Jamatkhana and Institutional Updates

Prayer and devotion, when practiced with true intention and trust in the Divine can become powerful devices that carry us through life’s toughest challenges. As the Holy Qur’an tells us, trials and tribulations, calamities and challenges, play an important role in our spiritual development. Very often, times of crisis unveil to us our limitations as human beings. They can bring us to our knees, compelling us to recognise our humility before Divine Majesty. Prayer ultimately is a way of communing with the Divine. Devotion can lift us out of the smallness of our individual battles and daily struggles, towards a recognition of the bonds that unite us as humankind. In this way, we rekindle our sacred connection with the Divine and also open doorways for connecting with each other. Understanding that everything in the universe exists within the realm of the Divine, allows us to perceive the sacred interconnectedness of humanity. As we experience this limitless domain of the spirit, we open ourselves up to receive the grace and mercy that connects us all to Allah’s Majesty. Through faith, we can arrive at the perception of a singular humanity and know that when united, we are majestic and can withstand any calamity.

Universal Credit
If your finances have been impacted due to reduced hours, loss of your job or requested to take furlough leave due to Covid-19 you may be entitled to claim Universal Credit.

Those already claiming and anyone who is impacted by Covid19 can get additional information about the changes and support available via the GOV.UK website here.

For more information please refer to the Guide to Universal Credit document or under the Resources section on the IIUK App or call a member of the Welfare Benefits team whose contact details can be found in the Directory of Institutions http://www.iiuk.org or via the IIUK App.

Daily Routine
Developing a daily routine will help us to feel a sense of control and make room in our lives for all that is important. It creates a certainty of the now, the present. Routine can help us ensure we maintain good mental health. It can help us to cope with change, to form healthy habits and to reduce our stress levels.

A routine gets stored in our habit brain so our executive brain can work and focus our energy on positive aspects of our lives e.g. our relationships or planning our activities.

Set a daily routine for yourself that encompasses ways to nurture your mind, body and spirit.

School Meals
If you qualify for benefits-related free school meals, the government has provided guidance to schools on how to continue to provide parents this support.

The first step is to have a conversation with your school to see what they are doing to address this issue. Potentially if they are open for certain groups it may mean that they have an in-house caterer or an alternative provider. If they are not open, the Department of Education has been in touch with schools and has agreed to a centrally-funded national voucher scheme that could be extended to a supermarket voucher. It is important to find out what approach your child’s school is taking. Details on what the government is offering can be found here.

The Aga Khan Economic Planning Board continues to provide support to the Jamat, please reach out to us via the crisis hotline. To catch our weekly podcast, Wise Wallets, click here.

The Institute of Ismaili Studies Publications
We are happy to inform the Jamat of the launch of a selection of IIS Publications as eBooks on IIS website https://iis.ac.uk/publications/eBooks. These books are available free of charge and can be downloaded for personal and educational purposes. Please share the link with others who are interested in IIS Publications. IIS will be expanding the eBooks collection in the coming months. We hope that this venture into digital spheres will strengthen the ethos of sharing knowledge. For any questions related to downloads please contact communications@iis.ac.uk

ITREB Thought of the Day: #FridayFaith
Did you know that the Qur’an enjoins humankind to be custodians of the earth, and holds us accountable for the state of the environment in which we live? In fact, the ethics of Islam encourage us to harness our intellect and creativity to come together as a single community, under a shared banner of responsibility, to care for Allah’s creation. Imagine what we could achieve working together to overcome our challenges, rather than facing them separately? Perhaps a silver lining of our current times lies in the fact that it has compelled us to come together, to realise that whatever we face, we are all in this together.