|
|
|
Report of Illusion of Knowledge Event |
|
On Sunday 28th October 2007, the Abbasi Youth Committee of Birmingham held their first ever nationwide event entitled ‘The Illusion of Knowledge’. The main objective behind this was to raise a much needed awareness on the reality of the situation in the Middle East, particularly the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The event was held in Islamic Centre of England in Maida Vale, London and began at 10.30am with registration. It was encouraging to see so many people entering on time and especially good to see the number of non-Muslims that attended, despite the location.
The program began at 11 am with a brief welcome speech by the MC (Nuzhat Ismail – AYC committee member). The subsequent program was chaired by Samir Kermalli (AYC committee member). The main program then began with the screening of the documentary “Occupation 101”. This documentary was especially selected because of its very shocking approach in relaying the actuality of the state of affairs in Palestine. From the conversations I personally had, particularly with the rabbis and non-Muslims, it achieved the desired outcome. It also provided a suitable introduction to the topic for those that may not have been well informed about such issues. There was an intermission during the screening of the documentary for Salaat, and jamaat namaz was prayed on time.
After the screening, lunch was served. The lunch was served in containers at the back of the hall so people could take their food and eat wherever they wanted. There were stalls set up around the same area so people could utilise the break for lunch to look around the stalls. Snacks and hot/cold drinks were kept at the tables throughout the program.
After lunch, we reconvened for the second part of the program involving three speeches. Our first speaker, Muddassar Ahmed (short bio is included below the report) whose speech was entitled, ‘dispelling the illusion’ was supposed to include methods of obtaining up to date news on the reality of the situation. The content of his speech diverted of the topic, but was very beneficial none the less. He talked about his personal experiences having been to Palestine, and then concentrated on how we can help from here, particularly focusing on media and politics.
The second speaker was Ridha Kadhim from the IHRC (originally planned to be Massoud Shadjerah). His talk was entitled “The Role of Those Who Know” and he talked about many of the methods we could employ in order to help the plight of the Palestinians, such as protests and boycotting. Unfortunately, although his speech did have some key useful points, it lacked structure and was not very well received.
At this point we had a short break in the program, followed by a brief talk by Rabbi Cohen of Manchester, who is the leader of the British Wing of the Nuterei Karta. He is a very high profile speaker, and his speech was very effective in giving a different outlook on Palestine, as well as making clear the distinction between the Jewish faith and Zionism.
The final speaker for the day was our very own Shaikh Arif from Birmingham. His talk, entitled “The Ultimate Solution” focused on how the solution to any crisis lies within the individual. The only way to solve a crisis; whether it is on a large scale, such as in the Middle East, or on a smaller level, is to promote change in oneself. Ultimately, the only control we have is over ourselves. His speech was very well received, particularly by those who had never heard him before, such as the non Muslims.
Brief question and answer sessions followed each speech respectively, and after Shaikh Arif’s, a panel session concluded the event. There were many questions from the audience, which served as a good indication that many had understood and thought about the lectures. The interactive session provided a very good platform for dialogue and engaged the members of the audience very well. The MC closed the program with a vote of thanks and jamat namaz followed.
Overall the program went very well as indicated via verbal feedback; however the feedback forms have not yet been analyzed. Our aims and objectives were definitely met during the program. We faced many problems during the organisation and planning of the event, but these will be detailed in the ‘Best Practice’ report which is to follow.
Speakers
Muddassar Ahmed
Mudassar is 24, and from East London. As a teenager Muddassar was heavily involved in local community work in particular working as a presenter and station manager for Radio Ummah in the East End a role he combined with being the youth rep on the Newham Alliance of Mosques . After studying International Relations in London, he left to work for Paul Mckenna (celebrity hypnotist) as corporate sales Manager. He left his job with Paul Mckenna to work as MPACUK Elections campaign manager for the 2005 elections. He left MPAC in July 2005 to concentrate on running his business, on freelance media work and to focus on mainstream political work. Muddassar Ahmed is currently General Secretary of the Muslim Labour Movement, Director of The Newham Public Affairs Committee, a Director of the Adab trust and National Executive member of Faithlinks. He currently works as head of TV production and development for Monkey Pictures, he also presents a weekly current affairs show on the Islam Channel. You may also recognise Muddassar from a number of mainstream terrestrial television shows and documentaries, such as Channel 4's Operation Muslim vote and BBC2's ‘The Retreat’.
Ridha Kadhim
Brother Ridha Kadim is active in the Islamic Human Rights Commission and is very experienced, particularly in dealing with the situation from our positions in the west.
Rabbi Ahron Cohen
Rabbi Cohen who is the leader of the British wing of the Neturei Karta. He is based in Manchester and is an experienced speaker on the issues concerning the Middle East.
Shaikh Arif Abdulhussain
Shaikh Arif is currently the director of Al mahdi institute in Birmingham. He is renowned worldwide for his thought provoking and awakening lectures. Having graduated in Qum under the guidance of leading scholars, he is currently engaged in the research of the philosophy of Mulla Sadra.
To download a pdf version of the report click here . |
|
|
