COMMUNITY NEWS

The 61^st Supreme Council Session was hosted by Khoja Shia Ithna-Asheri Jamaat of Mombasa from Friday 18^th to Sunday 20^th April 2003 at the Mullah Asgher Memorial Hall.

This Session was attended by councilors, delegates and invitees from Constituent Jamaats in Africa which included Arusha, Bukoba, Dar-es-Salaam, Kampala, Kinshasha, Madagascar, Maputo, Mombasa, Moshi, Mwanza, Nairobi, Nakuru, Nampula, Tanga. From overseas delegates from UK and Dubai were in attendance. The World Federation was represented by its Vice Chairman Dr. Ahmed Hassam. The Regional Council delegation was led by the Chairman Alhaj Moejiz Khamis.

The Session gave an opportunity of extending brotherhood between the participants who had congregated for this meeting.

The Proceedings began on Friday afternoon 18^th April 2003 with the Extra-Ordinary Conference whereby the proposed amendments by the Council Regional of Indian Ocean Islands to include them as official members of the Supreme Council were adopted.

During the course of the Day the office bearers held meeting with all Boards and in the afternoon the Education Board had its meeting and the Africa Federation Qur’an Competition was held.

The Proceedings of the Opening Night began with the recitation of verses from the Holy Qur’an and Dua-e-Wahdat followed by the welcome address by the Chairman of the Organising Committee Alhaj Sibtain Sadak who welcomed all the participants to Mombasa and wished the Session successful deliberations.

Alhaj Mohamed Hemani, Chairman of Mombasa Jamaat than formally welcomed all to Mombasa.

He talked on the difficult times the Muslim World was undergoing International especially in Iraq and prayed for the ordeal to come to an early end. He also prayed for the safety of our Marja and all Mumineen in Iraq and remembered fellow Muslims brothers in Gujarat Kashmir and Palestine.

He said that the peaceful elections in Kenya shown that it was a mature and peaceful nation and hoped this would be an example to many States in Africa and the world and that the rest of the countries in Africa, will be blessed with similar peaceful developments.

He ended with prayers to Allah in His Mercy to grant knowledge, understanding and wisdom to conduct our affairs in a spirit of utmost harmony, co-operation, mutual respect, love and unity.

At the end he requested Alhaj Zulfikar Khimji Chairman of Africa Federation to present pledges of appreciation to some members of Mombasa Jamaat for their selfless and dedicated services and support over the last three years since his election as the Chairman.

In his Opening Speech the Chairman Alhaj Zulfikar Khimji after welcoming and thanking all the participants present, remembered all the prominent members of the Community who had passed away during the course of the year.

He paid special tribute to Hujjatul Islam Sayyid Saeed Akhtar Rizvi who will be remembered for his unflinching devotion to the work of Bilal Muslim Mission of Tanzania. He also prayed for the safety of the Muslim Umma all over the world and particularly our Marja and the mumineen in

Iraq

and for the safety for our Holy Shrines in Karbala and Najaf.

The Chairman once again stressed on the need of Unity within the Community and co-operation amongst all our Jamaats, sister Federation and other institutions in the services of our Community in Africa and the world at large.

· The successful entry of Conseil Regional in our fold as a full member of the Africa Federation.

· Huqooq Collection has increased satisfactorily and he requested all Jamaats to encourage their members to continue channeling their huqooq funds through the Africa Federation. As a result of the good collection, AF was able to increase the financial assistance towards Tabligh, Education and other needs.

· Higher Education: 90 Education Scholarship loans were granted during the past 2 years which emanated from the fact that we were able to follow in our declared path of making our term as “The Term of Education”. However it has been observed that our Community is still at critical crossroads in regards to Education. He emphasized the AF’s absolute commitment towards this goal and appealed to parents to encourage all their sons and daughters to pursue higher education.

· Our brothers from Somalia have been granted settlement residential status and work permits in Tanzania.

· Financial assistance for Medical Insurance and for critical illness has been extended to certain Jamaats

· Formalization of property documents in

Tanzania

, Lease documents with revised and increased rental income in Dar-es-Salaam have been finalized. The same has been initiated in Kampala,

Uganda

. This has consequently increased the Council’s revenue.

· A comprehensive “Will” (Wasiyat) document with guidance and provisions has been published. This document incorporates the mention of our Jamaats and Institutions, should one decide to endow out of his/her one-third portion.

· To create Unity and enhance Public Relations, the office bearers visited over 90% of our member Jamaats in Africa and World over.

· He outlined the achievements of the Boards during the past one year and gave details on the formation of the Strategic Planning Committee which he referred to as the “Guide-Beacon” of our Community affairs and requested Jamaats to give them support and co-operation to undertake their task which was presently to compile a data base of the Community in Africa which would assist them to draw out a chart and make a road map for this Federation and to inform the Community on how to implement the plan for the future progress of our Community which entails the three new policies adopted by the Office bearers which are: Education, Economic Upliftment and How to make our institutions stronger. This committee under the chairmanship of Abbas Jessa, will also look into reviewing the Constitution of the Africa Federation.

He ended by appealing to the Jamaat Chairmen, Councillors and Delegates to now prepare a candidate for the Chairmanship who can take over the reins of Africa Federation and move it to greater heights.

On behalf of the Tabligh Board of Africa Federation, Alhaj Shabbir Janmohamed, Secretary of Tabligh Board announced the winners of the Africa Federation Qur’an Competition which was contested by 14 participants from 7 Jamaats. The Winners were Mohamed Hirji of Mwanza (Male) and Zahra Nagri of Dsm (Female).

Alhaj Amir Somji, Chairman of Sports Council than took the opportunity to announce the Sportsman of the year Award 2002 to Br. Sajjad Gulamhussein of Mombasa.

Following the successful Youth Conference at the 60^th Session in Arusha, a second one was organized to coincide with the 61^st Session which came up with a Resolution of adopting this Board under the Africa Federation, which was unanimously adopted and Br. Murtaza Bhalloo of Dar-es-Salaam was appointed as its Chairman.

RESOLUTION

The Resolution proposed by the Education Board on Education Loans was adopted with slight amendments and reads:

BE IT RESOLVED THAT THE PROCEDURE OUTLINED IN FURTHER DETAIL IN THE AFRICA FEDERATION STUDENT LOAN APPROVAL, DISBURSEMENTS AND RECOVERY POLICY IS HERBY APPLICABLE AND BINDING UPON ALL MEMBER JAMAATS IN RESPECT OF THE STUDENT HIGHER EDUCATION LOAN SCHEME AS FURTHER SET OUT IN THAT POLICY.

During the presentation of the Tabligh Report, the Chairman of Africa Federation announced one scholarship to any student intending to pursue Islamic Religious Education.

During the deliberation of the Tabligh Report of the Africa Federation, the Dar-es-Salaam Jamaat moved a Resolution which was adopted after discussion with slight amendments which reads:

THE COUNCIL HEREBY RESOLVES TO GIVE MANDATE TO A SUB-COMMITTEE WHICH MANDATE SHALL BE BINDING ON THE COUNCIL TO:

a. FORMULATE THE TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE TABLIGH BOARD OF THE AFRICA FEDERATION

b. DELIBERATE ON THE YEAR 2003 TABLIGH REPORT OF THE AFRICA FEDERATION AND ADD, AMEND OR DELETE PART OR THE WHOLE OF THIS SAID TABLIGH REPORT.

THE ABOVE SHALL BE FINALIZED BY 30^TH JUNE 2003.

THE SAID SUB-COMMITTEE SHALL COMPRISE OF:

a. 2 MEMBERS OF THE TABLIGH BOARD OF AFRICA FEDERATION

b. 2 MEMBERS EACH FROM BILAL MUSLIM MISSIONS OF KENYA, MADAGASCAR AND TANZANIA

c. 1 INDEPENDENT MEMBER FROM THE SECRETARIAT OF AFRICA FEDERATION AND ONE REPRESENTATIVE FROM EACH CONSTITUENT JAMAAT IN AFRICA.

Alhaj Munawer Dhanani of Nairobi was appointed as the member to represent the Africa Federation Secretariat.

WORLD FEDERATION

During the deliberation on the World Federation Constitution, Alhaj Amir Somji member of the WF Constitution Review Committee gave explanations on the Report and requested all Jamaats to send their feedback to the AF Secretariat so that the necessary amendments can be forward to the WF for discussion at the Constitutional Conference to be held in October 2003.

Chairman Alhaj Z. Khimji briefed the Session on his discussion with Alhaj Hasnain Walji, President of WF seeking his consent for nomination as president of WF by AF. During the telephone conversation Hasnainbhai explained to the Chairman on his inability to continue to lead the WF. The Chairman requested him to think over this again and send us his consent which had not been received till the time of the Session.

1. Nominate a person for the post of the President of the WF for the ensuing term 2003 - 2006 upon receipt of that person's consent.

2. Seek the Africa Federation delegates for the Triennial Conference Dubai October 2003.

3. Agree upon the WF Draft Constitution with the Africa Federation delegates for the WF Constitutional Conference Dubai October 2003.