Our Beautiful Dream And My Story

From Sis Shahida Dharamshi

In January 2020, my husband, Muslim Dharamshi, and I, together with my sister and her travelled on a Heritage trip to India. After our trip we went to visit the beautiful place of deceased grandparents who are buried in Maliya; a small village in Gujarat, (India).  It is also the birthplace of my mum and my husband’s parents.

From there, we went to Morbi, a small town about an hour from Maliya, where majority of the people of Maliya have moved to settle down for the community’s wellbeing and children’s education after a devastating earthquake that took place in 2001. Life is normal and the local merchants have their shops and work in Maliya. They work 7 days a week from morning to late evening just to barely survive for their daily bread and also to pay for the children’s education.

In Morbi, the people managed to build a small and a humble Islamic centre (Imambargha) consisting of gents and ladies’ halls.

During that time, there were about 30 families and approximately about 200 in total. We visited their centre and were warmly welcomed. The  people are very hospitable. Their hospitality was absolutely amazing. Once we got to know their religious needs, one of the leading members asked me to teach them Qur’an with correct recitation and grasping Tajweed rules together with basic Tafseer of Holy Qur’an as that was my passion to teach.

Upon my return back to Birmingham UK, I felt the peoples religious quest and needs and I travelled again in February 2020 just before the global lockdown during the covid pandemic.

I was extremely passionate to share my little knowledge with the community in Morbi.

There were colossal needs there as the community also needs our financial support and they at one point were really struggling during heat in summer time and they needed a fan for the Imambargha and as they were preparing for the holy month of Ramadan. Alhamdulilah I started my humble fundraising to help support the very basic essentials and we were so blessed to get donations from generous people and we collected a total of £5000.
We also bought 30 copies of Tafseer of the Holy Quran in Gujurati By Allama Haji Naji.

Fast forward my storylines and the many hurdles that I faced with resilience and having Trust in Allah swt we have been able to support the community since  the lockdown, and we have had online Qur’an classes with the women.

Alhamdullilah now the ladies and most of the community can recite with correct makharij. They are absolutely thriving for Islamic knowledge and they are very dedicated to learning.

During our trip in 2020 the community leaders showed us a place joining the Imambargha which was for sale. After many meetings and working on the logistics and discussing with many kind hearted people we felt the need of helping them build a Madressah. They told us if they can get this place it would help them build a Madressah, and a ghusal Kafan  and also rooms to facilitate Islamic classes. The cost of buying that place was approximately £50,000.

Alhamdullilah with support from Sayyed Musawi and Sister Darifa Mohammad we were able to raise funds through their registered UK charity called World Without Barriers under WABIL. We managed to collect £53,000 and bought the land. This was surreal and really couldn’t believe this was actually happening in reality. I felt this was only possible because of the tawfiq from Allah Swt and duas of Ahlulbayt and our  generous donors who actually participated in this noble endeavour.

I was absolutely thrilled to be part of this noble cause and to see the reality of a newly rebuilt large Imambargha inshaAllah that would be actualized soon. The community there  is expanding, and many from other small towns are coming to settle next to this new Imambargah once built inshaAllah.

Alhamdulilah with the support from Sayed Musawi and WABIL, we managed to collect donations for the newly built Imambargha.

We visited Morbi community again in January 2023. We also had a Qur’an competition held there.
My husband together with an Artitect, have also made a new plan for the new Imambargha
Inshallah waiting for approval.
We thank Allah swt and the holy pristine Ahlulbayt a.s.  for giving us this opportunity to be part of this Godly project. We cannot thank enough to our wonderful donors.

We pray for the world to advocate peace and social justice through the imminent faraj of our holy Imam Al Mahdi ajfs and may all those suffering be relieved through our active participation in helping those in need around the world.

May Allah swt bless us all and accept our humble efforts.

With sincere love and duas

Shahida Dharamshi

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