27th August 2006 saw the conclusion of a very memorable 10 day Bab-ul-ilm 3 Iran 2006 summer course. The objective of the course was not only to give 23 young adults from the ages of 14-17 years an opportunity to attend structured lectures, but for many it was the opportunity to visit the holy cities of Qom and Mashad for the first time.

Having arrived in the Holy City of Qom, in the early hours of Friday, one of the first experiences the children had was to attend the Salaat-e-Jamaat at the Musallah-e-Quds, usually attended by over 3,000 shias, and feedback received from the children revealed this was a truly overwhelming and powerful experience, because not only did they recite salaat with over 3,000 Muslims, but for the first time they were reciting salaat with over 3,000 followers of the Ahl-ul-Bayt. The Friday also saw the official opening ceremony of the Bab-ul-ilm 2006 course.

The course duration was over a period of 9 days, 5 days in the Holy City of Qom, and the remaining 4 days in the Holy City of Mashad. Our time in Qom was split between structured lessons in the morning presented by Sheikh Shomali (Akhlaq and the soul), Sheikh Nadir Jaffer (Secrets of Salat), Sheikh Abbas Jaffer (The Quran’s message to the youth) and Brother Abbas Merali (The effects of evil) and spiritual, cultural, educational and recreational trips in the afternoon and the evenings.

The trips varied from the spiritually charged Tuesday evening at Jamkarran, to the question and answer session with Ayatollah Sistanis representative Agha Hashimi, to a fleeting trip to Ansariyan Bookshop, to a special audience with Syed Mujtaba Musavi Lari, to the awe inspiring climb of the Mountain of Khidr, to the refreshing swim at the Olympic size swimming pool, to the cleansing experience of cupping, to the reflective visit of Bayt-e-Noor (the home that Bibi Masooma stayed during her final days in Qom) and to cap it all of, the daily visits to the beautiful and peaceful Haram of Bibi Masooma (SA).

After an emotional farewell to Bibi Masooma on (SA), we safely landed in Mashad for the second leg of our trip. Once again the journey to this holy land lived up to its expectations. Many of us will never forget the first site of the beautifully lit up golden dome as we made our way from the airport to our apartment in Mashad.

Many of us will also never forget the memories of the beautiful communal recitation of Dua-Qumayl, the visit to the museum of Imam Radha (where 1/50th of the gifts presented to the Imam are available to view), the scenic journey to Nayshabur, the early morning prayer of Layl at the Haram and most of all the private Ziyarat time we had with the Imam.

As they say, 'all good things come to an end!' and after a life changing 10 day journey we all arrived safely back in London on Sunday 27th August.

All 33 Madressa Students score A grades in their GCSE Religious Studies exams

As the key objective of the Madressa is to improve the knowledge and understanding of our Madhhab in our young boys and girls, the Madressa embarked upon the project of teaching Islamic Studies at GCSC level, offered by an English examination board, Edexcel . The curriculum offers a fairly balanced between the main madhahib of Islam. In addition the syllabus offered a golden opportunity to rationalise our
young boys’ and girls’ minds in being able to objectively think through articles of their faith and practices to a non Muslim audience.

Aside from sections which looked at the differences in belief between the two major sects, the syllabus is broadly accommodative to both and assurances from examiners that a Shia student attempting to sit the papers and answering the questions in keeping with his own articles of faith can score up to 103% (as extra marks were awarded for punctuation, spelling and grammar).

This is the second year that the Madressa is offering classes to students in years 10 and 11 at their secondary schools (Madressa classes 12 and 13) the opportunity to be taught the curriculum for two units which when combined account for one GCSE grade. This year a total of 18 boys and 15 girls sat the exam having been taught the
syllabus at the Madressa.

Students broadly sit the two papers in consecutive years but some sat both this year. The first unit concentrates on articles of faith and practice and is generally viewed as the easier papers for our students who are broadly familiar with most of the subject material from their Madressa studies. The second unit taught in the second year at the Madressa looks at the application of the beliefs and practices in
modern British society. This does require much more contextualizing for the candidate and enabled them to explore how as Muslims they are able to contribute positively to the local society over and above performing the obligatory acts of ritual worship.

As a teacher, the skills that one tries to nurture are looking at what the question is asking and applying relevant material whilst working under time constraint. The longer questions required two separate concepts to be analysed in the way they interact with each other, for example the belief in Tawheed and the practice of Hajj.

The students by the end felt much more confident in their own understanding of their religion and will, Insha-Allah, be more capable at practicing their faith in daily lives and articulating their beliefs both to other Muslims, people of other faiths and
people of no faith. After all, that is the make up of the external examiners employed by the examination board to mark the candidate's responses.

This also nurtures an invaluable sense of security in the individual leaving them better to propagate their faith.

Our experiences in getting students registered to sit the exams at the schools they attend were also quite informative of the school's attitude. Some schools unequivocally refused to allow their students to sit the paper at the school. We hope the achievement of the students this year will be sufficient to persuade the schools to respond differently if and when they are approached again having seen the advantage of a student with an extra curricular grade and having the assurance of the Madressa's ability to adequately coach the students in the subject.

The Madressa is grateful to the Islamic Education Board of the World Federation for facilitating a meeting with the chief examiner in the subject at the examination board for Madaris across the UK who can now co-operate in their efforts at teaching the subject. The Madressa is also grateful to the IEB for working with Tabassumbai Bachoo, who is an accredited examiner for the subject, in putting forth a set of
comprehensive notes for both units. Tabassumbai followed this by coaching the students in exam technique and marking and analysing the candidates' attempts at a mock paper.

Alhamdulillah the results were astounding with every candidate scoring at least an A grade with the majority scoring A*s. For many students this was the first experience of sitting an exam at national level and the confidence boost of getting the top grade can only help them for the remainder of the subjects that they attempt next year.

The whole process of studying for the exams and the resulting outcome is consisted with the intention of seeking the divine pleasure even if the candidate sits the exam to add another grade to the subjects that they sit as part of the school curriculum. This will assist them in their higher education and ultimately their marketability in the competitive employment market. At the deeper level having rationalised the articles of their faith and their religious practices before a non-Muslim audience in a controlled environment they will Insha-Allah be better equipped for their undergraduate days and as Muslims living in the West.

AL-MAHDI SPECIAL ORGANISATION NEEDS

As part of the services offered at Shia Ithna-Asheri Madressa, we find the Special Needs class.

The class was formed in 1988, which catered for children with hearing disabilities and all children with special needs. The main language was English, but the mode of communication was lip-reading and British Sign Language (BSL). Alhamdullillah, this class is still caring on till today.

In 1990, the first Ziarat trip to Iraq and Kerbala was organised. The second trip was organised to Iran and Damascus in 1992.

In 1994 on the Wiladat of our 12^th Imam (a.s.), ‘Al-Mahdi Deaf Organisation’ was formed.

In 1996, the first Hajj trip for the Deaf was organised.

In 2000 on the Wiladat of 12^th Imam (a.s.), the name was changed to ‘Al-Mahdi Special Needs Organisation’ to cater for the needs of all the disabled people.

Every year when Muharram came round, members of our community with hearing disability used to attend majlis in a home environment, where the message of Imam Hussain (as) would be interpreted. Alhamdullillah this carried on for many years and the number of azadar’s of Imam Hussain (as) using the service, not only from our community, increased. Subsequently in the year 2000 it was decided to have interpreted majlises in the Mosque.

The need for these services is today drawing more attention in our community. Sunday 21st April 2006, saw the beginning of the first ever nationwide disabilities project, the launch of which took place at a consultation event held at the Hujjat Imambarah, Stanmore, London, UK, namely the COEJ HIB disabilities project.

One of the main outcome of this event was that, unfortunately, the lack of awareness within the community has left many children, youth, adults, parents and elders isolated and excluded from our community and more needs to be done to address this. Other areas of concern included:

1. Poor access to Jamaat facilities resulting from non functional loop systems, lack of ramps for wheelchair users and narrow doors
2. Lack of support from the community
3. Limited access to Islamic information due to resources unavailable in accessible formats such as Braille, large print, audio etc and the lack of facilities for sign language users to receive information about events and activities
4. Lack of representation at executive level within community structures on a local, national and international level
5. Lack of subtitles for members of community with hearing disability, to be able to understand majalis, if and when there is no interpreter to translate.