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Bringing Baraka to Britain: The Faizan-e Madinas of Da´wat-e Islami

Fieldwork in the UK – May 2008

Thomas Gugler

The Faizan-e Madina in Accrington is the Head Office of the Pakistani-Islamic Missionary Movement Da´wat-e Islami in Europe. The facilities of Faizan-e Madina include Madrassah-tul-Madina. Channeling religious education is an essential part of providing religious services, especially in a Non-Muslim country. The building has served as a church for reborn Christians before.

Security became neccessary at the Faizan-e Madina in Accrington after local Pakistanis began destroying the fence to come to a near-by snooker club, using the entrance of the mosque not to be seen in public entering a “haram” place, but pretending to visit the mosque.

The Faizan-e Madina in Bradford was inaugurated in 2000 and was the main centre of Da´wat-e Islami in Europe until 2006.

After the weekly ijtema´ program, Muslims are invited to register for missionary tours to deepen their understanding of ´ibadat and to teach others.

In Birmingham the Faizan-e Madina is also called Maktaba-tul-Madina, as the book-shop faces the street. The entrance on the back side is marked by a green flag.

The Birmingham ijtema´ is celebrated on Thursday evenings, after which some of the youngsters sleep in the mosque. The audio-file gives an impression about the different essential parts of the congregation.

Ijtema

The central parts of the congregation are na´t, i.e. praising the beloved Prophet Muhammad Mustafa in poetry, dars, reading from publications by Ilyas Qadri ´Attar, or bayan, a speech given by an Islamic scholar, then collective and loud zikr, remembrance of Allah, and du´a, prayer.