Milton Keynes Islamic & Cultural Association (MKICA) or Masjid Al - Rawdha as we are better known as, is a truly grassroots organisation that came into being in 2001 to meet the needs of the growing Muslim community in Milton Keynes, UK. We gained a registered charity status in 2008 with charity number 1126949 and from there on, we have gone from strength to strength.

The entire community pooled their money and jewelry together with the aim of acquiring a suitable building and making it a Masjid for the benefit for the community.

By the grace of God and with the help of thousands of our Muslim brothers and sisters in the UK and abroad, we raised enough money to purchase an office block in the city centre in 2012 then soon after obtained a planning permission from the council to convert it into a Masjid and a community centre. It was a remarkable achievement and a joyous moment for all involved.

Things where not always perfect in terms of the services offered at the centre and the progress made so far, but we remained optimistic that things would improve soon.

Unfortunately though, members of the community have recently discovered very sad chain of events that culminated in upsetting many members and caused a great deal of  concern regarding the masjid and its future.

The trustees/management team (they are one and the same) who were entrusted with running the affairs of the masjid on behalf of the community, have in total secrecy and without any consultation or approval from the community, initiated via a solicitor a formal process to change the legal structure of the charity. They have written in secrecy a new and totally unjust and unislamic governing document (constitution) that is not worthy of a Masjid. If this change succeeds, it will put our masjid and its assets at a great deal of risk so it must not be allowed to happen.

The trustees want to convert the current unincorporated charity that has served us well for 6.5 years into a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) which is a form of a legal entity suitable to certain organisations who may handle large amounts of money and want to protect their trustees and management against liability. However, this is not suitable for our own charity or our needs. This new form of legal structure brings with it a whole host of risks that the community cannot afford to take for the sake of protecting the trustees alone. The interest of the Masjid and the Community is far greater than that of any trustees.

As per the new constitution, the trustees have the powers to do what they want with the chairty, without accountability to anyone. They have given themselves exessive rights and benefits, including the rights to select and appoint trustees alone. No one else will have the power to remove, replace or add new trustees, only the current 6 trustees have this power alone.

They have stripped the entire community who have invested heavily in creating the charity, and to date, make 100% of the donations for its regular upkeep and maintenance taking away their basic right to vote and have a say in who will run the Charity and be a trustee.

Among other things, the new constitution contains the following clauses. The trustees can:

• Buy, sell, lease, exchange, or hire Masjid’s property
• Hold investments or Masjid property in the name of a Nominee
• Borrow money using Masjid assets as security for repayment
• Be reimbursed from the Masjid property / funds
• Deposit or invest funds, employ a professional fund-manager, and arrange for the investments or other properties of the CIO to be held in the name of a nominee.
• Benefit trustees from indemnity insurance purchased by the Masjid
• Only the current 6 trustees can remove, replace or appoint new trustees. No one else can as everyone else is a non-voting member at best. This means the trustees can remain in control forever if they so wish and no one can remove them.

Furthermore:

• Trustee or a connected person may receive benefits from the Masjid (See below for an explanation of who a connected person can be as defined in the new constitution)
• Trustee or a connected person may be employed by the Masjid to teach, provide religious instructions/services, guidance etc.
• Trustee or a connected person may provide goods & services to the Masjid
• Trustee or a connected person may receive rent for premises let by them to the Masjid
• Trustees can wind up or dissolve the Charity, or transfer its business to another charity.

The new constitution explains the meaning of a connected person as follows: A "Connected person" means: (i) a child, parent, grandchild, grandparent, brother or sister, spouse or partner of a trustee; (ii) a person in business partnership with a trustee or connected person; (iii) an institution controlled by a trustee or any connected person".

If the Charity is wound up (bankrupt), each member of the trustees is liable to contribute no more than £10 for payment of Masjid’s debts and liabilities. Talk about putting their self-interest above all.

The full constitution can be downloaded from here and we urge everyone to download and read its entirety to get a clear understanding of it.

Finally, we find this action by the trustees totally unacceptable and not worthy of an action expected of trustees of an Islamic charity, a Masjid in particular. We feel that it is a betrayal of trust and a gross misconduct and we therefore request the Charity Commision to:

1. Immediately reject and decline the pending CIO application.
2. Conduct a thorough investigation into the charity to ensure that no other malpractice, mismanagement or misconduct has taken place.
3. Eject and disqualify all 6 trustees who have betrayed the trust instilled in them and who initiated this unjust action on the charity and its community.
4. Ensure that the affairs of the charity is brought back to the community to choose more worthy trustees who are open, transparent and accountable to them.