A R C H I V E S
Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| The "Triangle Effect"- Planning Youth Activities |
|---|
| jannah |
| 03/26/02 at 03:03:54 |
| The "Triangle Effect" "What is the Triangle Model? When planning activities for youth, you must keep in mind the fact that all youth are not interested in the same things. There will be some youth who are interested in having Islamic study circles where they learn about the Qur'an, Seerah, etc. It is likely however that a larger amount of youth would like to participate in social events such as basketball games, dinners, etc. As leader of your youth group you have to know how to balance these activities by planning social activities where Muslims can meet each other other and at the same time placing importance on acquiring Islamic knowledge. If we look at the life of the Prophet, there were activities that all the Muslims participated in. Participation in battles, building the masjid, going to Friday prayer required a strong commitment to Islam. The strong and the weak Muslim alike however could fulfill these duties. However other activites required an enormous dedication to pleasing Allah. Staying awake throughout the night in prayer, giving all of ones wealth in the path of Allah or even brushing the teeth everyday, were activities not required of all Muslims. The Prophet, saws, encouraged all to do these things, but understood the different levels of spiritual development in his community. The majority of the people need time to develop before they start activities that require a great deal of taqwaah to do. LEVEL ONE: In the Triangle Model, the bottom layer is activities for the largest number of people. Those are activites that are enjoyable by all levels of the community. They satisfy the need for social interaction with other Muslims and build the brotherhood or sisterhood in the youth group. These activities are structured according to the Quran and the Sunnah (no unsupervised intermingling between members of the opposite sex, for example.) Since these activites attract the largest amount of people, they should be your most publicized events. During these activites, you must try to attract people to activities in level two or above. The more the youth are willing to come to higher levels of commitment, the stronger your youth group will become, inshaAllah. examples: dinners/iftars, sports events, eid festivals, demonstrations, after jummah lunches. LEVEL TWO: Once the spark of interest has been lighted in a young Muslim, you must do your very best to involve him or her in higher level activities. Level two activities require a little more commitment of their time and resources. However these activities are still fun for the majority of youth. examples: bake sales, islamic culture fairs, masjid cleaning/recycling project, selling t-shirts, Islamic tapes etc., LEVEL THREE: This level requires a bit more commitment and knowledge about Islam. Activities in this level are designed for members who have a growing interest in seeing Islam prosper among the youth as well as the community at large. These activites also give the youth a chance to do thing that are encouraged in Islam. examples: presentations in highschools, distribution of information about Islam, sponsoring orphans, feeding the homeless, lectures on "hot" topics- marriage, women, politics, etc. LEVEL FOUR: Activities for youth who wish to increase their Islamic knowledge are the main focus of level four. These activities are very beneficial not only for those youth who are interested but for the members of the executive board of your youth group as well as adults who wish to build ther knowledge of Islam. examples: lectures on tafseer, aqeedah, seerah, etc, memorization competetions, interfaith meetings. LEVEL FIVE: This is the highest level of commitment. Most often 5% or less of the members of your youth group attend these activites. These activities should be very useful to the members of the leadership. As a leader, you should try to participate in these activities to the best of your ability and constantly encourage others to participate. examples: Islamic all-nighters, Tarbiyyah/halaqah program, intensive arabic courses, intensive courses in Islamic sciences. This triangle model gives you a basic idea of the types of activities you should have and the number of people you should expect for them. This model, however, will vary from community to community...An effective youth group will be able to cater to the needs of these different groups." -Muslim Youth of North America's 'Lets Build A Muslim Youth Group' |
| Re: The "Triangle Effect"- Planning Youth Activiti |
|---|
| Azeem_NYC |
| 05/15/02 at 03:49:50 |
| Salam mashallah, this is good From experience, I can say that this is definately true, Levels or stages of membership have to exist in a youth group, actually even with national orgs (for not so youth-like poeple-(adults)) to make any progress the people who need more tarbiya should get it, and shouldnt be held down by the other people around them who may only need a weekly discussion about islam in a very loose, fun islamic environement, some people want to Read, Study, Learn and are ready. A youth group has to be versatile enough to cater to its members needs. and If the Group has any direction at all it will have goals and objectives which will be furher explored as a member progresses through the stages of membership. Also you cant have a serious study circle, and invite a kid off the street to come sit in, he would be turned off just by seeing a book. Imagine if thats the first time someone came to the masjid since they were banned from Sunday school when they were younger and now you ask them to read books... that will never work. -Azeem Young Muslims www.ymusa.org |
| NS |
| Re: The "Triangle Effect"- Planning Youth Activiti |
|---|
| hijabi4L |
| 07/21/02 at 00:34:45 |
| [slm] I'm so glad that I came across this post! ;D i've just become the leader of the youth group at our mosque, and i'm always looking for ideas to keep our youth active but yet at the same time keep them all happy and enjoying themselves and having a good time.... and that has definitely proved very difficult. the youth here just arent interested in participating in activities when the idea of learning is brought up. they are more interested in coming to the mosque to mingle, especially with members of the opposite sex. and this is really getting to be a problem in my eyes. what can i do??? :( |
Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board |