**Trustees' Annual Report for the period**
Period start date Period end date Day Month Year Day Month Year **From** 01 04 2021 **To** 31 03 2022
## Section A Reference and administration details
**Charity name** ISLAMIC CRESCENTS OBSERVATION FOR THE UK (ICOUK)
**Other names charity is known by** MOON SIGHTING UK, ICOUK
**Registered charity number (if any)** 1181887
**Charity's principal address** Beetle Bank Farm Moor Lane, Murton York **Postcode YO19 5XD**
## **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity**
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20|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for whole**
**year **|**Name of person (or body) entitled**
**to appoint trustee (ifany)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||Qamar Uddin|Chair|||
||Suliman Gani||||
||Yusuf Mota||||
||Rahma Alfarsy||||
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**Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)**
**Name Dates acted if not for whole year**
March **2012**
**TAR**
1
## **Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**
|**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**|**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**|**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**|
|---|---|---|
|**Type of adviser**
**Name**
**Address**|||
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|**Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)**|||
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## **Section B Structure, governance and management**
## **Description of the charity’s trusts**
Type of governing document
- (eg. trust deed, constitution)
Constitution
How the charity is constituted Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) (eg. trust, association, company)
Trustee selection methods Selection by the Trustees (eg. appointed by, elected by)
## **Additional governance issues (Optional information)**
You **may choose** to include additional information, where relevant, about:
- policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
- the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;
- relationship with any related parties;
- trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.
One of the trustees resigned at the end of the last financial year and triggered the appointment of two new trustees from the start of the new financial year. All the new trustees have been given a copy of the CC guidance, the constitution and the latest full-year financial accounts. The trustees maintain the overall control of the CIO's finances and any costs over five hundred pounds (£500) have to be agreed upon in advance. The cost of travel and subsistence for training is limited to one hundred pounds (£100). The CIO does not own/rent any offices for its activities, but the trustees use their home-office freely for all activities.
A London-based moon sighting volunteer group (NCS) has supported the CIO with training some of the volunteers remotely (via Zoom), which continues to encourage more monthly reporting. The trustees have helped them reach wider audiences across the British Isles as they have similar aims to the CIO (i.e. for a United Eid in the UK).
As a result of an increased interest in a UK-only Moon Sighting criteria, there is a risk of a further split at Eid. To mitigate this risk, the CIO will facilitate an adjustment for a dual Hijri Calendar system on the website - and the Mobile Apps until a UK only community consensus is reached.
## **Section C Objectives and activities**
The Objectives of the CIO are to advance the Islamic religion by:
**Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document**
(a) Reviving the tradition (sunnah) of local moon sighting in the UK, (b) Promoting research of moon sighting for the public benefit, (c) Educating the public on the subject of moon sighting,
(d) Facilitating the establishment of a lunar calendar for the public benefit, (e) Developing and/or using appropriate technology to deliver the above objects.
March **2012**
**TAR**
2
This is the third report since the registration of the CIO in 2019, but the main activities have been ongoing for a few years. The main aim of the CIO is to establish a workable _Hijri_ calendar in the UK for Islamic worship purposes (eg. start dates of Ramadan and the two Eids). All the activities of Moon Sighting and Reporting are carried out by volunteers (or subscribers to the ICOUK website) from throughout the UK on the last 2-days of each lunar month, taking 1 or 2 hours on each evening (at sunset time), depending on the distance to the locations. The above nationwide activities across the UK are well planned and organised by the trustees, who have specialist skills in all the related **Summary of the main** subject matters (eg. Islamic Jurisprudence, Astronomy, Technology etc). **activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to** The trustees have continually published research articles and training **these objects (include within** materials on the ICOUK website for the public benefit, as well as offering **this section the statutory** online training using Remote Learning methods (eg. Zoom Apps). **declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance** One of the main sources of reaching the public is the ICOUK website, **issued by the Charity** which was continually updated with security patches and extensions to **Commission on public** be easily accessible from any device for sending moon sighting **benefit)** reports. Unfortunately, the huge demands on the website in recent years (e.g. at Ramadan) occasionally rendered it inaccessible and hence a new upgrade is planned for next financial year to improve user accessibility. To facilitate the establishment of a Hijri Calendar based on Local Moon Sighting requires an efficient _Testimony Procedure_ conducted within a short time after the sunset (from the British Isles). As a result, the trustees have successfully completed a year of monthly _Trial Testimony Meetings_ with volunteers from throughout the UK, rapidly and efficiently. The trustees have also organised conferences, attended TV interviews and facilitated all moon sighting activities as efficiently as possible.
## **Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)**
You **may choose** to include further statements, where relevant, about:
- policy on grant making;
- policy programme related investment;
- contribution made by volunteers.
The CIO works on a totally voluntary basis and the volunteers do not receive any expenses or refund of local transport costs. They give freely and willingly of their time and experience to share the joy of sighting the first crescent moon on the UK horizon, often in bad weather conditions. The monthly moon sighting dates are published in advance with the predicted crescent visibility data from the HMNAO website (Websurf). The past 4-years observation data indicated that the UK Moon Sighting fully meets the Islamic (Hijri) calendar rules of 29 and 30 days/month. Therefore, the trustees have sent a question ( _Istiftaa_ ) to a number of major Islamic Seminaries (Darul Ulooms) to review the above data for permission to adopt UK-only Moon Sighting criteria for United Eids. The responses received (by March 2022) were encouraging and hence the trustees hope to carry out a wider community consultation exercises (through seminars and conferences) to reach a majority consensus on Local Moon Sighting criteria for United Eids in future, InshaAllah.
The trustees consider that the activities undertaken provide benefit to the communities they support and confirm that in exercising their powers and duties, they have complied with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission and have complied with their duties under Section 17 of the Charities Act 2011.
March **2012**
**TAR**
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Section D Achievements and performance
**Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year**
The importance of Local Moon Sighting to establish a Hijri Calendar is unanimously agreed by most UK Muslim Scholars as a communal obligation ( _Fard Al-Kifaya_ ). However, the persistent cloudy weather in the UK throughout the year during the past decades has forced the UK Muslims to borrow the Moon Sighting reports from foreign countries, such as Morocco (1970’s) and Saudi Arabia (1980’s), which are often contradictory and leads to confusion/division at Ramadan and two Eids.
The UK weather has improved significantly in recent years and the trial Moon Sighting observations carried out by the trustees and volunteers shown that indeed the first day’s crescent moon can be sighted in the UK throughout the year provided enough people are looking for the moon from different places to overcome the clouds but on the correct date, time and the direction (which charges widely every month with the earth’s tilt). It can be seen from the ICOUK website data that the CIO has carried out 24 days of sighting in the past 12 lunar months (2-days/month) during the reporting period (from 1/4/2021 to 31/3/2022) and the first day’s crescent moon was SEEN in 10 out of 12 months (83.3%), yet maintaining 6 x 29[th] and 6 x 30[th] days/month, which continues to be very impressive in the history of the UK moon sighting record. These impressive results were made possible by more volunteers looking for the moon from different areas and counting the start of the month from the UK Moon Sightings!
It is a tribute to the CIO trustees who have been able to mobilise the public throughout the UK to maintain the sighting locations to over 115 which is slightly lower than the previous year (during the lockdown). The above data continues to demonstrate that a UK-only moon sighting based Hijri Calendar is certainly possible and could be made reliable with wider community support to overcome the UK adverse weather condition.
The above impressive results were achieved by regular training and publicity via the ICOUK website, Social Media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc), Email Newsletters/Mailing List to all subscribers, “Spot the Moon Competition” prizes and training videos/guides as well as providing Location’s data on the ICOUK website for most of the UK cities.
March **2012**
**TAR**
4
## **Section E Financial review**
No significant reserve
**Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves**
**Details of any funds materially in deficit**
N/A
## **Further financial review details (Optional information)**
You **may choose** to include additional information, where relevant about:
- the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);
- how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;
- investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.
The principal sources of the CIO fundings come from the donations from the volunteers, such as to update the website or the mobile phone apps.
However, the CIO anticipates major upgrade costs coming up in the near future and hence has reduced some of the regular maintenance costs for future investments, except for training related costs such as organising conferences (eg. printing roll-up banners, fatawa translation fees etc.).
In general, whenever there is a need to raise funds for a particular project many of the volunteers come forward willing and send donations to the CIO bank account. Hence, the CIO is able to meet all financial obligations satisfactorily (without external fundraising), Alhamdulillah.
## **Section F Other optional information**
## **Section G Declaration**
**The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.**
**Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees**
**Signature(s)**
**Full name(s)** Qamar Uddin (K. Miah)
**Position (** eg Secretary, Chair, etc **)** Chair (of Trustees)
**Date** 25/8/2022
March **2012**
**TAR**
5
|**Charity Name**|**No (if any)**|||
|---|---|---|---|
|**ISLAMIC CRESCENTS OBSERVATION FOR THE UK(ICOUK)**|**1181887**|||
|**Receipts andpayments accounts**|||**CC16a**|
|01/04/2021
Period start date
**To**
**For the period**
**from**|31/03/2022
Period end date|||
|**Section A Receipts and payments**|**Section A Receipts and payments**|**Section A Receipts and payments**||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest**
**£**||**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**||**Endowment funds**
**to the nearest £**||**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**||**Last year**
**to the nearest £**|
|Donations - General|**2,401**||||**-**||**2,401**||**4,450**|
||||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||||||**-**||||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|**2,401**||**-**||**-**||**2,401**||**4,450**|
|||||||||||
|**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**||||||||||
||**-**|||||||||
||**-**||||||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**|**-**||||||||**-**|
|**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**||||||||||
||||||||||**4,450**|
|||||||||||
|General Expense|**618**||**-**||**-**||**618**||**-**|
|TrainingCourse Expenses|**829**||**-**||**-**||**829**||**-**|
|Website/Apps Develop/Maintenance|**255**||**-**||**-**||**255**||**-**|
||**-**||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_ **|**1,702**||**-**||**-**||**1,702**||**-**|
|||||||||||
|**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**||||||||||
||**-**|||||||||
||**-**|||||||||
|**_Sub total_ **|**-**||||||||**-**|
|**_Total payments_**
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**_Cash funds this year end_**||||||||||
||||||||||**-**|
|||||||||||
||**699**||**-**||**-**||**699**||**4,450**|
||||**- **|
|**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**4,450**||**-**||**-**||**4,450**||**-**|
||**5,149**||**-**||**-**||**5,149**||**4,450**|
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
26/08/2022
1
## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**
|**Categories**
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf
of all the trustees
**B5 Liabilities**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B1 Cash funds**|**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
**Details**
Held in HSBC Bank
Held in PayPal Account|**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
**Details**
Held in HSBC Bank
Held in PayPal Account|**Unrestricted funds**
**to nearest £**|**Unrestricted funds**
**to nearest £**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||**5,112**||||**-**|
||||**37**||||**-**|
||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||||**5,149**||**-**||**-**|
||||||||OK|
||||||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
||N/A||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**Details**||**Fund to which asset**
**belongs**||**Cost (optional)**||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||N/A||||**-**||**-**|
||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||**-**||**-**|
||**Details**||**Fund to which asset**
**belongs**||**Cost (optional)**||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||N/A||||**-**||**-**|
||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||**-**||**-**|
||**Details**||**Fund to which liability**
**relates**||**Amount due**
**(optional)**||**When due**
**(optional)**|
||N/A||||**-**|||
||||||**-**|||
||||||**-**|||
||||||**-**|||
||||||**-**|||
||
Signature||Print Name
Qamar Uddin (K. Miah)|||||
||||||||Date of
approval|
||||Qamar Uddin (K. Miah)||||25/08/2022|
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CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
26/08/2022
2