MyAdhan Blog

Our brothers and sisters in Gaza need our help and support with the current onslaught from the Israeli armies. Some of the more well know charities in the UK are doing some fantastic work to get aid to people who are in dire need.

MyAdhan has helped raise funds for Gaza using it’s text2donate service on a number of live appeals on Channel S and IslamChannel. MyAdhan has helped raise over £250,000 for the following charities:

• Islamic Relief
• Muslim Aid
• Islamic Aid

Please donate whatever you can to these charities directly from these charities websites. It is our duty to support our brothers and sisters who need our help. Allah will ask us what we did with our time and wealth with no exception and we will also be asked what we did to help Gaza. What will your answer be?

Way back in March 2007 we hit a major milestone by sending over 500,000 prayer and fasting times and for beginning of 1403/2009 we just passed 700,000 prayer and fasting times. We’d like to thank our customers, partners ansd sponsors for their support in reaching such an amazing goal.

We hope that with some of our new services options we can surpass the 1 million mark this year Inshallah.

A massive Hajj Mubarak to all who have completed their Hajj and a big Eid Mubarak for Eid al-Adha to all Muslims. MyAdhan hopes Muslims can gain the wonderful blessings of this day. MyAdhan would also like to thank its partners, subscribers and users for their continued support.

For all those yet to complete Hajj why not make an intention to go in 2009? If you waht to know more about Hajj and Ummrah read the details below on winning a FREE Pocket Hajj and Umrah Guide.

In celebration of Hajj we are giving away 50 FREE Pocket Hajj and Umrah Guide Books to the first people who text there name and address to 60066, making sure you start your text message with the word MYADHAN e.g. “MYADHAN Imran Iqbal, 40 Wordsworth Drive, East Didsbury, Birmingham, B1 2GF“.

The competition will be open to UK residents only and can only be entered by text message. Standard network sending charges apply. All winners will be posted the booklet directly. No response means that you’ve been unsuccessful. All winners will be announced by 1st February 2009. Good luck.

It’s amazing how Ramadhan comes and goes these days. It seems to be getting quicker, well as they say Allah is reducing the “barakah of time”. Let’s try to keep the Ramadhan spriit alive within us throughout the year, Inshallah.

Ramadhan is a busy time for MyAdhan, we hope that Ramadhan 2009 is bigger and Inshallah better. This is now our third Ramadhan and we hope that we can continue to innovate and provide exciting services to Muslims in the UK and the world.

Please feel free to send us any comments, we really do value feedback as it is the only way we can improve our services and make our company excel and reach new goals.

Until next time…

Salaam and Eid Mubarak! Which ever day you’ve chosen! Once again the world is plunged in to confusion regarding when to do Eid. Let’s not get too hung up on the negative and focus on the positive as there are many more issues to fix in the world which have greater importance.

On a lighter note, here is an “Eid take” on a classic email that get floated around. Feel free to add your 2 cents worth in the comments.

You know it’s Eid when…

• Your more senior relatives call “back home” for an Eid chit chat which ends up lasting the whole day and costing more than the price of a flight home.
• You’ve gone to a friend or relative’s house to wish them Eid Mubarak and they are actually at your house looking for you.
• Your kids go to school and tell their teacher that after a Month of Fasting in Ramadhan it is the “Day of Eat” and you tell them it’s actually “Eat Al Fritters”.
• You get to the Mosque late for the first Eid Salaat and miss the beginning of the Kuthba and have to get the next Jamaat. Dohh! (Eid Salaat has the Kuthba at the start and prayer at the end).
• You sleep in and forget to set your alarm and have to go to the last (graveyard) Jamaat at 11am, Double Dohh!
• The person next to you in Eid Salat has put too much Itar (perfume) on.
• You forget to iron you Eid clothes the night before the early start.
• You get 1001 SMS text messages of Eid Mubarak (some which are well crafted and obviously copied from somewhere).
• Your Shalwar doesn’t have a “izar-bund” and you have to use elastic (one for the Pakistani’s).
• You wake up for the time of Sahoor by accident and go back to bed (until fajr hopefully).
• You forget the format of Eid Salaat and watch the person next to you (2 Rakats, 6 Takbeers).
• You eat way too much for lunch and end up needing a nap in the afternoon.
• You forget to give Fitrana before your Eid Salat.
• There are no more Taraweeh Prayers (obvious).
• You have to carry a lot of £5/$5 notes to give “hard cash” by younger relatives.
• You get force-fed food from “big round” cheek pinching Aunties.
• Muslims never decide to do Eid on the same day (I have a dream..).
• Someone in some remote Muslim country decides they have seen the moon even though it’s not technically possible.
• Your mum cooks too much food thinking that you have the same size stomach as before Ramadhan (be warned, don’t waste food as you’ve just fasted for 30ish days).
• Although it’s Eid someone it still fasting.
• Some Muslim youth decide to embarress the Muslim community by driving up and down major high streets hanging out of car windows and playing loud music (this is not the way to celebrate Eid).
• The Baklava/Jalaibees and are in full flow.

Eid Mubarak!

Look out for MyAdhan on the back cover of the the Muslim Weekly Newspaper for the next couple of weeks.

Did you see the other publications MyAdhan has been advertised in this Ramadhan?

It’s been a tough call to decide where to advertise this year and as you may have guested our focus was to try TV instead of print media. It’s really good to experiment and we hope in the coming months we can work on a few more imaginative campaigns.

IslamChannel is launching its Model Mosque 2008 show to find the best Mosque in the United Kingdom. Each week two Mosques will battle it out and qualify for each heat which will lead to a two mosque final at the final at the Global Peace and Unity 2008.

MyAdhan will provide the SMS text message voting platform to allow viewers the ability to vote for their Mosque to help progress it to the final.

“Model Mosque is a national competition to find the best mosque in the UK. The ultimate aims of the show are to improve standards within UK mosques and to share best practice amongst mosques. The show has nothing to do with the size, layout or architecture of a mosque. It has everything to do with the services the mosque provides for its local community and how well the mosque manages relations with the local host community”.
IslamChannel Model Mosque Website

MyAdhan is also powering the SMS text voting for the National Qir’aat Competition which will also hold it’s finals at Global Peace and Unity 2008. The competition is now in it’s third year and has gained popular status amongst younger viewers who aspire to read the Quran like some of the contestants.

The National Qiraat Competition is a competition on Islam Channel where viewers under the age of 16 are encouraged to recite their favorite verses of the Quran which is judged by a panel of Imam’s. The Imams score on Tarteel, Tajweed and knowledge of the Quran. The season starts with general phone callers and then on to studio recitation, leading to the final at the Global Peace and Unity Event.

Here is an Islam Channel recording of the runner up of NQC 2007 Nusaiba Mohammed:

Okay so Ramadhan hasn’t gone the way you expected and you wish you’d done more to take advantage of this special month. You may have even let yourself and others down. Do not beat yourself up too much, Ramadhan isn’t over until it’s over. You have the next 10 days to make it count and give it your all.

Laylatul Qadr (the Night of Power) is described in the Quran as, “better than a thousand months” (97:3). Any action done on this night such as reciting the Quran, remembering Allah, etc. is better than acting for one thousand months which do not contain the night of Qadr.

Allah’s Messenger used to exert himself in devotion during the last ten nights to a greater extent than at any other time. (Muslim). Allah’s peace and blessings be upon our beloved Prophet.

Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, related that the Prophet said: Look for Laylatul Qadr on an odd-numbered night during the last ten nights of Ramadan (Bukhari).

The Prophet said: “Whoever prays during the night of Qadr with faith and hoping for its reward will have all of his previous sins forgiven.” (Bukhari and Muslim recorded from Abu Huraira).

Here are some tips to make the most of the last 10 days of Ramadhan:

1. Take a vacation for Allah
   We take a break from our jobs for almost everything in life. Why not this time to focus on worshiping and thanking our Creator. If this is not possible at least take a few days off if you can. This can make it easier to stay awake at night to do extra Ibadah, not having to worry about getting to work the next day. It will also facilitate doing Itikaf.
2. Give, give, give
   Good deeds are normally rewarded tenfold, in Ramadhan this is multiplied by seventy or more. What better time to make an investment in the “real bank account” that will benefit. No investment on this Earth will ever give such returns. Make time to give Zakat, Sadqah, Lillah all for the sake of Allah. Giving also means giving your time. Spend time with people you love and also the people who you “don’t get along with”, who know’s you may find something good about them.
3. Do I’tikaf
   It was a practice of the Prophet to spend the last ten days and nights of Ramadan in the masjid for I’tikaf. Those in I’tikaf stay in the masjid all this time, performing various forms of zikr (the remembrance of Allah), like doing extra Salat, recitation and study of the Quran. They do not go outside the masjid except in case of emergencies, therefore, they sleep in the masjid. Their families or the masjid administration takes care of their food needs. I’tikaf of a shorter period of time, like one night, a day or a couple of days is encouraged as well.
4. Make this special Dua.
   Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, said: I asked the Messenger of Allah: ‘O Messenger of Allah, if I know what night is the night of Qadr, what should I say during it?’ He said: ‘Say: O Allah, You are pardoning and You love to pardon, so pardon me.’ “(Ahmad, Ibn Majah, and Tirmidhi). The transliteration of this Dua is “Allahumma innaka ‘afuwwun tuhibbul ‘afwa fa’fu ‘annee”

Continue reading…

Along with MyAdhan’s recent TV advert airing we’ve advertised in a number of quality publications. The first to be mentioned is Sisters Magazine. Sisters Magazine is the UK’s first magazine for Muslim women and began as a digital publication in March 2007. It was received with much acclaim and enthusiasm and is now available in print and online and is published four times a year. Sisters Magazine covers a range of subjects in the areas of Inspiration, Self, Family, Community, World, Homes, Looks, Tastes and a range of reader offers and competitions. The magazine’s ethos is rooted in the Qur’an and Sunnah, according to the understanding of the Pious Predecessors, and our inspiration is Islam as a beautiful and richly rewarding way of life. You can subscribe to Sisters Magazine from here. Remember this might be a great gift for a female member of your family.


This issue of EMEL goes deep in to the essence of Ramadhan with some excellent words of advise from Imam Zaid Shakir along with an interesting review of a trip to Cairo. There are many more articles in the magazine so why not subscribe today? The magazine is available monthly from all good newsagents. MyAdhan supports all good Islamic projects and EMEL fills a major gap in the Muslim media sector. EMEL is a lifestyle magazine that celebrates contemporary British Muslim culture. Glossy, well-written, with punchy design and visuals, its appeal crosses over from Muslims to curious non-Muslims. Until now, Emel has only been available in specialist Muslim bookshops but, from October 2005, it will go on sale alongside mainstream fashion and lifestyle magazines in WH Smith, Tesco, Asda, Borders and Waterstones.


Channel S has taken the lead in many aspects of Live TV Charity appeals and the recent publication of a Ramadhan Family Commitment Appeal Supplement is an extension to the innovation. Contact the brothers at Channel S to request your copy. Ramadan Family Commitment (RFC) is a scheme that enables Channel S viewers the ability to take part in numerous acts of charity by one single donation. Channel S is committed to broadcast 30 charity appeals this year, one during each night of Ramadan. Ramadan Family Commitment 2007 raised £146,137.98 last year which was distributed equally amongst 28 organisations. MyAdhan helped raise over £2 million for charities during Ramadhan 2007.

MyAdhan.com is sponsoring a Cageprisoner’s event which will be happening on the first weekend of Ramadhan (7th September 2008). The cause is noble and the main speaker is a true modern day Scholar, Imam Anwar al-Awlaki. Come see the MyAdhan Team at this excellent event, tickets are a little expensive but remember the money is going to a just cause that often gets forgotten amongst the Charity and Mosque appeals.

Cageprisoners – Another Ramadan 2008 – Fundraising Dinner (7th September 2008, 6pm)
Imprisonment without charge or trial is one of the greatest injustices facing Muslims today. Help Cageprisoners, during this blessed month, ‘when the doors to Paradise are open’ to open the doors of justice for those wrongfully imprisoned.

Speakers
Imam Anwar Al-Awlaki (via video conference)
Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham
Moazzam Begg
Yvonne Ridley

Tickets Prices
£50 per person
£40 per person when booking a group of 6-9 persons
£35 per person when booking a table (10 persons)
Children under 2 free

See the event’s promotional video: