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Report on 'Have Your Say' by Abbasi Youth Committee |
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On Saturday 31st March 2007 the Abbasi Youth Commitee organised an ‘Have Your Say’ event which was held at the Mehfil E Abbas, Clifton Road Mosque, Birmingham. The event started with Qur’an recitation and a short speech by a young brother from the mens hall (which was watched on the screen in the ladies hall). After that the boys and girls had seperate events e.g: the boys side had a Q&A session and the girls had a discussion circle.
The whole aim of this event was to improve communication between the youth and the Jamaat, as well, to build confidence within themselves and share common interests with one another.
The topic discussed was “How does the west influence the youth / general issues facing the youth today” which led to related issues e.g Respect for others, rebellious teenage behaviour, generation / age gaps between youth and elders, living in the west and responsibility of a Muslim, loss of identity, afraid of being judged in society and community, insecurities about oneself, ones beliefs and community, English / Urdu / Gujarati lectures.
Everyone sat in a circle and all youth present at the event were asked to brainstorm ideas on how these issues could be resolved. Masha ' allah!! the ideas and solutions suggested by the youth were amazing and very impressive e.g they suggested the following:
• Classes on native languages i.e. Gujarati and Kutchi (main); Urdu (which will help to understand lectures better)
• Classes on Islamic education for the 16 plus who have left madressa, to increase their knowledge and make sure they don’t feel spiritually scarred.
• More social events i.e. trips. This will help the youth to get to know one another better and perhaps bridge the segregation going on in our Khoja communities. (key point)
• More English Lectures - Sheikh Arif , Ammar Naqshwani…popular choices!
• Single Sex Discussion Groups - to enable the girls and boys to voice their opinions and have their say!!!!
• Sisters Circle (unique idea) - The girls choose a topic (EVERY MONTH) to research and discuss within a circle. This could be a religious, political, socially relevant topic… the idea is that the girls form a link through which they share knowledge and become better people and Muslims. (Commitment is the key)
• Get in touch with other Khoja communities and learn from them, and / or teach them something in return.
• The youth today can counsel younger people facing the same problems, issues that they are facing or have faced in the past. The idea is to make sure the next youth population avoid situations that the youth today are facing. The youth should have someone at their level to talk to. (CONFIDENTIALITY is very important because people will be discussing own personal issues)
• Organise Seminars particularly for parents to work on the generation gap with their youth and so that the youth and parents equally better understand each other.
• Be more welcoming to other people new to the community and to people of different jamaats i.e. Iraqis, Lebanese, Pakistani, Indian etc.
After this the youth had a chance to fire questions at the president of the Jamaat Brother Shabbir Rehmetullah. A Q&A session took place in the ladies hall accompanied by Youth Leader Brother Riyaz Jessa .
Many topics were discussed between the youth and the president of the Jamaat and Alhamdulillah went very well. And wise words of the President were ‘A stronger community spirit is the gateway to encouraging more youth to be involved!’ |
