In the April web competition we asked 3 simple questions based on Islamic culture. Top prize was a jilbab or jubbah of your choice from our range, second prize a CD or DVD of your choice and third prize was a hijab or Palestinian scarf of your choice.

Alhamdulillah, the following people got the answers right and were drawn as winners:

Gold Prize winner

Atif Mahmood

Silver Prize Winners

Syed Ahmed Raza
Zainab Hussain
Khalil Dewan

Bronze Prize Winners

Mahmood Akhtar
Anisah Mahmood
Farhat Kiani
Nur Hazwani Nadirah Ramli
Rubina Memon
Mohammed Subhan Hussain

Congratulations to the winners and jazakallah khair to everyone else for participating in the competition!

Wasalaam

(the Islamic Impressions Team)

For those of you with access to Sky channel 813, Islamic Impressions has launched its latest TV ad in our campaign. This March we are boldly making a price price promise to all our High Street customers, we are confident that we will never be knowingly undersold for any of our products. Aqib himself (as Director of the company) will personally refund the difference from his own pocket if the same item can is presented in store with a valid receipt issued by another Islamic Shop showing a cheaper price! Here’s the ad- enjoy!

(the Islamic Impressions team)

Almost 500 people participated in just one week. We asked what the age of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was at the time of first receiving revelation. The correct answer is 40, which most people got right. After conducting the prize draw, we are happy to announce that our gold prize winner for February is…. Sister Farzana Khatoon from Stoke! Sister Farzana wins the £50 e-voucher, many congratulations to her.

Our Silver winners are Aicha Achhab-Kandili from the Channel Islands, Sister Taiyiba Iqbal from London, Sister Zahra ansari and Khalifa Deen from London. All of these individuals win £25 e-vouchers, redeemable on our website for all our Islamic Products.

Our bronze winners are Abdul Munaim, Homaira Rahimi, Sabiha Ali, Idil Yussuf, Faisal Nazir, Ibrahim Kashim, Mahera Malik and Nosheen Abid.  They each win £10 e-vouchers.

We at Islamic Impressions had a lot of fun running this competition and we know that our participants did too. We have received good positive feedback and advice on how to improve the competition to make it even more exciting, inshallah we will take this on board for the future.

We would like to thank all our participants, Jazakallah khair for entering the competition and for those who didn’t win- better luck next time, inshallah!

Stay tuned for details of the next competition, and if you haven’t subscribed to our mailing list do so in order to be kept informed about competitions, store news, product announcements, vouchers and sales.

(The Islamic Impressions Team)

You’ve got to be in it to win it! The big Islamic Impressions online competition is here. For your chance to win an amazing gift voucher worth up to £50, simply visit our competition page and answer a multiple choice question that is based upon the Islamic culture. Once the draw is closed, we will randomly select the winners who can redeem their vouchers on our website!

Winners will be announced on our website blog and in our social network. There are lots of prizes up for grabs, so what are you waiting for? Log in and enter the big Islamic Impressions quiz today!

I participated in one of the committee sessions and found the discussion with young Pakistani students very interesting, and, I have to say, encouraging for the future. It seemed that the majority of Pakistani students currently studying in Britain have great concern for their country and sincerely want to do something to solve the country’s problems. Moreover, they are hard working and talented and possess a passion for Islam and a desire for true and comprehensive change within society. May Allah protect the Muslims of Pakistan and keep the country unified despite the great efforts of foreign powers who wish to destabilize it, and may Allah protect the Muslim youth of Pakistan and make them a force for good in Pakistan.

Aqib

On Saturday 16th January Islamic Impressions was invited to the first ever ILM day awards organised by Islam Channel. Understanding the significance of the occasion, we duly obliged by sending a senior delegation to this landmark event.

llm Day is a national competition organised by Islam Channel in recognition of the necessity to encourage talent amongst Muslim youth and to promote progression in their lives through education and other constructive interests. Its aim was to celebrate, nurture and empower exceptional young Muslim achievers, enabling them to inspire and serve as role models for other young people in their communities.

The visiting team consisting of Aqib (company director), Sheraz (co director), Muhammed (CFO) and Zain (Operations Manager) attended the gala awards ceremony in the Hilton Metropole on Edgware road where they were introduced to many young and talented Muslim achievers.

Company director Aqib commented “being a recognised community based organisation that helps promote education within the Muslim community, the Islamic impressions team have attended to show their full support for this great event”

Sheraz remarked “It’s very inspiring to see so many high achieving Muslim youth, it just goes to show with a little hard work and Tawakal in Allah anything is possible, I hope these brothers and sisters realise they now have a responsibility to encourage other young Muslims to follow in their footsteps.”

After maybe too much Lamb Korma- and definitely too much gajar halwa- the team left full of encouragement that contrary to stereotypical images in the media, we Muslims do have many shining examples from our youth who not only stand firm in their deen but also work to achieve good things in the dunya!

We actively encourage all Muslim youth to work hard and with sincerity to become shining beacons within their communities and to prove that Muslims can participate and become successful in the West, without having to compromise on their Islamic values.  

 From left: Brothers Zain, Aqib, Sheraz and Muhhammed arriving at the Ilm day Awards.

Aqib congratulating Zuhair Anwar on his A Level Ilm award

Sheraz congratulating Sami Mirza on his degree Ilm award.

Recently we all heard about the earthquake in Haiti that has lead to great loss of life. Our friends over at Muslim Hands have mobilised and are on their way to the region to assist in the relief efforts. Here is what they have to say on the issue:

Following the devastating earthquake which hit the Caribbean island of Haiti late Tuesday evening, Muslim Hands have two British NGO workers due to arrive on Friday 15th January on the ground in Port au Prince, south west of the worst affected area in the earthquake zone. Muslim Hands have launched an emergency appeal to tend to the victims and Mr Arslan Nusrat (senior projects manager) and Mr Irfan Akram (UK fundraising manager) will mobilise aid teams, report the situation from the zone, speak with survivors of the earthquake and provide an ‘on the ground’ perspective. They are available to comment on the situation for survivors, the struggles facing relief teams and the longer-term implications for the people of Haiti.

With few NGOs able to access the affected area, Mr Irfan Akram and Mr Arslan Nusrat are available for comment and interviews can be arranged via MH London office.

For more information, visit www.muslimhands.org

Aqib

2010 looks set to be an exciting year for Islamic Impressions. After the huge successes of 2009 and positive feedback from the Ummah, we have entered 2010 in a very upbeat mood indeed! Our customers have repeatedly insisted that we open new branches and expand into new communities, and we personally know of several dozen customers who regularly travel HUNDREDS of miles just to shop with us! With all this snow around Britain we feel it is our Muslim duty to bring our stores just a little bit closer… therefore we can reveal that THREE new Islamic Impressions Stores are planned for 2010 inshallah. The exact locations will be announced in April, so watch this space!

Product Development

We like to have our finger on the pulse of the Muslim community, in order to respond to their product demands and provide them with innovative new products that fulfill their needs. In recent weeks we have introduced new ranges of jilbabs, Palestinian scarves and Islamic Decorative Pillars. We have a whole new range of products that is currently in manufacturing that will complement our existing range – there will be 2 phases of introduction of the new stock, February and July. Full details will be revealed nearer the time

Advertising

As you know, our aim is to provide Islamic Shopping with a ‘big brand’ touch to as many UK Muslims as possible, and we will continue to set the trend in Islamic Shopping and raise the bar even further! With this in mind we have arranged several exclusive advertising deals with leading Muslim media organizations. The aim is to sustain massive marketing campaigns that will coincide with events in our business as the year progresses. For those of you who have access to Sky channel 813, You can currently see our new Islam Channel Ad promoting ‘The Big Islamic Impressions Winter sale’. For those who do not, you can find the video here.

The following is a breakdown of our marketing events that are planned for the coming year- inshallah!

TV - we have a contract for the entire year with Islam channel and every month we will base our commercial on a different theme/campaign (you can view all our past commercials on our website) We also advertise on the Islam Channel website – please go on to their website to view our ad.

Radio - we also have a contract for the entire year with Unity FM 93.5. Again, every month we have a different theme/campaign. We also advertise on the Unity FM 93.5 website, and we sponsor various shows that are aired throughout the week.

Print Media - we have a contract as the main advertiser with the Asian World Newspaper that distributes 50,000 copies every month

Documentary – We are working on a documentary about how Islamic Impressions was formed and where it is headed

I hope in this blog I was able to share some of my vision with you for 2010, inshallah I promise to keep you all updated with new developments as and when they happen. Please do not forget to follow us on twitter, for real time notifications and accouncements, and as always remmeber me in your duas.

Until next time, please take care!

Aqib

I have pleasure to inform you that the Islamic impressions Big Winter sale is now on! You can find bargains of up to 50% off on a wide range of Islamic goods. For Sisters, selected jilbabs and abayas are 50% off. While brothers can find themselves jubbas and men’s urban wear at half-price. Selected items of home décor, books CDs and DVDs will also be on sale. So bag yourself a bargain with Islamic Impressions, instore or online… but hurry- only while stocks last!

Aqib

On Saturday 5th December 2009, Muslim Hands will be holding a charity walk in Central London. Set in the beautiful Kensington Gardens, Muslim hands is inviting all brothers and sisters to wrap up warm, bring family & friends and help raise money for the needy in a 5 mile sponsored walk. Inshallah I will be there representing Islamic Impressions, only I have been challenged by my IT Team to complete the 5 miles while running! Alhamdulillah last year £33,000 was raised that was used to provide psychological support for hundreds of Palestinian children traumatized by war, I pray that we can beat this figure this year inshallah.

Aqib