Dear Brothers and Sisters, Assalaam wa’alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu and Ramadhan Mubarak to all.

By the will and command of Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala), we are blessed once again to have the opportunity to observe the sacred month of Ramadhan. This is the month where the rewards are multiplied immensely for every good deed that we do. This is the month of charity, mercy, forgiving others and asking for forgiveness from Allah (swt), and also a time of seeking refuge from the punishments of the hereafter.

This blessed month also gives us an opportunity to remember and make dua for those who were with us last Ramadhan and are no longer with us this Ramadhan. We remember our brothers, sisters and children who were massacred in the terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand on their Jumua day of March 15, 2019. May Allah (swt) forgive them and purify them of any shortcomings, give them the status of martyr and the best place in Jannah.

We also stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of others faiths and we denounce any form of terrorism against humanity.

Surely, we cannot forget all other atrocities that are happening to the Muslims all over the world, namely in Palestine, Syria, Burma, and not forgetting the Uighur Muslims in China. May Allah (swt) remove all the hardships from our brothers and sisters and bring peace and harmony throughout the world.

With so much incidents of terror happening around the world, the BCMA is stepping up to increase the safety and security measures in and around our local masajids especially during this month of Ramadhan. Alhamdulillah, the BCMA and participants from all local muslim organizations held a 3 hour safety and security session conducted by the VPD and the RCMP at the Justice Institute in New Westminster. The session was very beneficial and consequently, you will notice added police patrols and increased volunteer and private company securities at our masajids. RCMP and our local Police Department are also providing experts to do inspections of our facilities and give feedbacks on areas concerning public security and premises security. I expect everyone to coorporate to make our community safer for all inshaAllah.

In conclusion, I’d like to remind everyone that the essence of this month is to do maximum ibada and this being a month of charity, we should timely dispense our zakat and more importantly Zakat-ul-Fitr. This must be dispensed before the end of the month of Ramadhan so that it can reach to the poor and the needy. We have lots of needy families in and around every locality throughout BC so let’s give it to our local masajids to distribute to our needy families within our local community first.

In this blessed month, I would like to acknowledge our brothers and sisters and committee members in various divisions of the B.C. Muslim Association who put in long volunteer hours to serve our community. I would like to also like to acknowledge our new boards, our Trustees, head office staff, Imams, and my wonderful Executive team for their unity and strong support throughout the year.

We hope that Allah (swt) gives all of us the taufeeq to fully benefit from these beautiful days of Ramadhan by utilizing our time properly, and enable us to enjoy the blessed nights of tarawih.

Once again, RAMADAN MUBARAK to you all!

ILTAF SAHIB

President - The BC Muslim Association

The VPD & RCMP meeting with Muslim Organizations regarding public and premises safety and security.