Salaam Alaykum,

Over the past few days, our community has participated in a global election for the President of The World Federation. I would like to thank all of you who took the time to vote - your ballots will determine the future direction of our community. Special thanks to all those who have joined in my campaign and supported me, I am truly grateful for your belief in me and my team.

My thanks must also go to the volunteers who assisted in the administration of the elections in centres around the world. InshAllah the Electoral Commissioner will make a declaration about the outcome of the election in the coming days.

In these final few nights of Mahe Ramadhan, I would request that we all remember each other in our du'a, especially on the Nights of Qadr.

With Du'a

Munawer Rattansey

Bismihi Ta'ala

Dear Community Members

Salaam Alaykum

In a few days time, we will have the opportunity to exercise our vote to decide the direction of this community. We have reached a historic crossroad and with these elections we will together decide the future.

With your vote, I wish to connect our global community. I see that our numbers are so few, our distances so large and our challenges are so many. We must work hard to maintain our identity and to strengthen our spirituality. Above all, we must recognise that as a people we must stand together and our institutions must work to unite us.

Download my profile in Urdu or Gujrati

Munawer was born in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, on 6 June 1950. He is the son of late Habib and Khairun Nasser Rattansey.

He was brought up in the vicinity of the mosque which instilled in him the value of volunteering and an appreciation of the workings of the Khoja community. The mosque played a central role in his early years where he was actively involved in the Boys Scouts as well as conscripted into 6 months of compulsory army training. This he tells me helped him learn to work in groups effectively and to organise events.

His father's main business was in textiles situated opposite the mosque where they were well known for a variety of imported textiles from England and Japan. The business also incorporated a large design and tailoring section.