serious problem...

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serious problem...
shadow493
02/19/01 at 19:46:13
Assalamulaikum...
first i would like to know where everybody is from... im going to assume that most of you live in new york (sorry i think im confused!)... i wish i could live there and go to siraj's masjid... im listening to a ton of his tapes and i love them mashaAllah...
thats not my "serious problem"... here we go... i live in birmingham alabama (please throw away the stereotypes (i get too much of the "do you have power there, how many trailer parks are there!!) haha... even though we have our number of trailer parks here... its not that bad... yeah anyways... in my humble understanding here in birmingham, the youth here are in a serious decline... the MSA and the youth in general have been hit... i am in the process of begging monem salam (from dallas texas... if uve heard of him... ud know why i want him here... im very close to him) he's basically an awesome youth guy... but anyways... if anyone could give any suggestions for MSA and/or the youth id like it very much... my dad and i are in the process of starting something for the youth... but ideas are needed... our first idea was to rent out lanes at a bowling alley and doing that... then gradually work them into learning and stuff... please give ideas for MSA and/or youth... jazakullah khair... adam...
Re: serious problem...
Arsalan
02/19/01 at 20:12:25
Assalamu alaikum,

First off, I'm not from New York :)  Sorry!

Second, I know Monem Salam fairly well.  I've met him several times.  And I seriously doubt he'll be moving to Alabama.  He's a married guy now with a kid!

Third, I don't know what exactly you mean by your "MSA has been hit."  If MSA in your area doesn't even exist anymore, you need to make it exist first!  Get a group of brothers and sisters together (*at least* one people beside you) and get the organization registered on campus.  Then you need to start having simple activities that can pull all the Muslims together.  For brothers, sports work best.  For sisters, well, we have many sisters here that can give input I guess!

Start with a weekly activity and an activity that you do once a semester (picnic?  attending a close-by msa camp/conference together?).  Integrate social and educational together, with emphasis on the social part.  By educational, I mean small halaqahs.  

While you're at it, get some resources from the MSA-national.  Visit their web site at www.msa-natl.org  Make sure you get your hands on the "MSA Starters' Kit."  That'll help.

Once you get the socials and the halaqahs rolling, you can expand your activities (ex. da'wah on campus, bringing in speakers from out of town, creating awareness of the Islamic world on campus, etc etc).  But start out slow.  Your initial goal is to get as many people interested and hyped up for the MSA as possible.  Interest leads to motivation, and motivation leads to improvement.

One last thing.  Pray to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'aala.  We may do our best at trying to establish and improve Islamic work, but it aint gonna happen if Allah doesn't want to.  Get Allah on your side.  Depend on him, and show it in your du'aas to Him.  And then work hard, with patience and perseverence.  

May Allah help you, and all of us.  If you need more help, you know where to ask!

Wassalamu alaikum.
Re: serious problem...
shadow493
02/19/01 at 21:03:09
ahh... salaam alaikum... dont say that... inshaAllah he'll move here... hes been here like 3 times already and actually has been contemplating coming here... hehe... but really... im going to try that site... well thing is MSA here has no organization... really... its bad... but make dua' for us... please more suggestions... jazakullah kahir
Re: serious problem...
Nazia
02/19/01 at 23:15:23
[slm],

Wow, you're from bham? That makes 3 people from AL. I'm from huntsville.  Anyways, I have met a bunch of the kids from bham, and alhamdulillah you guys have a good group.  Well, with my experience in our community, it seems as if the girls can pretty much handle themselves and the brothers are the ones that need the *extra* help :)  Not to say sisters are perfect, b/c of course that is definitely not true.  Anyways, but for the moment, lets assume the brothers are the key issue, and then we can go from there.  For guys, it seems like the best thing to get them together is sports.  Especially if theres a field or something close to the masjid.  But see...here's what you do:

You put them into teams (or let them pick..whatever) and have them compete in various activities...and slooowly, extend these activities beyond sports.  So first, they're competing in basketball, but a month later they're competing in Sirah contests, etc.  You kind of *sneak* the idea of unity and brotherhood on them without them ever knowing! (If you read my other posts, you'll notice I'm a stong advocate of engaging in shady activity for the greater good ;) )

Ok, so lets say, this saturday is your first "meeting."  You meet at the masjid, pray dhur together, and then hit the courts/fields/whatever.  You're in teams, you play, you have fun, good times, etc. Asr time comes, you break and say, "Aiight guys, how about doing this again next week <or in two weeks>? Yes? Ok cool, Team A, you want to be responsible for bringing drinks?  And Team B, let's bring some snacks? Ok? Well, lets go pray...and then go to Five points and get some dinner ;)  If anyone needs a ride home, lemme know, and I'll make arrangements."

And boom! Before you know it, you're meeting regularly, giving out responsibility, having activities, and there ya go-- you have a full fledged youth group! And they never even saw it coming!!  

For girls, one thing that we do every now and again are "halaqa slumber parties."  They're pretty cool.  One girl volunteers her house and invites all the girls.  First we eat, joke around, goof off, laugh and pray Isha.  Then, for the rest of the night we have an agenda.  Girls have signed up throughout the night to speak about a topic they researched.  So at 12, Betsy (who converted after having coffee and conversing with her muslim coworkers ;) )speaks about the importance of tawhid and at 12:45 we get a short break, and then at 1am, someone give an in-depth history of the Battle of Badr...etc etc.  You get the idea.  Then, about an hour or two before fajr, we all pray tahajjud.  Then, after fajr, the normal girls go to sleep, and, in one instance, the more adventurous girls went swimming! Theeeen...we wake up and all go out for breakfast at the waffle house.  Now, this educational night, masked with the face of a "slumber party" is an *amazing* tool to get the girls hyped.  All of the sudden they don't mind coming to youth group meetings, going to functions, etc..
*phew*

One thing I want to emphasize is though it sounds like I am all about the social aspect of the youth group, I really only like to use it as a tool to get to the main purpose of these organizations...and this is, no doubt, to strengthen our iman and gain a greater understanding of our deen.  But, I'll let someone else take a shot at how to accomplish that :)
Take Care,
Wassalam,
Nazia Abbas
Re: serious problem...
jannah
02/20/01 at 01:29:39
[wlm]

wow super slumber party idea nazia!
Re: serious problem...
Muhi03
02/20/01 at 15:37:20
Assalaam u Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu

This is my first time posting... and i just wanted to give my props out to the people who made this site, b/c it has helped me alot in many ways...
tnx
w/s
PE@CE
Re: serious problem...
bhaloo
02/20/01 at 15:47:00
slm

Welcome to the board.  :)  Don't punga in the gunga and enjoy your stay here. :)
Re: serious problem...
BrKhalid
02/20/01 at 16:38:45
Asalaamu Alaikum ;-)

[quote](If you read my other posts, you'll notice I'm a strong advocate of engaging in shady activity for the greater good)[/quote]

I'm starting to get the picture!! ;-)

[quote]This is my first time posting... and i just wanted to give my props out to the people who made this site, b/c it has helped me alot in many ways...[/quote]


Welcome aboard Brother ;-)



Re: serious problem...
princess
02/21/01 at 14:27:53
[quote]Don't punga in the gunga and enjoy your stay here. :)[/quote]

walikumas'salaam warahamtullah :)

hahahaahahahah ;-D i coulda sworn that was copyrighted ;) but i'll let it slide :)

mr adam..do u know meraj? (he's on jannah.org as well) he's also from alabama..u guys should hook up something like a ball game or a halaqa :) those things will invite all sorts of crowds :)

the key thing is to not get discouraged :) the horizon islamic magazine (isna's magazine), started out as a few page newsletter in their community..and now look, mashAllah, their 1 of the biggest and widely circulated magazines in the states..:)

that's fikrah's goal, inshAllah :) to take over the world..(plug-in :)) ma'salaam ;-D
Re: serious problem...
bhaloo
02/21/01 at 15:46:51
slm

When I saw the post, I contacted Meraj the other day, turns out they are really good friends, alhumdullilah.  :)
Re: serious problem...
meraj
02/21/01 at 18:41:57
[slm]

ahh yes, the irony of it all, huh? :)

adami and i were even born in the same hospital :)

but yeah these problems have been goin on for a while and adami and i have beenn talking about it for a while with others... inshallah please make duaa for the youth to make some progress in our community, as well as everywhere :)
Re: serious problem...
se7en
02/22/01 at 02:56:16


As salaamu alaykum wa rahmatAllahi wa barakatuh,

Shadow, MYNA [Muslim Youth of North America] has a packet called "Let's Build a Muslim Youth Group".  It's pretty phat, has some step by step on how to get a youth group together, how to find advisors, ideas for events you guys can have, troubleshooting, how to organize things, how to get people involved, how to select leadership...

If you're interested, email me inshaAllah [se7en@jannah.org], I'll hook you up :)  Anyone else who's interested lemme know as well.

Muhi03, ahlan bro :)  hope that inshaAllah you benefit us as much as we benefit you :)

wasalaamu alaykum wa rahmatAllahi wa barakatuh.
Re: serious problem...
princess
02/22/01 at 10:33:58
[quote]adami and i were even born in the same hospital :)[/quote]

as'salaamualikum :)

iittt's a small world aafftteerrr all..iittt's a small world aafftteerrr all :) ma'salaam ;-D
Re: serious problem...
shadow493
02/25/01 at 17:47:05
assalamulaikum
thank you everybody for the posts... a few of the youth and my fahter had a meeting last night... and our first activity is to do this... we're going to establish it socially (thanks nazia :) )... we're going to have an eid party... and the assignment of the people who were at the meeting is to bring 5 people to it... muslims who either dont come to the masjid or who do... and we're (inshaAllah) going to rent a hall out... and have an ice cream party with a movie... the movie will be gladiator (halal according to my terms... good movie with no bad words or anything, just violence)... and we're going to have a curtain b/n the men and the women... and we're going to project it onto a huge screen... im pumped for this... meraj was there at the meeting... hehe... =) jazakullah khair for the insight... ive already downloaded and printed out the starting the MSA out... so i think we're going to establish the youth in general here first... then we'll work on specifics... like high school clubs and the MSA... JAZAKULLAH KHAIR everybody!!!!
walaikum assalam
adam taufique
Re: serious problem...
ABD
03/22/01 at 23:02:59
Assalamu Alaikum,

Yes, this is a serious problem. To tell you the truth, activities within the youth are declining all around the world, but what you said is much more serious.
Starting witht he bowling alley is a good idea and then working up from there. Maybe you can have a youth dinner where the youth come and a speaker talks about the importance of unity among the Muslims. He/she can talk about the importance of the future Muslim youth and that if they unify now, it'll be much harder to do so in the future. You can also have Islam classes where teachers give classes on reading Qur'an, giving lectures on different topics, etc.
Good luck to you and your father.

If there is anything we can do to help, don't hesitate and ask us. We'll do whatever we can.

Salam,


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