Lord Sheikh

Lord Sheikh was asked to attend the opening of “Muhammad - A Mercy to Mankind”, a permanent exhibition at the Islamic Cultural Centre and the London Central Mosque. Lord Sheikh in fact cut the ribbon to officially open the exhibition with His Excellency Dr Abdullah bin Abdulmuhsin Al-Turki (Secretary General, Muslim World League) and His Excellency Mr Khaled Al Duwaisan (Ambassador to Kuwait).

Lord Sheikh is a supporter of the exhibition as it does convey the true message of Islam and has examples of the glorious history of the Muslims over the centuries.

After the opening ceremony there was a dialogue seminar with the participation of eminent speakers from various faiths. Lord Sheikh made the initial speech with the opening remarks and if you wish to view his speech please click here.

Lord Sheikh received the Chairman, senior executives and a number of dignitaries from the countries where the Al-Muntada Trust undertakes charitable work in the House of Lords. The dignitaries included Ambassadors, Mayors and former Ministers from various countries in the sub-Saharan regions.

Lord Sheikh gave them a tour of the Palace of Westminster and entertained them for tea afterwards.

Lord Sheikh was a VIP guest at the Gala Dinner marking the 25th Anniversary of the Al-Muntada Al-Islami Trust at the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand which was very well attended. Lord Sheikh spoke at the dinner and praised the charitable work undertaken by the Al-Muntada Trust in sub-Saharan Africa. He commended the Trust on their various valuable activities and initiatives including feeding programmes for some of the poorest people in the world, educational programmes to tackle illiteracy and the building of water wells and community outreach.

Lord Sheikh also talked about donations to charity and deserving causes which provides satisfaction to both the donor and recipient. Lord Sheikh congratulated the Trust for the fact that all of their work to help people is undertaken irrespective of colour, race or religion.

Lord Sheikh was presented with an award by children which is something he did appreciate as he is fond of children and always says that children are our future.

The Conservative Muslim Forum held a meeting in the House of Lords which was attended by the Rt. Hon. Andrew Lansley CBE MP, Secretary of State for Health. Mr Lansley has previously attended and spoken at meetings organised by the Conservative Muslim Forum in the last two years.

The arrangements for the meeting on 24th May 2011 were made by Dr Farrukh Hussain, Chair of the Health Group of the Conservative Muslim Forum and Shaheen Mahmood, Executive Secretary.

The meeting proved to be very popular and the numbers admitted were limited. The attendees included members and supporters of the Conservative Muslim Forum, doctors, medical staff and members representing various communities.

There was an initial speech by Lord Sheikh who commented that the NHS does require reforming and as a businessman he felt that the question of bureaucracy, overmanning and utilisation of the funds in a proper manner needed to be addressed. There was also a short speech made by Dr Farrukh Hussain.

Andrew Lansley, in his speech, asserted that competition for services would not result in the privatisation of the NHS. He also said “We need to have a fair system for providers in a level playing field. We must make sure we develop the payment system and ensure it’s payment for outcomes not payment for activities, through Monitor, for the sustainability of what they do so we don’t lose key services.”

He went on to say “It isn’t about privatisation, because we support the NHS. It’s not about cherry-picking by the private sector. We use the payment system to prevent them walking in and taking responsibility for some patients and not others. It’s about quality, not competition that undermines quality…if the private sector doesn’t provide the best care, it doesn’t get the services.”

Following Andrew Lansley’s speech Lord Sheikh decided that there should be a cross-section of questions put to Andrew Lansley and questions were asked by GPs, hospital doctors and non-medical attendees in rotation. Andrew Lansley answered the questions fully and extremely competently.

Lord Ribeiro, who has had a distinguished career in the field of medicine and was previously the President of the Royal College of Surgeons, was also in attendance and he made a relevant point at the meeting.

The Conservative Muslim Forum has since received complimentary feedback from the attendees at the event.

Mr Mike Mogul, who is a member of the Executive Committee of the Conservative Muslim Forum, raised funds at a charity dinner held in the Houses of Parliament to purchase items for Dolphin Children’s Unit at Croydon University Hospital. Mike Mogul also made a personal donation to the fund.

In conjunction with the hospital, Mike Mogul acquired motorised toy vehicles, computers, TV screens, video players with children’s videos and medical equipment.

All of these were presented to the Dolphin Children’s Unit by Lord & Lady Sheikh, Gavin Barwell (MP for Croydon Central) and Mike Mogul. The Chief Executive of the Hospital, Mr Nick Hulme, was also present as well as Mr Jeff Knight, Consultant ENT Surgeon and the nursing staff of the Dolphin Unit. One of the young patients, Rene Robinson Thomas, was the first to play with the new equipment and said that he loved riding all the vehicles and he particularly loved the Mini.

The Dolphin Unit is a specialist children’s day surgery unit at Croydon University Hospital.

Lord Sheikh has in the last week participated several times in the business of the House of Lords speaking in the debate on the Big Society and asking a question on the declaration of Palestinian statehood. Please click on the links below to view transcripts of what he has said:

Big Society

Question on Palestine

EcoMuslim hosted a seminar in Committee Room G of the House of Lords entitled “Exploring Business through Culture”. The speakers included Lord Sheikh, HE Dr. Carolyn Browne (British Ambassador to Azerbaijan), HE Mr Fakhruddin Gurbanov (Ambassador of Azerbaijan)

Lord Sheikh in his speech mentioned Islam and the environment and highlighted the importance of preserving the environment in Islam and also quoted the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and Khalifa Abu Bakr. He also spoke about what is being done in the United Kingdom to combat climate change and cited recent developments in the renewable energy sector.

Lord Sheikh then mentioned that funds generated by Islamic financial institutions need to be utilised for the betterment of the community and finished by outlining what we as individuals can do to help fight climate change.

Lord Sheikh in his initial remarks said that he has very recently returned from a visit to Jerusalem and referred to the acceptance in Islam of people of other religions. He talked about the Jerusalem Declaration issued by Khalifa Omar and the protection granted to people of all religions by Salahuddin Ayyubi when he conquered Jerusalem.

Please click here to view a transcript of his speech.

Lord Sheikh has spoken in the House of Lords twice this week in the debates on the Middle East Peace Process and the Charities Bill. Please click on the links below to view transcripts of his speeches.

Middle East Peace Process

Charities Bill

Lord Sheikh met a delegation of prominent Bahraini citizens in the House of Lords to discuss the current situation in Bahrain. The delegation was made up of citizens belonging to all of the major religious groups including Sunnis, Shias, Christians and the Bahai.

There is a great desire amongst the Bahrainis to achieve peace and harmony and members of the delegation were able to give first-hand accounts of what has happened recently and the way forward.

Lord Sheikh had asked a number of persons who are interested in Bahrain to attend the event.

Lord Sheikh was presented with a plaque which has a Bronze Age Dilmun Seal. The Dilmun Civilisation was in the period 2500BC to 500BC. It was for many years the centre for trading in the Gulf and Bahrain was at that time called Dilmun. Lord Sheikh thanked the leader of the delegation for the remarkable gift as he has been to Bahrain three times and does know a little of its history.

A meeting was organised by the Conservative Party Association in Burton-on-Trent and Lord Sheikh was the chief guest. The meeting was very well attended and there was a large gathering of Muslim men and women. Lord Sheikh spoke on his activities in the House of Lords, the AV Referendum, the Big Society, economy and education policies of the Conservative Party.

The other speakers were Andrew Griffiths MP for Burton-on-Trent, Mohammed Amin (Vice Chairman of the Conservative Muslim Forum) and Cllr Khadim Thathall.

All of the Muslim candidates who are contesting the local elections were also in attendance. The number of Muslim candidates is in fact seven which is a record.