:
I believe that overall, we have been able to achieve good results in our
tenure so far and thus we must thank Allah swt for his guidance.
These achievements materialized because all of you and all of us worked
together as a team and more importantly for the support you extended to us
throughout. The Office bearers therefore
share the credit with you for its accomplishments.
I would also like to record my appreciation to each and every constituent
Jamaat for the cooperation extended to us so far. On behalf of my colleagues
and myself I pray that Allah swt give you all Tawfiqat and that you continue
with the same zeal to show commitment towards the Federation.
Let me enumerate for you some important achievements:
1. The
successful entry of Conseil Reg… in our fold as a full member of the Africa
Federation.
2. I
am pleased to inform the house that our Huqooq collection has increased
satisfactorily. The Africa Federation
would like to request you to encourage your members to continue channeling
their Huqooq funds through the Africa Federation. As a result, we will be able to increase the
financial assistance towards Tabligh, Education and other Boards.
3.
In the last two years, we have
granted Scholarships loans to around 90 students to pursue Higher education.
This has emanated from the fact that we were able to follow in our declared
path of making our term, The term of Education.
This year, it is encouraging to note that we have already received over
40 applications from different Jamaats.
However, it has
been observed that our Community is still at critical crossroads in regards to
Education. I would like to emphasize our
absolute commitment towards this goal and would like to encourage all parents
to push their sons and daughters to pursue higher education.
4. I
am pleased to report that finally our brothers from
5. Financial
assistance for Medical Insurance Schemes and for critical illnesses has been
extended to certain Jamaats.
6. Formalization
of property documents in
7. A
comprehensive “Will” (Wasyat) document with guidance and provisions has been
published. This document incorporates
the mention of our Jamaats and Institutions, should one decides to endow out of
his/her one-third portion. You can
obtain your personal copy and request Jamaat Presidents to collect for their
members from the Conference hall as many as you need.
8. To
create Unity and enhance Public Relations, we visited over 90% of our member
Jamaats in
Secondly, with your
support, I have been able to complete two year of my term.
Next year is my last year and I pray to Allah swt to give me good health
so that I can complete my term effectively.
For this remaining one year of my term, I have every confidence that you
will continue to give ample support to my colleagues and me.
With your generous support, together we have achieved some good benefits
for the community and there is still more room for expansion and we shall try
to float innovative ideas this year also.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is very much possible that we may not have
achieved as much as you expected from us. For that we do apologize and will
endeavor to do better in the last leg of our term.
However, we have tried to do as much as the resources and time allowed us
and we are grateful to Allah (s.w.t.) for granting us the opportunity to serve
you all.
It is time now for me to appeal to all the Presidents of the Jamaats,
councilors and delegates that you must now prepare a candidate for the
Chairmanship who can take over the reins of Africa Federation and move it to
greater heights.
Was-Salamunalaikum wrahmatullahi wabarakatuhu.
Zufikar Haider Khimji,
Chairman