Projects

Usrah Network

It is with the Blessing of Allah that as Australian Muslims we have built Masjids, Musallahs, and Islamic Schools that are a major part of Islamic infrastructure in Australia.

Yet we feel the need for a comprehensive structured approach for Islamic learning, training and development within our families, friends and peers groups.

The Islamic Foundation for Education & Welfare (IFEW), based on its more than 30 years track record in the field of Islamic education and training is launching a well structured and organized Usrah Network programme for the Australian Muslim community.

The word Usrah, an Arabic word literally means family. However its technical usage is widely referred to a family group organized for the sake of learning and practicing Islam. Thus Usrah is similar to a study circle or Halaqa, a close knot group of family members, peer groups or Muslims organized in a locality with the aim of learning and practicing Islam and imparting it to others.

Usrah has been practised in some form in Egypt, Malaysia, South Asia as Halaqa and in Western countries including Australia in the form of study circles as well. The involvement of a family is more effective because of the blood bondages, cultural ties, and language similarities amongst each other.

There are different ways and means of running and conducting an Usrah program. It is very beneficial of a group of individuals having different levels and stages of knowledge and practice of Islamic directives.

As the living families or neighbour families have the advantage of having common participation in many activities, Usrah is very useful for the

demonstration and performance of Islamic practices in a small group.

The Islamic Foundation for Education and Welfare has determined the following important factors to be discussed and formulated for a successful Usrah program, preferably to implement in the near future:

Successful comprehension of ideas: The group must have the level of knowledge and the fundamental aspects of Islam so that they can fully participate in the discussion and expression of ideas coming up in different ways in the minds of participants. For this it is better to have at least three types of Usrahs as distinct Usrahs:
- Children Usrahs up to the age of 12 years.
- Teenagers Usrahs between 12-18 years.
- Adult Usrahs, all the other persons who ca be accommodated in this group.
Vehicle of language for Usrah: It is a big problem in a plural society. Every developed and developing country adopts one common language as the method of instruction in its country. Mostly this language is a Western language, English, French, German, Greek, Arabic, Japanese, etc. Unfortunately the migrated persons from countries of other languages have the language problem between the new adopted language and their home country language. Their is no other way except to eventually get the people acquainted with three languages for Islamic Usrah:
- Adopted country's language
- Mother tongue (language of originating country).
- Arabic language.
- As a stop-gap management, we should have at least two groups: one very familiar with the adopted language, and the second group that is familiar with the home country language.
Every Usrah should have a competent coordinator, well-acquainted with both these languages, as well as basic knowledge of Islam and its practice in contemporary society. He/She should be the main guide and facilitator for initiating and establishing the Usrah together with having simultaneous training of the organisers as well as Nazims for future stability and successful running of Usrah.

Don't delay, take action today. Below are the documents to help you Coordinate and Organise your own Usrah as part of the IFEW Usrah Network.

Administration Templates for Your Use

Insight

INSIGHT is published by the Islamic Foundation for Education and Welfare (IFEW). INSIGHT is a theme-oriented journal, dealing with a particular topic in each issue. It is devoted to the clarification of concepts and development of ideas relevant to operational Islam in contemporary society.

Until November 1996 INSIGHT has printed 32 issues funded by subscriptions and IFEW, the May 1997 issue was the first to go on the Net. Click here to view the titles and contents of previous issues.

For more information visit www.ifew.com/insight

Multicultural Eid Festival & Fair

MEFF. the Multicultural Eid Festival and Fair, is an annual event usually celebrated on the Sunday following Eid-Ul-Fitr. Started in 1985 by the Islamic Foundation for Education and Welfare (IFEW), it is run by the Australian MEFF consortium , a non profit community based organisation.

MEFF is a Multicultural gathering of 30,000 people celebrating the Festival of Eid in Peace & Harmony.

Lots of fun and excitement for men , women & children, Cultural shows, Rides for children, big and small, Food Stalls , Books, DVDs, Jewellery, Clothing and other items.

All welcome, men, women, children, young & old, Muslims as well as non-Muslims.

For more information visit www.meff.com.au

Interfaith Youth Friendship Centre

The Interfaith Youth Friendship Centre is dedicated to better understanding amongst all Australians. It fulfills this objective by bringing young people from all faiths together so that they may appreciate each other's religions in a fun and exciting way.

In 2006, IYFC has many activities, including events during Harmony Day (18 March) and workshops. These are outlined in the attached brochure.

2006 IYFC Harmony Day Brochure (176.92 KB) (not found)

A key outcome of the IYFC was the Reflections Manual which recorded the interactions between the youth as well as key messages for the religions, communities and organisations involved in the activities.

Click below to download this manual.

Reflection Manual (4.64 MB)

Click here to learn more about our involvement in the 2006

Living in Harmony (page not found)

campaign by the Australian Government.

IFEW Weekend School

Quranic Arabic & Integral Studies

Enrolment Day

6th February 2011 from 2:30pm to 4:30pm

IFEW Weekend School is beginning an innovative way of teaching children Islam through integral learning and Quranic Arabic.

How is it different from other schools?

Quranic Arabic - Emphasis on meaning of the Quranic Arabic language – reading,writing and understanding.

Quran Memorisation - Learning surahs and their meanings.

Integral Learning - Emphasis on particular thoughts, sources, morals and

behavior.

Islamic Applications - Deen, History, Morals & Manner, Hadith

Any questions/queries contact us

Islamic Planner Calendar

Annually, the Islamic Foundation for Education & Welfare (IFEW) publishes the Islamic Planner Calendar, which is distributed in Sydney and now Canberra for free through mosques and our advertisers. The calendar includes both Islamic and Public holidays and a mosque directory.

Description of Planner: