Wales & West Chair - July - September 2010

Assalamu’alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakaatu

First and foremost I start by praising Allah SWT the most great, and ask him to send peace and blessings upon his final prophet, Prophet Muhammed SAW, his family, and his companions

My name is Mohsin Malik, a final year medical student here in Cardiff University. Having been Vice Chair for Fosis Wales for the past 2 years I thought I knew what to expect as chair, but very quickly I realised all the work that happens behind the scenes, not least 2-hour online meetings post-fajr!

I initially encountered Fosis when I was part of Cardiff Isoc, and had my fair share of complaints about the organisation! However, I realised there was no point moaning about how things could be better, instead I hoped I could make a change by joining, so here I am!

It’s been a very interesting start to the year to say the least. First job was to sort our fresher pack orders and get isocs to affiliate. It took me two trips to London to collect our packs, which alhumdulillah were all delivered to isocs on time.

As of October 2009 Bristol, UWE and Bath isocs joined the Fosis Wales family, now called Fosis Wales&West. One thing I want to do this year is to create greater links between us and these newer isocs. Alhumdulillah so far I have visited both UWE and Bristol Isocs for their freshers’ dinners. I thoroughly enjoyed both events, with each isoc bringing something unique to their dinners. Insha’Allah Bath is next!

So what have Fosis Wales&West got planned? This coming week we have our Isoc 101s. This year rather than simply doing just one workshop on isoc training, this year we’ve decided to do 3 or 4 training sessions in several cities to make it easier on Isocs who would otherwise find it difficult for many committee members to travel to

Other upcoming events insha’Allah include Charity Week (1^st week of November), Speaker Tours, da’wah training and our annual dinner for isocs which this year will be held insha’Allah on Sunday 28^th November. The idea is to bring all the isocs together, hand out awards to isocs for their achievements in the past year including charity week, and of course food! Watch this space for more information in the coming weeks

If there is anything you feel we should improve on, or any projects you would like us to get involved n please contact myself at wales.chair@fosis.org.uk

Please remember us all in your duas! JazakAllahu Khayr

Wsalam,

Mohsin Malik,

Fosis Wales&West Chair

Wales Chair- December 2009

Assalamu Alaikum wr wb,

I pray your all well in the best state of Imaan and Health.

Alhamdulilah Praise be to Allah for all good that has come of the year so far.

As the term comes to an end, we've had an evaluation of what was accomplished so far, read up a whole summary in the Mid-Year report.

Insha'Allah we will be launching a small survey of what YOU (the most important part of the equation) think of our services, and what you'd like to see us do more of. So please keep up to date and do fill it out, iA won't take more than 2 minutes, and is extremely valuable.

As you might be already aware, in November, FOSIS Wales & West had 2 major events. The first being the Fundraising lecture by Sheikh Touwfique Chaudhury. It was a great evening and success, with a fantastic insight on the day of Judgment, and how we should prepare for it; mA was great alhamdulillah. Would like to extend many Thanks to Al-Kauthar Cardiff for providing the speaker, and allowing us to fundraise for FOSIS Wales where we were able to raise over £600 for our projects and events.

Our final event for the term was our Annual Awards Ceremony and Charity Week Finale, where we invited all the Islamic Societies to join together to celebrate and remember the achievements of the Islamic Societies of the previous year. The event kicked off with Charity week count down, and video produced from all the material collated from all the ISocs and schools brought together (Watch on:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e07LhRSngH4 ) JazakAllah khair to all those involved in making the video - may Allah reward you greatly! The Charity Week Awards were given out at follows :

Overall Best Charity Week in Wales: Swansea & Senasea Met ISoc

Most Raised: Cardiff ISoc

Most Creative: Newport ISoc

Most Dedicated: Glamorgan ISoc

A short break for maghrib and reflection on Charity week, then moved onto the awards! Masha'Allah many awards were given, and we offer are biggest congrats to all the ISocs for having such an amazing year. Insha'Allah I pray that next year will be an even bigger success! We ended the evening with a meal and thanks.

A special thanks goes to our special guests that travelled down to come and support the event, to Katies Dalton (NUS Wales President), Luke Young ( Swansea SU President), Rev. Paul Fitzpatrick (UWIC Chaplain) and Vaughn Reese (Glamorgan Chaplain), your presence was truly appreciated. I can't help but feel the need to mention this, Swansea SU not only supported their ISoc by attending, but also paid for the members tickets and travel expenses! A perfect example of good relations, so congrats Swansea for that masha'Allah - A true contender for next years awards.

The awards are as follows J

A big JazakAllah Khair to everyone that helped to make this event a success; and pray that our year continues to grow in success Ameen.

If you would like more information on the awards, please do not hesitate to contact me.

December was kept quiet, and tried to support the ISocs as much as we can, especially with the recent turn of events. We ended off the year with an evaluation of our performance, and of our targets, and Alhamdulillah we feel we have achieved a fair bit, but only you (The ISocs) can tell us what you think. iA We are putting together an evaluation form, please please do take 2min and fill it out, it will help us tremendously for the next running term iA. J

JazakAllah khair

w.salaaam

Alaa Khundakji

Wales Regional Chair

Wales Chair- September 2009

I pray your all well iA and in best state of health and Iman iA.

sA we are now at the beginning of the new academic year, are we all ready?

I'd like to start this blog off with a reminder, of the Amanah and responsibility placed on all the shoulders of the elected committees. Not only are we held accountable to all those in our ISocs and Committees, but most important to Allah swt. We must develop ourselves, and our committees, to be one united team, many may not realise but we should also learn to be a team with other ISocs. Many ISocs in Wales are very close to each other, and would like to encourage you all to work together, even if it is just taking into consideration of other events as not to clash. This is strengthen our brotherhood and sisterhood, the main beauty of our Islamic Societies. May Allah keep our hearts strong and united, remove disputes and strengthen our love.

Subhana'Allah I've just come back from a long trip to Palestine and Jordan, sA a big eye opener, hence why I am combining two blogs into one (please forgive me). My trip made me realise how grateful I should be for so many things, including ISoc and FOSIS, there isn't really an equivalent society there, events are scarce and u realised what kind of indirect prison there. Another reminder for us to be grateful for everything sA small or big. Many would be disappointed if the event wasn't professionally done, or not as big, low turnout but subhana'Allah even if one person leaves with an atoms weight of good knowledge or of any benefit, then the event was a huge success Alhamdulillah.

Anyway, Back to what we did over Aug and September. sA We are starting to revive our contact with all the ISocs, getting the fresher packs to everyone (Orders should have already been put in, but if not, please do so ASAP), our year plans have been put forward and approved. Projects including Gift Packs, Dawah Packs, Speaker Tours, Training and of course our Annual Awards Dinner. Our first training session coming is ISOC 101, which I advise all of you to attend, especially if active in your ISoc, giving you key personal development points as well as team building and key points about running your ISoc. We've had our regional meeting, with a fantastic turnout, most of the ISocs had at least two representatives there thus proving to be a very productive meeting. JazakAllah Khair for all those who attended. With an action packed year this month was mainly used as the initial planning stages for our projects.

Stay tuned till next time, keep updated with our website, follow us on Facebook. Keep us in your Duas =)

JazakAllah Khair

W.Salaam

Alaa Khundakji

Wales Chair- October 2009

Assalamu Alaikum wr wb,

I pray your all in best of health and Iman iA
And not too exhausted from one of the biggest weeks in the ISoc year, CHARITY WEEK.

But before we get onto Charity Week, a major change has occurred in Wales this month. Alhamdulillah with the Mercy of Allah swt, we would like to welcome three new ISocs to the region, Bristol, UWE and Bath, who are now part of a New region of Wales and West. A change iA to hopefully help the ISocs and the South Region. Soo Welcome ISocs to the region :D. I pray iA we are able to support you in as much way as possible iA.

Subhana'Allah a whole week, and more dedicated to raising awareness and money for Orphans and needy children around the world. So much has happened during the week, a Fayr in Cardiff uni, Sisters Talent show in UWIC, football tournaments, a ‘Ball', Cake sales, and much more. Including street collections and a ‘big freeze' on the streets of Cardiff. There didn't appear to be as much enthusiasm from as many members this year in Wales at first, but sA the team worked so hard together and it was built up again Alhamdulillah. CW team this year has been awesome, and we will soon find out who raised the most in our Annual Awards Dinner and CW Finale, which iA will be held on the 6thDecember. An evening full of surprises for all, including an inspirational talk, Nasheeds, food and most importantly the AWARDS. A nomination form will soon be sent out, please nominate your ISoc otherwise we cannot give you an award.

We also hosted our ISOC 101 training, which Alhamdulillah proved to be very benefitial with fantastic trainers coming down and delivering the training. JazakAllah Khair for sharing your skills, experiences and top tips. Finance guides were given out to all the ISocs as well, those ISocs who did not attend, please get in contact me to get your copy. An outcome of the training is start a development program for the ISocs to continue improving and growing. Keep a watchful eye out, will be contacting you soon if your interested iA.
Id like to finish up with this, Alhamdulillah the wales.isoc@fosis.org.uk has been updated with all the new committee emails, please use it for cross isoc discussions, and to discuss/ advertise any events. It is a tool to learn from each other iA.

If you have any suggestions, or have extra hours to come and help out with any of our projects, please get in contact asap.

Wales.chair@fosis.org.uk

JazakAllah Khair
w.salaam

Alaa Khundakji
FOSIS Wales and West Regional Chair