Greetings and Salutations to you all,

For those who are still wondering why this petition has been created. I would say, Firstly, go and read the entire constitution which is linked to in this petition. Then, decide who is right and who is wrong after you have read it. Before you do so, please refrain from passing judgements about something you have no knowledge of.

Secondly, we have received private messages/phone calls from various members of the community asking us why we went public with this information and why we did not address it directly with the trustees first,  before going public and "giving the masjid a bad name".

For the benefit of others who may be asking the same questions, below, I would like to outline some facts and a timeline addressing this question and clearing any doubt about the authenticity of this CIO constitution:

1) The trustees have been given several opportunities. We wrote 2 letters to them and also conveyed a verbal message asking them to meet with us to give them a chance to explain themselves, to clarify things and correct any misconceptions that we may have, before going public with this information. Sadly though, they have declined twice in writing to meet with us (evidence letters are in our possession signed by the chairman). In our last letter addressed to them, we made it clear that we would pursue every avenue to bring this matter to justice if they ignore or refuse to meet with us and they chose to to do so and ignore the warning given to them.

2) On 4/8/2018 we called for a public meeting inviting members of the community to reveal our knowledge of an imminent change initiated by the trustees via a solicitor and a new CIO constitution coupled with an application submitted to the Charity Commission all done in total secrecy and without any form of consultation with the community. The trustees did not attend this meeting despite their knowledge of it. However, they have sent some of their blind followers to disturb and cause trouble for us. At the meeting, the attendees elected 4 individuals to go and speak to the trustees and request them to attend a public meeting with us to discuss this issue.

3) The trustees have on 05/08/2018 called for a meeting (without inviting us) attended by about 50 people at the masjid and ACKNOWLEDGED and DECLARED publicly that they INDEED had written this new CIO constitution using a solicitor they have engaged and have applied for the charity to be changed to a CIO. But, they remained unapologetic and arrogant about it all. When asked why they kept it secret and did not consult the community before doing this, their answer was "Because you are sensitive and would have made noises", thereby insulting the entire community as being stupid and incapable of thinking for themselves or knowing what is in their best interest. Apparently only they know what is best for us all. This is arrogance like you have never seen before.

4) On 11/08/2018 a second meeting was held publicly inside the masjid again attended by about 50 people including us where we confronted them with the CIO constitution and read aloud many of its contentious clauses and expressed our disagreement with this constitution and the manner in which it was written in secrecy and without consultation or mandate from the community as well as the dangers that this constitution and its powers bring with it. They have once again, in front of the 50 witnesses inside the masjid accepted that it is TRUE and testified that they had written it in secrecy and without consultation, however this time, they tried to make silly excuses saying simply that they have downloaded and used a "template" from the Charity Commision and therefore the clauses within it are standard and cannot be changed. This is something which is untrue and illogical. The template is meant to be a guideline only. However, every organisation is different, and the constitution should be made unique and applicable to the specific organisation's needs. The constitution should also be fair, be able to hold the trustees accountable, be transparent, enable their removal if needed by the community. What they have written in this CIO constitution, however, is not any of that. To the contrary, they have given themselves powers that 3rd world dictators could only dream about.

5) Yesterday 14/09/2018, after the Friday prayers, the Chairman stood up using the microphone and the podium of the Masjid and told the hundreds of worshippers present, that the petition which is a summary of the CIO constitution they have written and which contains a link to the entire constitution for anyone to read, that it is "all lies" being spread by a few individuals who have no guts and he asked everyone to ignore it, not to sign it or reshare it. He has thereby completely contradicted the previous 2 statements they have made in public which has been witnessed by over 100 people admitting that they have indeed written this CIO constitution in secrecy and have applied to change the charity's status to become a CIO. How shameless can they be? And how low can they go one wonders?

6) It is on record that, we have not once said or written either in this petition or in anything else that we have written; that the trustees have stolen anything, we did not attack them in perso. We have merely attacked their position, their leadership and the actions that they have taken. We are entitled to do this and we are exercising our right as members of the community, as donors and founders of this charity. This does not mean that we are attacking the Masjid as they claim.

They, on the other hand, have attacked us, called us names, accused us of creating fitna, of dividing the community, destroying the masjid, have threatened us with legal action, have spread rumours about us and slandered us. May Allah forgive them. Despite all this, we remain steadfast in our resolve and have no intention of lowering our standard or integrity to their level.

7) The trustees have NO RIGHT to go behind the Community who have invested in and built the Masjid and continue to fund 100% of the expenses for its upkeep. They SHOULD have sought their approval first before making any big decision such as this and creating a new constitution. The community has the right to debate the change, read the constitution, verify the facts and agee/decline it as they see fit and in the best interest of the Masjid. These are the basics expected of leaders of any organisation and specifically, those of a Masjid.

8) The trustees CANNOT write a new constitution that is flawed, unfair to the community, gives the trustees dictatorial powers and is in their own interest more than the interest of the community.

9) The trustees have NO RIGHT to spend donation money given to the Masjid for its electricity, heating and upkeep and use it to pay for expensive solicitors (They use one of the biggest solicitor firms in town). It is also immoral to divert money donated for a cause and use it for something else without the consent of the donors. To the best of our knowledge, no donors have been specifically asked if they are giving their money to cover the cost of expensive solicitors.

10) There are countless charities that have ended up being in trouble due to this CIO legal framework that Al-Rawdha trustees are now pursuing. It gives too much power to the trustees and enables reckless and irresponsible actions to be made once awarded. Our majid has no debt and is owned outright by the community so why gamble with it? How did we function for 6.5 years without it so far and what are we really missing?

We don't need to take any loans, and there is no reason to pursue a CIO unless there are hidden agendas. Regardless of what the motives are, we are not willing to take that gamble with our Masjid. The sacrifices made by the community all these years to raise funds and buy the building that we now occupy cannot be risked that easily. Lessons should be learned from all the other masaajid and Islamic charities that got abused by this CIO framework and their reckless trustees. There should be checks and balances in place to protect the charities and prevent this from happening over and over again.

Please do your own research and read about the many charities that have lost properties and money due to reckless decisions made by their trustees after becoming a CIO. Below is just one example (But there are many more if you research well)

This case is for Al Hijra Trust, a Masjid, a school and a library in Birmingham that ended up having £2.2 million in debt to HSBC Bank  some/all of it with interest (riba) and then defaulted due to its trustees' mismanagement and then the community having to pick up the pieces after them.

They have now setup a new trust and a new set of trustees after 3 of the old trustees causing all this mess were removed by the Charity Commision and banned for life, and the others "resigning" on their own while still being investigated.

Read the statement released by the new trustees in March 2018 explaining the situation of the HSBC loan.

Also, read the statement of clarification released by the new trust.

Finally, I conclude by saying, brothers and sisters, we should learn from the past and learn lessons from the history. We simply cannot afford to gamble with our masjid, and we need to fight this to the end and stop/prevent the dangers that we can see are coming.

Please, do not be deceived. The Facts are in front of you. It is your choice after all, and you can decide against it. But rest assured, we will continue to fight what we feel is right to the end.

Thank you for your time and support.