“And proclaim that the people shall observe the Hajj. They will come to you walking or riding on various exhausted (means of transportation). They will come from the farthest locations.” [TMQ 22:27.8]

Alhamdulillah, just one year ago I had the privilege of accompanying my dear beloved parents to the hajj, and in so doing I not only fulfilled the fard on my neck but also a sense of responsibility I had towards my parents that I felt ever since I started practicing Islam.

For me there are two amazing events every year that really motivate me as a Muslim- Ramadhan, and the Hajj. The site of over 3 million Muslims congregating in Mecca to begin the journey of a lifetime is truly amazing. For the hujaj, those 5 days become the most unforgettable days of their lives. For first-timers, we finally get to see the places that the Prophet Muhammad SAW and the Sahaba once lived and carried the da’wah in; the overpowering sight of the Ka’aba for the first time is very emotional, and there is a renewal of our relationship with our creator. The physical hardship of the rituals are made easy by enjoying meals and light hearted moments with new friends from all over the world, and seeking refuge in ibadah during the early hours.

When we see people of all colours, nationalities and madhhabs, united as brothers and sisters with one common goal, it brings a tear to the eye and makes me wonder when the Muslim Ummah will attain true and lasting unity as one unified Ummah, in the political sense and not just the religious one. With Unity comes strength, for Abu Musa (May Allah bepleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (SAW) said, “The relationship of the believer with another believer is like (the bricks of) a building, each strengthens the other.” He (SAW) illustrated this by interlacing the fingers of both his hands.

May Allah SWT bless this Ummah and accept the pilgrimage of the hujaj as hajj mabrur, and May he (SWT) bring about the true and lasting Unity that this Ummah so desperately needs- ameen!

Assalamu-alaikum Wr Wb

For those of you with access to Sky channel 813, Islamic Impressions is currently running an Ad on the Islam Channel to promote our Store outlets this Ramadhan. Here is a video of the Ad.

Aqib

Assalamu-Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakaatuhu

Islamic Impressions would like to extend a very warm Ramadan Mubarak to all our brothers and sisters in Islam. This coming month is a time of great ajar (reward), spiritual attainment and closeness to Allah (swt) and we sincerely hope that you attain the maximum benefit from it, inshallah.

Allah says in the Quran: “O you who believe, fasting has been prescribed for you as it has been prescribed for people before you so that you will (learn how to) attain Taqwa” (Qur’an, al-Baqarah, 2:183)

Alhamdulillah, the Islamic Impressions team has been very busy with all sorts of activities of late. This has included new stock procurement, building and refurbishment work for new Store outlets, IT project work, media advertising and a lot more! The culmination of these efforts has seen the recent opening of the Birmingham Ladypool Rd outlet and the imminent launch of the new Green St Store in London (both of which I have been blogging about).

Our overall aim is (and always will be) to provide an unbeatable service to our customers by offering the widest variety of quality Islamic products at affordable prices.

Alhamdulillah, this year we are well stocked for Ramadhan with Qurans and Islamic books, Prayer essentials, CDs and DVDs, and new ranges of Islamic clothing for the whole family. During Ramadhan all our Stores will be open for late night shopping 7 days a week. Telephone orders/enquiries will also be taken until Iftar time, 7 days a week.

I invite you to visit your nearest Islamic Impressions Store (free T-shirts with every purchase at Birmingham and Green St!) or click online at www.islamicimpressions.co.uk for fast, next day delivery of your products to your door.

So make this Ramadhan an unforgettable one with Islamic Impressions- setting the benchmark in Islamic shopping.

Ma’salam

Aqib Hanif

My dear brothers and Sisters I would like to announce some exciting news about Islamic Impressions. Allah SWT has been very kind to us ever since we started trading some 5 years ago, and over this time we have experienced sustained growth and rewards in many different ways- for example, last month a non-Muslim took his Shahadah in our Ilford Store after he began visiting us and discussing Islam with Store staff… Alhamdulillah!

Now I am very pleased to announce that Islamic Impressions is opening yet another Shop in time for Ramadhan- and this time we’ve gone for one of the most famous High Street names in the Asian/Muslim retail market- Green Street!

Located in East London, anybody who knows anything about the retail industry will tell you how tough it is to get a prime location on such a busy road. We always planned to break into the Green Street market, and finally, bi Iznillah, it has happened… Alhamdulillah! We are located adjacent to Daminis at 267 Green Street, Forest Gate E7 8LJ. We will get hand over of this property only a few days before Ramadhan – So the Challenge is set for me and my team to have it up and running according to our high Standards in time for Ramadhan – we have a building team, shop fit-out team and a retail team that are going to work shifts throughout the day and night -  and Inshallah the Store will be open to serve the community from the 1^st of Ramadhan, 2009.  

Islamic Impressions is an Islamic retail chain that offers Islamic products for the entire home, including Islamic clothing like Jubbas, Jilbabs and Hijabs, Islamic Books on all subjects, Attars and Islamic perfumes, CDs and DVDs, Islamic ornaments and gift items, Halal Sweets and Prayer accessories, and much much more. We are currently importing huge container loads of new stock from all over the Muslim World in time for Ramadhan, inshallah, and many new lines of products will be available for sale in all our stores including Birmingham and Green Street. Our customers will experience a product range, quality and level of service that is not only unrivalled, but also unprecedented!

Following the opening of our Cash and Carry warehouse and the announcement of our new Birmingham Store, this will be the third outlet we open this year. We are well on the way to completing our aim of becoming the UK’s first professionally run Islamic retail chain built along modern retail concepts and technologies. I invite you to come and experience the difference at Birmingham or Green Street.

Hope to see you there inshallah! Until then, remember us in your Duahs.

Aqib

Assalamu-Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu.

Recently I was in Europe on a research mission with the aim of developing the latest in shop fixtures and fittings for the new Birmingham Ladypool Road outlet. My aim is to create a unique and unprecedented shopping environment for our Birmingham customers that will not only be ergonomically outstanding but also functional and easy for our customers to navigate and shop. Even our acclaimed Ilford flagship Store will not compare to Birmingham’s standards- inshallah! To achieve this we have manufactured special mannequins, unique hangers, an amazing counter/display area, and a lot more… here are some pictures of me hard at work with the some European retail designers!

Aqib

Aqib at work in Europe with Leading Designers

Aqib working with top European Designers for Birmingham Ladypool Rd Outlet

This weekend we undertook a site inspection at Ladypool road (Birmingham) – and our contractor Shere Khan ( what a name ) had made major progress! All the ceilings and partition walls were removed– this coming week is going to be really interesting as we are going to be installing steel RSJ’s in order to remove the load bearing walls in order to create our open plan store. Currently the shop front looks dated on both sections of the store, so that’s going to be replaced with a full height glass shop front, giving it the contemporary look we are after.

Aqib

Assalamu-Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu.

Alhamdulillah we have finally decided on where to open our next store. We have just taken a property in the Sparksbrook area of Birmingham and by Ramadhan inshallah Islamic Impressions will be setting the benchmark in Islamic Shopping in the Midlands!

So why Birmingham? Birmingham doesn’t just serve the Midlands but it is also an hours drive away from other cities in Northern England where there is a heavy population of Muslims. When we think of opening outlets in any area we always look at our customer base and what would be most convenient for them. We have had a lot of enquiries and website orders from the Birmingham and West Midlands area, and many of our customers have urged us to open an outlet near to them. It tells us that our customers have a unique taste for our products and there is a strong practicing Muslim community in Birmingham that appreciates Islamic Impressions’ range of products.

Before taking the step to finalise the location we conducted a poll using various social networking tools, both online and offline (like facebook on the web and in exhibitions and other events we have attended in the last few months). As a result the overwhelming response was in favour of Birmingham.

It took us many months to find a suitable property in Birmingham, but we got there in the end. This has been for 2 reasons:

·       We wanted a great, highly accessible location.

·       We wanted this store to be big in floor space to enable us to stock and display all of our vast range of exciting Islamic products, on a scale not seen before in Birmingham.

By Allah’s help we successfully acquired an entire building on ladypool road which will inshallah be our largest retail store so far with 2500 sq feet of floor space. In the process of setting up our stores we made sure we hired builders and contractors who are local and reputable Muslims who have an appreciation of the service we provide and an understanding of our vision. Competency was a key requirement as there is a lot building work going on that involves significant structural adjustment to create an open plan contemporary feel to the store.

Alhamdulillah being in an ideal location is good that there is a lot going on the area and our shop is located in between 2 Islamic schools. With you duas Insha’Allah we are planning to open 2 weeks prior to Ramadan.

 Aqib

Assalamu-Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu

Today I would like to tell my brothers and sisters about one aspect of our community work which I enjoy, inshallah. I believe that as a Islamic company we shouldn’t just be about selling products and making money; and simply giving money to charity is not enough positive participation in my opinion, anybody can do that! Rather we must play a much bigger role by investing our knowledge and skills in the community, so that it too can develop and prosper. One of the best ways to do this is by helping nurture the next generation so that they can be ready to enter the job market, by providing work experience in relevant areas of our business activities.

As a company we have not only put Islamic Impressions on the map as a business but also as an investor in the community. We offer the youth work experience in an environment in line with their beliefs. This allows them to equip themselves with the skills and tools for a career path of their choice.  Our work experience exposes youngsters to many different aspects of business and commercial activity such as bookkeeping, retail sales, warehouse assistance, admin support, IT software development and e-commerce.

Islamic Impressions is registered with the London Borough of Waltham Forest and the Redbridge Business Education Partnership (REBEP) to help local youth from schools and colleges by offering them work experience to enhance their employability skills. Also, we are affiliated with Trident which is part of Edexcel to provide a recruitment channel for the younger generation. We also provide work experience within structured environments to youth with special needs and disadvantaged backgrounds, to help and empower them with skills to become productive individuals in the community via positive participation.

With stores opening nationwide, more of you will be seeing Islamic Impressions at work in the communities very soon inshallah!

I have further blogs coming up on this subject soon inshallah. For example I will be tell you about the GCSE presentation I gave at a school and another presentation to teachers from Norway. But until then, take care.

Aqib

Assalamu-Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu

We have just received a whole new range of products and some old products which are very popular with our customers.  We are in the process of merchandising them to make them available to our customers. This also includes our valued online customers.

We have some really exciting products coming soon in our collection and you will be seeing more blog articles about the new products with my personal quality assurance. The items I am going to mention in this blog are from Turkey.

Turkey is renowned for its quality and is considered a leader in the industry for crafted products. People who know often say you get what you pay for with Turkish products. Compared to Middle Eastern, Pakistani, Chinese or Far Eastern products what makes Turkish products different is guaranteed excellent craftsmanship and detailed finish to the product. I will mention some products in this blog and upload the pictures in the future Insha’Allah.

Names of Allah Wall Mount

This wall mount is made from solid wood with hand finish. It has a glass and ceramic centre piece. It is available in various designs with Bismillah, Allah & Muhammad in Arabic and more. This particular one has Ninety Nine names of Allah written in silver embossed Arabic calligraphy of Nakshi script. It is brilliant if it is hanged in an ideal location to remind the person of the names of Allah when making Du’a. As Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an “And to Allah belongs the beautiful names, so invoke Him by them.” [7:180].

Tugra Calligraphy Bismillah Stand

This desk stand is silver looking with Arabic Bismillah shaped in Turkish “Tugra” calligraphy. This style of calligraphy dates back to the Ottomans. It is a very solid, strong and robust product. It is very different from other items with a contemporary look and comes in a nice gift box. The side profiles of the stand shows detailed intricate art work done on it.

Wall Clock

Unlike most Islamic clocks this looks very modern and comes with a manufacturer’s warranty. If the clock is faulty or breaks down within a year the manufacturer takes the liability and provides a replacement. It is very unique that it has ayah of the Qur’an “La Huwla Wala Quwwatta illah Billah” in translation “There is no power and might except from Allah (swt)” to give us a very deep reminder to humble us and to think carefully about how we spend our time in this world.

Ayatul Qursi Qur’an Box

The Qur’an box is made from wood with a laminated finish. The laminated finish allows it to be used for a very long time and it doesn’t fade in colour. At the centre of it is a brass inlay with Ayatul Qursi. Normally, people wrap their Qur’ans in cloth and put it on the shelf while it gathers dust. This box comes with a chain to so it can be hung in a secure place with the ayah of Qur’an to constantly   remind us to be in the company of the Qur’an. These boxes come in different sizes and have different ayahs of the Qur’an on them. However, this particular one is designed to hold a large Qur’an.

Ok my dear brothers and sisters, that’s it for now. Be sure to bookmark my blog for loads more interesting posts coming soon inshallah. And don’t forget to visit our website regularly, as we will be uploading many new products over the coming days and weeks, inshallah.

Remember me in your duahs

Aqib