As part of Hoona London’s new editorial policy, we are pleased to announce our recent partnership with leading Muslim Educational publisher, Smart Ark.

Children’s Corner is our new space allocated for little learners where they will get the chance to Learn Arabic. Research has shown that bilingualism is a valuable asset for children’s development and their future. Children exposed to different languages become more aware of different cultures, other people and other points of view.

Smart Ark’s products perfectly go in line with Hoona London’s bilingualism, Arabic and English. Learn Arabic section has been designed to aid early learning of the Arabic language in a stimulating and entertaining way. The beautiful illustrations will catch and keep the interest of the child and encourage parent and child interaction.

Smart Ark designs and makes Islamic educational resources for children. Their product ranges include games, books and posters. For more about Smart Ark, please visit their website www.smartark.com 

Dr Othman Moqbel (CEO of Human Appeal International) and Dr Hussein Nagi and Mr Mohamad Yousef (both trustees of Human Appeal International) have received an apology and substantial damages from The Jewish Chronicle.

The Jewish Chronicle apologised in relation to articles published in February 2012 in The Jewish Chronicle and on its website TheJC.com, in which it alleged that Human Appeal International, a British charity, had been designated as a terrorist organisation by the US government and had diverted donations to fund terror and to support the families of suicide bombers.

Following the apology, Dr Moqbel said:

“It is regrettable that legal action was necessary and all this could have been avoided if the Jewish Chronicle had carried out due diligence. We are now focused on rebuilding the reputation and trust of our Charity. We hope that in future people will take due care when publishing such serious allegations”.

The apology was published in the Jewish Chronicle on 31 May and on TheJC.com on 30 May. The Jewish Chronicle has also agreed to pay Dr Moqbel, Dr Nagi and Mr Yousef damages, together with their legal costs.

At the head office of Universal Peace Foundation, where the interfaith community cohesion seminar was organised by Cllr Margaret Ali, the director of Universal Peace Foundation, people from different religious backgrounds and beliefs were invited to participate in a debate. The chairman, Dr Hojjat Ramzy of Oxford Dawah Centre, presented the cheque for the sum of £1,000 to the Community Liaison Officer M W Khokhar MBE of international relief and development organisation Muslim Aid. This amount was exclusively donated for the welfare of people suffering in Burma and Syria. The Secretary General of UPF Robin Marsh and UPF coordinator in Europe Mark Brann were also present on this occasion.

Muslim Aid Community Liaison Officer M Walayat Khokhar has been honoured to receive an invitation to attend the Annual Royal Garden Party with Her Majesty The Queen on the 30th May 2013.

Indeed it is a great honour and privilege to participate in this most prestigious event. Last year Mr Khokhar was awarded the most sought after award of MBE by HRH Prince Charles in recognition of his services with the international NGO Muslim Aid. Muslim Aid is striving hard for the past 28 years to alleviate the suffering and hardship of humanity at large, regardless of their colour, creed or religion.

Mr Khokhar expressed his very sincere gratitude to the Chairman and the Board of trustees and to all of his colleagues who have been very supportive over the years.

Mr Khokhar also expressed his gratitude to Mr Musa Kazi, Manager of IMWS, who very kindly recommended him for this particularly honour.

The long awaited personalised registration number, most faithfully representing the word “Sheikhs”, the highly respected title within the Arabic world, is to be auctioned shortly.

With the increase in Arabs visiting the UK, many securing permanent residence, it is expected that SH13 KHS will be of intense interest. It is the best representation that has ever been available.

There is a notable and growing awareness of this prestige registration amongst number plate enthusiasts. This comes as no surprise since very few vehicle registration numbers so accurately represent a name or a word.

The online auction will be held in May of this year. For further details or to register as a bidder, please visit the dedicated web page http://www.platemaster.com/sh13khs/ or call 01908 640483.

The two years ongoing conflict in Syria has devastated the lives of millions of people, reportedly causing more than 70,000 deaths including a large number of women and children. Around 4.25 million Syrian have fled their homes. 1.3 million Syrians are seeking refuge in the neighbouring countries such as turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. This conflict has also triggered extreme poverty in Syria as livelihoods, houses, shops, hospitals, schools infrastructure and mosques have been completely destroyed In most cities in Syria. Due to poor sanitation diseases are spreading rapidly as well.

Also the scarcity of resources has not only posed difficulties for the Syrian refugees but it has also placed a burden on the host states which are facing their own national economic, social and political challenges. Therefore it is vital that humanitarian organisations such as Muslim Aid continue to provide assistance to meet the basic needs of the affected Syrians.

Muslim Aid has served nearly 96,000 Syrians by distributing much needed relief items. With generous support from donors, Muslim Aid field offices in Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, have been able to provide urgently needed emergency relief to over 66,000 Syrian refugees. Muslim Aid has also delivered aid to around 30,000 Syrian people inside Syria through its partners.

Muslim Aid’s recent humanitarian activity includes distribution of food in three main cities in Syria (Aleppo, Hama and Idlib) and medication and medical equipments to mobile clinics in Homs.

Distribution of relief packs containing food items, clothes, outerwear, thermals, blankets, coal and mattresses rugs and hygiene packs have taken place in Lebanon and Jordan for refugee families.

In Jordan, Muslim Aid’s healthcare intervention included the provision of two medical clinics in Al-Ramtha and Al-Mafraq, along the border for treating the sick and wounded refugees.

In Iraq, safe drinking water and hygiene packs have been distributed. Moreover, Iraq donated bakery machines to contribute in establishing a bakery inside Al Husaiba camp in Iraq.  This will help create job opportunities and provide livelihood for the Syrian refugees.

However the increasing number of Syrians in need of humanitarian help shows that we need to continue to provide aid to meet the basic needs. Therefore donations are urgently needed to enable Muslim Aid to continue its humanitarian intervention.

Please donate to Muslim Aid’s Syria emergency appeal by calling (+44) 0207 377 4200 or visit our website www.muslimaid.org to view other methods of donations. You can donate by cheque, bank transfer or VISA. You can also donate your Zakat and Sadqah. At Muslim Aid we will distribute 100% of your Zakat donation without deducting any admin cost.

Muslim Aid is a registered charity in Britain (Charity Reg 295224).

The Arab British Centre has been named co-winner of the prestigious UNESCO-Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture 2012.

The prize rewards significant contributions to the development, knowledge and spread of Arab culture by means of artistic, intellectual or promotional outreach aimed at enhancing inter-cultural dialogue and understanding. According to the Assistant Director-General for Culture at UNESCO, Francesco Bandarin, the Centre has been recognised for ‘the various activities and events organised, within and outside the Centre, to promote a better understanding of Arab culture and foster inter-cultural dialogue’.

The prize money of $60,000 will be shared between the Arab British Centre and the prize’s co-winner, Mr Mustapha Cherif from Algeria, and will be awarded at a ceremony at UNESCO in Paris on 25 April 2013.

The Arab British Centre were honoured to join this line of esteemed laureates of the prize — the first organisation to win since the prize was founded in 2001.

Mr John Mulligen, European Area Welfare Manager from Frankfurt and Mr Roland Elvidge, National Public Affairs Director, met the CEO Syed Sharfuddin, Assistant CEO Barrister Hamid Azad and the Community Liaison Officer Mr M W Khokhar MBE. The delegation was thoroughly briefed about the humanitarian and welfare projects of Muslim Aid in various parts of the world. The delegation was impressed by the activities of Muslim Aid, purely for the benefit and welfare of the poor and needy, regardless of their colour, creed or religion. Mr Mulligen expressed his keen interest to cooperate with Muslim Aid to alleviate the suffering and hardship of the people around the world.

Halal Food Authority wants to reassure the Muslim community that no actual contaminated halal meals were served to Muslim inmates, and the alleged contaminated meals were never destined for the general Muslim consumers. HFA takes mixing or contamination of halal with non-halal products very seriously. HFA also undertakes that all the ingredients contained in the products in question were free from any doubtful substances, porcine materials, and/or alcohol. The only likely cause for the Pork DNA to be introduced in those products seems to be cross contamination.

Halal Food Authority de-licensed McColgan’s Quality Foods Ltd in the interest of the Muslim consumers as soon as we were made aware of the alleged presence of Pork DNA, through the media, while further investigations were being carried out, as listed in our last press release [13th Feb 2013].

In the wake of the Pork DNA and horse meat scandals the HFA has brought in extra mandatory controls and implemented more stringent checks & balances to our existing halal certification criteria.

It has been brought to our attention, through general public, who have raised serious concerns over the ill-informed and ill-placed press releases from some inconspicuous establishments and certain misleading individuals who have been spreading aversive and inaccurate information with regards to the criteria of Halal Food Authority for verification of halal foods.

We are very sad that the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has issued a statement which falls below the professional standard expected of them. MCB is an umbrella body which should have played a completely unbiased and binding role to bring the various halal certification standards and criteria together that prevail in the UK today. We hope that in the future MCB will utilise its role in promoting the halal brand and criteria rather than careering to one side. Should they have any conclusive information about the DNA results that HFA are not aware of at the moment, they should share this information with us and the general public immediately, to support their decision in the statement.

We condemn any aversive and misleading propaganda against the standards of Halal Food Authority, which is based on fallacy and inconclusive statements and media reports.

Following on from the media coverage of the finding of Pork DNA in halal pies, which shocked Muslims all over the world, Halal Food Authority shares those sentiments and is still in search for answers. So far it has come to light that no actual Pork meat was found. The test results for the pork DNA have not been made public which raises further doubts and concerns.

The Muslim community is eagerly awaiting answers from the authorities (who commissioned the test) and other parties involved as to why the HFA was not contacted before the news was actually broken to the media.

Following are some of the more pressing questions:

Who had commissioned the testing? and

Which laboratory carried out the tests and what were the results?

Was the laboratory in question accredited to carry out the said tests?

Were tests also carried out at the processing plant to ascertain the validity of the results? And why were the tests carried out at 3663, the distributor, and not where the product was made?

HFA categorically affirms that our standards and audit protocols are in compliance of the Islamic dietary rules and in conformity of the relevant EU regulations.