About Us
Light of Hira (CIO) has been established aiming to serve our communities in the following manners:
- Offer help, support and guidance to New Muslims to cater for their religious, spiritual, mental, physical and social needs.
- Create awareness of Islam’s historical tolerance towards other faiths and in particular to new Muslims, whilst working for reconciliation, truth telling and peace.
- Offer support to family members of New Muslims to understand and address apprehensions regarding their conversion, aimed at fostering family reconciliation and harmony.
- Offer guidance to New Muslims on how to adapt to an Islamic environment within society.
- Develop, provide and distribute authentic Islamic educational material to cater for the needs of people interested in Islam and New Muslims, including provision of religious material via the internet.
- Organize activities which foster religious communication to dispel misguidance, misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the true Islamic teachings amongst New Muslims and those interested in Islam.
- Revive the Islamic concept of Charity and duty of care of the Muslims towards their Neighbours in the UK regardless of faith or background, e.g. in the form of Food Bank to support the homeless and/or including outreach work.
- Offer financial relief and support to New Muslims who are disadvantaged by their social problems and need to stand on their feet as responsible, law-abiding individuals of society.
- Assist New Muslims to ensure they remain within mainstream Islam and don’t fall victims to a minority of groups that misrepresent and distort Islam for their own ends.
- Providing or supporting schools and educational establishments, including theological training colleges, which provide education in accordance with the principles and practices of the religion; as well as supporting other charities with purposes similar to ours.
Our Mentor & Spiritual Guide
Light of Hira is mentored by the founder of the Islamic Da‘wah Academy (IDA), Shaykhul-Ḥadīth, Ḥaḍrat Mawlānā Muhammad Saleem Dhorat dāmat barakātuhum and runs under his supervision. We are deeply indebted to the respected Shaykh, as it is through his du‘ās and support that Light of Hira initiated and continued its progress till today.
Deriving maximum benefit from the Shaykh’s spiritual teachings
We take the opportunity to invite everyone to maximise their benefit from the respected Shaykh and from the Islamic Da‘wah Academy by participating in person or online in the following programmes:
Tuesday Dars of Hadīth: A short gathering in English aimed primarily at a young audience. Relevant topics are discussed with a view to increase Islamic awareness and social responsibility.
Friday Tazkiyah Gathering: This gathering focuses on spiritual rectification and is extremely popular, attracting brothers from many places outside Leicester.
Sunday Dars of Qur’ān: The respected Shaykh’s discourses on the lessons and messages found in the Glorious Qur’ān are definitely not to be missed. It is a gathering which proves beneficial for the layman as much as it does for the students and scholars of Dīn.
Monthly Tazkiyah & Tarbiyah Programme: This gathering is held on the first Saturday of each month. Many people from all over the country attend for the purpose of self-rectification and spiritual development. Various activities take place along with talks. The most respected Shaykh Mawlānā Muhammad Saleem Dhorat dāmat barakātuhum also addresses the gathering with his words of wisdom.
Bimonthly Programmes: In its effort to serve the needs of the wider Muslims community, the IDA organises numerous bimonthly programmes throughout the country. Qualified `ulamā from the IDA address these gatherings.
Annual Youth Conference: The Annual Youth Conference was initiated to help spread the teachings of Islam on a national scale. The conference has grown from strength to strength, attracting people from all over the UK. Lectures focus on the need to become better Muslims and therefore better citizens and members of society.
Preparatory Course for Hajj: A five-day course which covers the essential rites of Hajj and is accompanied by a daily question and answer session. A two-day abridged version of the course in English is also organised every year.
Annual Completion Programmes: These are programmes where students complete their academic course. It is a perfect chance for everyone to witness a glimpse of the knowledge and blessings of our Dīn. One programme is for the completion of the Qur’ān and another one is for the completion of Ṣaḥīḥul-Bukhārī, both very auspicious gatherings perked with the company and advices of the respected Shaykh.
Those lectures which are imparted in the Urdu language are always accompanied with a simultaneous English translation enabling a wider audience to benefit.
Many other activities and events take place throughout the year at the Islamic Da‘wah Academy. Stay up-to-date by visiting its website www.idauk.org and also benefit from the lectures and writing of the respected Shaykh online by visiting www.at-tazkiyah.com .
Our Gratitude, Commitment and Responsibility
We learn from the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) that the condition of Muslims will deteriorate as we get closer to the Day of Judgement. The moral decay of the Ummah (Muslim world) will decrease before it gets better. For any worldly organisation it is important to have an experienced patron who can provide guidance and direction to it. Similarly for any Islamic organisation it is equally important and probably more so, to have not only an experienced faith community leader but also to be a God-fearing one, whose guidance will be pivotal in striving with sincerity to attain success in the Hereafter and Divine Pleasure.
Shaykhul-Ḥadīth, Ḥaḍrat Mawlānā Muhammad Saleem Dhorat dāmat barakātuhum is a leading figure of the Islamic world. He is a luminary gifted with Islamic knowledge i.e., he is a Shaykhul-Ḥadīth – a teacher of the Prophetic traditions. The respected Shaykh is also a Mujaddid of this era in this part of the world, a revivalist of the Islamic teachings to the Ummah. He is also a Muṣliḥ, a spiritual guide and reformer. And he is an extremely approachable, humble, down-to-earth community leader, especially of the English-speaking youth. The honourable Shaykh personifies moral integrity and law-abiding principles in all spheres of life. It is for these reasons that we consider that to be associated to this luminary is a great blessing for Light of Hira.
We are extremely grateful to the respected Shaykh for being our mentor and it is truly a great honour and source of blessings for this organisation. We have committed ourselves to strive in following the spiritual principles and moral ethos (manshā) of the Shaykh. Nevertheless, despite striving to operate according to the spiritual guidelines of our mentor, we are at the end of the day human Trustees of this organisation. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify that if there were any errors this organisation was to make, these should be ascribed to ourselves only, as we would have acted according to our own misjudgement or misinterpretation of the respected Shaykh’s guidance. If there were to be faults on our part, as individuals or as an organisation, these should not be attributed to and neither be considered a reflection of the selfless personality of our mentor, nor the IDA’s pristine and beautiful Islamic teachings. The community service of the latter two has been free of worldly gain and fame; rather it has been characterised by the eagerness to serve the Muslims and the world at large for its betterment. We beseech Allāh Ta`ālā that we never become a means of tarnishing the reputable image of our mentor and neither the IDA. We want to honour the confidence placed on us.
We pray to Allāh Ta`ālā for sincerity in our religious efforts and activities. I seek forgiveness from Allāh Ta`ālā for our shortcomings and we pray to Him for His guidance and acceptance of our work and make it a means of salvation for us all in the Hereafter. Āmīn.
Our Activities Report is downloadable via the button below.