This week’s London Mevlit programme features a special guest appearance from Imam Muhittin Aydın. The muezzin at Stoke Newington’s Aziziye Mosque will be reciting Koranic prayers alongside programme host Husayn Hashim El Bakayi, the UK’s most prominent Turkish Cypriot hoca (pastor) on Sunday, 17...
My name may not give it away, but I am in fact, a practicing Muslim. I accepted Islam in early 2018, and since then, I have visited mosques all over London. Plenty of these spaces are full of beauty, warmth and spiritual calm, but one of these in particular stands out. Shacklewell Lane Mosque, al...
Pope Francis has called on “believers of all faiths” to unite in a day of fasting, prayer and acts of charity on a single day during the holy month of Ramadan (Ramazan in Turkish), when Muslims fast from dawn to sunset. On Thursday, 14 May, the Pope wants the world to come together through the “u...
The month of Ramadan, or Ramazan in Turkish, has started. The holiest of months for Muslims, Ramazan commemorates the time when the Ku’ran was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammed. For the next thirty days, all healthy Muslims will fast during daylight hours. This means not eating or drinking a...
This weekend marks the start of the holiest month for Muslims worldwide. Ramadan, or Ramazan in Turkish, is the month when the Ku’ran was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammed. For the next thirty days, all healthy Muslims will fast during daylight hours. This means not eating or drinking anythi...
Şakir Alemdar, the Imam of Hala Sultan Tekke – one of the Islamic world’s holiest sites – has issued a short video clip in English urging Muslims to stay at home for Ramadan, which this year starts on Thursday evening, 23 April. Posting on his personal Facebook page, Imam Alemdar reflected on the...
Unfortunately, when it comes to losing people that we love, our emotions are usually uncontrollable for a long time afterwards. There is never a good time to lose the people we love most, but in this period of great uncertainty and fear, somehow the loss of a loved one seems more amplified becaus...
On Easter Sunday, the number of deaths from the coronavirus in Britain passed the 10,000 mark. The impact of this deadly disease has hit every corner of the country, and affected every community. Every day, hundreds of funerals are taking place for the deceased, which are being performed under se...
Updated, 16.52, 4 April 2020 Husayn Hashim El Bakayi – the UK’s foremost pastor (‘hoca’) for Turkish Cypriots – will be streaming a Mevlit (traditional prayers) to commemorate the 33 Turkish Cypriots who have lost their lives to the coronavirus. The hour-long Mevlit will be broadcast live from Shack...
Few of us want to talk about death much less plan for it, and yet its inevitability means at some point in our lives we are all likely to have to deal with the funeral arrangements for a loved one. For Muslims, the Islamic code requires a whole burial. However, the rising cost of buying a plot in...
