BMAMM BAn affiliate of

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the BMAM Association was held on Friday 20th April, 2012 in the Council Chamber, Civic Cen-tre, Morden and was chaired by the Deputy May-or of Merton Councillor Chris Edge.

Guests of Honour were Ms Siobhan McDonagh MP for Mitcham & Morden and Leader of the Council Cllr Stephen Alambritis, who addressed the AGM.

Cllr Ian Munn and a large number of BMAM members attended the AGM. Refreshments were provided at the end of the AGM.

The Local Wimbledon Guardian, in its 24th April 2012 issue, published a news item on the AGM of BMAM and the election results of its Executive Committee members.

A similar news item also appeared in the online magazine ‘WimbledonSW19’.

The following photos show AGM highlights:

BMAM Annual General Meeting

New Identity

The BMAM EC com-missioned a profes-sional designer to look at various op-tions for the identity and logo for BMAM.

We hope you like the new logo and iden-tity of BMAM. Any comments would be appreciated.

Our Newsletters will also follow the new logo identity and the colour scheme.

Ramadan & Eid Mubarak

The BMAM Executive Committee wishes every one Ramadan Mubarak and a very happy Eid Mubarak.

The following members on the Executive Com-mittee (EC) of BMAM were unanimously elected at the AGM held on 20th April, 2012 for the 2012-2014 Term :

Abdul Latif: Chair (Mobile: 0771 137 6629) Dr Tasneem Mohammadally: Vice Chair

Ibrahim Rizvi: General Secretary (Tel: 0208 540 6829 / 0208 542 4570)Faizan Ahmad: Treasurer (Tel: 0208 330 2541)Karam Elahi Khan: Asst. General Secretary (Tel: 0208 646 1153 / 0784 597 8280)Basir Afridi: Membership & Social Secretary (Tel: 0208 542 9084 / 0750 511 1604)Salma Hashmi: EC Member (Mobile: 0740 510 1628)Dr Moid Siddiqi: EC Member (Tel: 0208 542 9302)Sheikh M Rafique: EC Member (Tel: 0208 715 5262)Following were co-opted at the EC meeting held on 12th May 2012:Najeeb Latif: EC Member (co-opted)(Mobile: 0797 626 9393) Usman Sheikh: EC Member (co-opted)(Mobile: 0794 499 1561)

Executive Committee Election

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In This Issue • Seerat - Un -Nabi Function• 15th AGM of MCB• Met Police talk at MICC

Page 4

• New Co-opted Members• Chairman’s Message

• Source of Zamzam Water

VOLUME 01ISSUE 01

British Muslim Association of Merton

summer2012“In The Name Of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful”

“Serving The Community in the London Borough of Merton”Charity No. 1126769

Newsletter

EC Members From L-RDr Tasneem M Ally, Dr Moid Siddiqi, Faizan Ahmad, Ibrahim Rizvi, Abdul Latif, Basir Afridi, Sh M Rafique

and KE Khan.

BMAM secures £3, 000 External Grant

BMAM has secured a grant of £3,000 for the Health & Faith 2012 project jointly funded by London Catalyst (formerly Metropolitan Hospi-tal Sunday Fund) and the Urban Church Fund. BMAM will organise activity ses-sions and seminars to promote awareness how to overcome depression, isolation, mental ill-health,TB etc. Details of events will be advertised in due course.

Volunteers

We are always on the look for volunteers to help in the organ-ising of our events and ideas on future events.

If you have ideas on future events or would like to help in the organi-sation, then please contact us either by email or phone

The British Muslim Association of Merton (BMAM) organised a Seerat-un-Nabi programme on 25th February 2012 to celebrate Prophet Mu-hammad’s (pbuh) birthday at Drake House, St. George’s Road, Wimbledon, SW19.

The Association invited distinguished guests to pay tribute to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and recite devotional poems (na’ats) expressing their love and devotion to the Prophet.

Among the distinguished speakers were Imam Abdus Salam, who is a renowned scholar and Imam of Kingston Mosque, Mrs Abida Lal Hus-sain, who besides being well versed in religious studies, is a poetess as well, Dr Z. U. Khan, who was a former adviser to the President of Pakistan and Maulana Faiyaz Adil Faruqui, who is a well known scholar, a renowned poet and a teacher in Islamic studies. Apart from the aforemen-tioned speakers there were two young speakers Umran Chowdhary and Yousuf as well.

The function commenced with the recitation from the Holy Quran and its English translation

by Mr M. Rafique. All the speakers spoke about the different aspects of Prophet Mohammad’s (pbuh) life. They were greatly appreciated. Na’ats were recited by Mrs Hussain, Mau-lana Faiyaz Adil Faruqui, Mr M. Rafique, Mr Basir Af-ridi and Mr Ibrahim Rizvi.

The programme was a great success and well attended. General Secretary of the BMAM Ibra-him Rizvi thanked the participants and the guests. A packed dinner was served at the end of the programme. The above photographs show highlights of the function.

Seerat-Un-Nabi Function

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Membership

The membership procedure has changed and become more in line with the use of electronic media and the use of computing.

We have now pro-duced an electronic membership form that can be complet-ed electronically and emailed to us auto-matically.

Or if you prefer...... Print, complete by hand and post to us.

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) held its 15th Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Sun-day 10th June, 2012 at the London Muslim Centre, London E1.

British Muslim Associa-tion of Merton (BMAM) is one of the affiliated local organisation which was represented at the AGM by Ibrahim Rizvi (General Secretary) as a Delegate. Abdul Latif

(Chair) and K. E Khan (Asstt. General Secre-tary) also attended the AGM.

A delicious packed lunch with light drinks was provided to all the guests.

15th AGM of MCBOn Thursday 14th June, 2012 PCSO Alec Burns of the Metropolitan Police - Merton Safer Trans-port Team gave a talk to the children at Morden Islamic Community Centre (MICC) on the safety and secu-rity issues of travel-ling on the London Transport network.

Over 100 young Muslim children, both boys and girls, attended the talk. A Question & An-swer session at the end proved very popular as numer-ous children raised hands to ask ques-tions of their con-cerns.

A short break for physical exercises, lead by PCSO Burns, became very lively.

Met Police talk at MICC

Source of Zamzam Water

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In 1982, when Zamzam water level unexpect-edly dropped during the hot month of Ramadan (1402H), I was working as Resident Engineer on the construction of adjacent Makkah Storm-wa-ter Drainage tunnels. One of these tunnels was alleged to have drained Zamzam water away. This tunnel was being excavated by blasting at a depth of about 30m below ground and was only 100m away from the Safa corner of Al-Haram mosque. Rumours were strife in the Holy City that de-watering of the Zamzam was a British con-spiracy, because these tunnels were designed and supervised by a British company. Both tun-nels were subsequently abandoned and back-filled.

History of ZamzamZamzam Well has dried a few times in the past. About 1500 years ago Abdul Muttaleb, the grand-father of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), had ser-viced the dried up Zamzam well by undertaking its deeper excavation.

Zamzam well has been in the service of mankind for over 4000 years. It marks the site of a spring that miraculously erupted under the tiny feet of baby Ismail, the eldest son of Prophet Ibrahim (pbuh) who had left his wife Hajera and their infant son in a barren and dry wadi. Hajera had to run 7 times between the nearby Saafa and Marwah hills in search of water. The area around Zamzam eventually grew into the trading city of Makkah, which later became the birthplace of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

Zamzam is a miracle of God, yet its mysterious source has always intrigued Muslims for genera-tions. From time to time people have wondered and asked what is the source of Zamzam?

Zamzam Water Source InvestigationAn American satellite LANDSAT-1 was used to take photographs of the area between Makkah, Taif and Al-Hejaz mountains to identify features which influence the flow of groundwater. These images revealed two major sets of rock joints which intersect each other.

These rock joints provide a huge sub-surface storage for percolating rain water and are re-sponsible for the groundwater flowing from the Taif mountains towards Makkah.

Wadi Ibrahim & Rainwater Re-chargeMost of the rain in the region occurs on the Al-

Hejaz mountains around Taif. Part of the rain-fall floods the mountain valleys such as Wadi Ibrahim or is absorbed in the valley base. The re-mainder of the rainwater enters the rock joints which act as the main source of groundwater around Makkah. A few high-intensity rainfalls on the mountains are sufficient to recharge the groundwater supply in the region. Al-Haram mosque is located across wadi Ibrahim.

Zamzam WellThe Zamzam well, located within the Al-Haram mosque, is 30.5m deep and was hand dug. Its in-ternal diameter ranges from 1.27m to 2.66m. The upper 13.0m of the well was dug through sand and gravel deposits and is lined with stone ma-sonry. The lower 17.5m of the well is unlined due to self supporting jointed granite rocks.

Submersible pumps are installed in the Zamzam well and water is pumped, stored and treated before distribution. Zamzam water quality is monitored regularly. Its chemical analysis re-sults (in mg/L) are as follows: Sodium 133, Calcium 96, Magnesium 38.88, Potassium 43.3, Bicarbonate 195.4, Chloride 163.3, Fluoride 0.72, Nitrate 124.8, Sulphate 124.0, Total Dissolved Solids 835, pH 8

Discharge Capacity of Zamzam WellZamzam well’s discharge capacity is one of the highest in the world. Tests have revealed its ca-pacity to be approximately 76 - 128 million gal-lons per year.

ConclusionsZamzam well receives its water supply partly from the wadi Ibrahim, but mainly from the Al-Hejaz Mountains around Taif. By the miracu-lous eruption of Zamzam, God Almighty has not only saved the life of Prophet Ismael (pbuh), but also unified the future generations of the Muslim Ummah.

While drinking Zamzam, Muslims recite the fol-lowing Dua, believing Zamzam water has some unique medicinal properties,

Zamzam Well Vertical Section

Zamzam water through rock joints

By: Abdul Latif BSc, MSc, CEng, MIMMM

“Please God, I Beg You To Grant Me Beneficial Knowledge, A Decent Living And Cure From All Known Diseases”

British Muslim

Association of M

erton

BMAMM BAn affiliate of

“Serving the Comm

unity in the London Borough of Merton”

Assalam-O-Alaikum,

I personally thank all the members and the Executive Committee of BMAM for electing me unani-mously as Chair of BMAM for the 2012 / 2014 term.

BMAM has been re-branded and has a new identity including a new Logo. A domain name www.bmam.org.uk has been registered upon which BMAM’s own website will be constructed. We will have links to Facebook, Twitter & Linkedin. We need to recruit young members and believe these Social media tools will attract a younger audience.

We intend to make BMAM events and functions more exciting and educational. We would encourage suggestions from the members which will be most welcome.

I also appeal to our sisters to participate in organising the BMAM functions. They will be most wel-come by our Vice-Chair Dr Tasneem Mohammadally and our EC Member Mrs Salma Hashmi.

There are a few vacancies on the BMAM Executive Committee. We would welcome volunteers to fill these positions. Please contact any member of the BMAM Executive Committee.

BMAM intends to publish its Newsletter at regular intervals. Members will be encouraged to contribute articles and advertise in the Newsletter. The first issue of BMAM’s quarterly Newsletter has now been issued and is with you to read, enjoy and comment.

Allah Hafiz,

Chairman’s Message

ADVERTISEMENTS DISCLAIMERBMAM does not accept responsibility for or endorse any products or services offered by the advertisers.

New Co-opted EC Members

Najeeb Latif

Najeeb is a Chartered Engineer. He obtained his BSc (Hons) degree in Civil & Architectural Engineer-ing from the University of Leeds.

He is a Director of a firm of consulting engineers. His hobby is professional photography which has now developed to a successful part-time business.

Usman Sheikh

Usman is a qualified Pharma-cist. He obtained his Masters of Pharmacy (Hons) degree from Kingston University & St Georges University (Uni-versity of London). Usman is a Pharmacist working with a leading firm of Healthcare & Pharmacy retailer.

His interests are travelling, bike riding, badminton and tennis

Two new members on the BMAM Executive Committee were unanimously co-opted at the Execu-tive Committee meeting held on 12th May, 2012. Their brief profiles are given below:

Charity No. 1126769 Page 4

Abdul Latif (Chairman)