“The 7th edition of the London Muslim Shopping Festival was a memorable and vibrant event featuring many exciting features and segments to keep the visitors engaged.”
Words: Rabi’ah.M
With the ongoing unpredictable weather in the UK where we are divided by days of crisp sunshine and brutally cold weather; not to mention the approaching Ramadan, having an event such as the Muslim Shopping Festival at Excel London on February 25th and 26th becomes a perfect reason to light up one’s mood.
It was a thoroughly packed two-day festival allowing visitors from all over the UK and overseas to shop before Ramadan and Eid this year, the event’s seventh year. In addition to clothes, shoes, Eid gifts, candies, toys, accessories, and cosmetics, there were a variety of mouth-watering food trucks. In order to ensure children are not forgotten in the equation of this event, the organisers dedicated the Kids Zone to “Waw Creative Art Workshop” featuring opportunities for children to try their hand at Arabic calligraphy. They were entertained by live performances, AI storytelling, special guests, quizzes and games.
At the event, the Metropolitan Police parked one of their latest car models along with police officers who provided information regarding recruiting Muslim candidates. As many visitors wanted to test out the car features, this truly symbolised the diversity at such a prestigious organization. Also at the event, you could see attention-grabbing mascots saying “Salam” and posing for the cameras at the Salams corner. With its “pink” colour scheme, Salams stood out as one of the most popular friendship and marriage apps.
Lastly, attendees witnessed a wonderful array of fashion collections exhibited by Abaya Buth, Metropolitan Police (for the first time), La Meera Moda, and Farrah Naz. Not to forget visitors were able to witness live cooking featuring popular chefs including Pulwasha Cooks and Anisa Koralia to name a few.
Overall, this was a must-visit event, since it was refreshing and gives you the pre-Ramadan and Eid excitement to shop and look forward to Ramadan and Eid accordingly. Being someone who attended this event for the first time, what I admired the most about this event is the outcome and diversity of Muslims who made a concrete effort to travel this far. For instance, one of the visitors I spoke to came to London with their family and told me they were staying over at the hotel and purely went for the purpose of attending this event.
As for the food part, I treated myself to an authentic Uzbek food experience by Osh Paz where I chose rice and chicken as per the recommendation of their team. It enabled me along with others to enjoy the event to the fullest; whether it was those attending the catwalk shows or the ones who wanted to get a bit of everything, this event was very much needed given the recent challenging times we have been experiencing since COVID-19 first started. It was an all-inclusive event that ensured one would have a memorable experience. Also, the organisers did an excellent job in ensuring that prayers were not missed, as a reasonably sized prayer area was provided by Sulha which was ideally located.
Juber Ahmed is our Digital Editor and travel enthusiast with a keen interest in Islamic history and heritage. He travels with his wife to various places around the world and writes about his experiences.
Juber's favourite Quote...
"The World Is a Book and Those Who Do Not Travel Read Only One Page" [Saint Augustine]
