Are our Belfast Islamic Centre (BIC) Trustees & Executive Committee (EC) doing what’s best for our community? Do you feel that they represent you as leaders for the Muslim Community?

Noted below are some of the major decisions and actions that have been taken which have had and will have major harmful implications on our Muslim community;

1.       BIC Trustees have been given the sole authority to exclusively sell all assets of BIC without consulting the community. This change occurred in an unconstitutional special general meeting with invalid quorum (only 11 attendees who were BIC trustees, EC and only ONE member from the community) and unconstitutional backward projected minutes. Now, we as a Muslim community have no power to determine the fate of the assets and we are excluded from the decision-making process completely.  

2.       The BIC trustees sold 2 BIC revenue generating assets recently. This has led to the loss of the income used for BIC’s running costs. Now, the BIC leaders are announcing that BIC is in poverty to the extent that BIC does not have enough money to pay for electricity or gas bills.

3.       The financial crisis that the BIC Trustees & EC have put the BIC in, has led them to terminate the part-time Imam. The Imam is the only official Imam working in BIC leaving the Muslim community with no official religious representative in Northern Ireland.

4.       BIC EC & Trustees took the decision to increase the membership registration fee six-fold in an attempt to raise more money from the community. This decision has also placed hardship on a big segment of our community restricting them for being able to become members thus making them ineligible for voting in BIC.

5.       The decision to take and accept an interest-bearing loan in order to facilitate the financial requirements of the Department of Community in funding the new building project. The interest fee period for this loan ends in March 2022 and this loan has not been paid back yet. This will cause the community to spiral into debt for many years to come.

6.       The EC and Trustees have decided to continue with the new building project despite the costs spiralling out of control which is now in the region of £1.8million in order to complete. The community are expected to fund and provide the maintenance fund for the building for years to come but are left out of the decision-making process.

7.       The EC and trustees acted both unprofessionally and unjustly at the last special general meeting by allowing only their supporters to speak up freely while turning off the microphones of those who challenged their decisions and actions. This form of retaliation against those that spoke out against the BIC EC & Trustees decisions has also been seen in the 2021 election.

8.       Many of the decisions mentioned above and more are conducted in secret with little to no communication to the wider Muslim community.

Do you think that the actions and decisions taken by the BIC Trustees and EC represent the best interests of the Muslim community in Belfast and Northern Ireland?

To support a change, please sign this petition to demonstrate your dissatisfaction of how the BIC is currently run.