34. posters that advertise gatherings must be in english. if, like 90% of posters, the only language used is urdu; who do you think will attend? the over 50's. why won't the youth? it's because they didn't know a gathering is taking place or if they did, they didn't what it was about and which speakers were invited. there may even be cases where an english speaker is invited but because the poster had his name in urdu, youth that might have attended will not do so because they didn't know. if you don't want the whole page in english, give the same details in both urdu and english.
32. in another thread, nj had a great idea about how to better use the money that we spend on raffle tickets for umrah. in pakistan, it's somewhat understandable because a lot of the people are not affluent enough to buy their own umrah tickets but here in the UK; perhaps it could be better spent. the number of tickets to be drawn seems to growing year on year too. some places have 10-15. if they're even £500 each, that's £5000. you could bring a scholar to a masjid to teach for 3 months and offer him a nazrana of £5000. the whole community would benefit. people need to realise that their money can be better spent. it is a huge reward to send someone for umrah but in this day and age - when knowledge is rare - it may be even more reward to pay for one youth to go on this course for 3 months. shaykh al-hadith mufti sharif rizwi said that when the sahabi, sa'd, came to rasulAllah sallAllahu 'alaihi wasallam and wanted to do isaal al-thawab for his mother; the dear prophet sallAllahu 'alaihi wasallam said to dig a well. this was because there was a shortage of water in madina at the time. similarly, we have a famine of knowledge. hence, our isaal al-thawab is best done to cater for this. imagine, a good scholar teaching at the jamia mosque for an hour a day for 3 months and longer at weekends. i'm sure £5000 can do this. just imagine someone like mawlana sa'eed as'ad giving a dars e qur'an over 3 months and covering the major aspects of ulum e qur'an. also, the infamous committee can't complain because it's all paid for. --- 33. trivial but most off-putting: why is a local level gathering called a conference? we must stop trying to compete with each other by calling our gathering a conference. a conference is where new ideas are shared and discussed. if you are just going to have the fiery speeches with no dissemination of ideas, call it a jalsa.
31. this is a controversial one but i think ahlus sunnah give too much money in nazrane to na'at khwans. all this money that we shower [literally] on them is theirs to keep. what benefit will this have for ahlus sunnah? some amounts are actually extortionate and please note, i'm not saying this is the fault of the na'at khwan unless they actually demand this money. all this sunni money could be going to darul ulums that produce our next generation of scholars. instead, it goes into the na'at khwans pocket and ahlus sunnah do not benefit. there has got to be some sort of agreement whereby all nazrane - instead of going straight into the waistcoat pocket of the na'at khwan as soon as he finishes - should be given to the organisers who then split the money with the percentage agreed beforehand. this way, the na'at khwan is happy and ahlus sunnah get some benefit from hard earned sunni money. why do we see it as some sort of competition as to who gives more and how extravagantly he gives it? if x gave £30, i'll give more and make a big show of it too. give your money to sunni organisations that do work instead.
if one group won't listen, then i'd much rather it was the elders. --- 30. lengthy du'as and salat o salam - the dear prophet sallAllahu 'alaihi wasallam advised that congregational prayer be kept short for the weak and elderly. that is fard whereas the du'a and salat o salam is not yet we prolong them no-end. the key to du'a is sincerity, not duration; and salat o salam, 3 couplets is fine. they have become hallmarks of ahlus sunnah so we must keep practicing them but consideration for others is key. maybe if we kept them short, more people would partake? perhaps even briefly explaining the couplets because people will recite with more sincerity if they understand the words.
its basic manners isn't it? if you are in a normal conference you do not interrupt the speaker or talk even if you are bored to death; how much MORE should this apply in a mosque?
mmm interesting as i have observed the same scenario.i think this happens when a speaker blabbers like mishmash parrot or a runaway rawalpindi express.eye contact,speaking to the audience and having 'HEY IAM WATCHING U' expression are relevant.speakers need to stop now and then to remind the audience abt a'adab of masjid,jalse maulood etc.what may also solve the problem is when english speakers kindly and calmly announce that elders should sit directly infront and vice versa hence talking will lessen.this however will not entirely solve the problem.
28. our speakers/na'at khwans must not over-book themselves - during busy periods when there are a lot of jalse, more renowned speakers/na'at khwans get invites to many programmes in one day. they must have a diary that is realistic. if you have been invited to one programme in london at 4pm and the other in manchester at 6pm, then this is impossible to achieve. decline the invite or try to negotiate times. there are many times when organisers have to announce that a guest will not be attending. i feel this is due to over-booking. 29. gatherings need to be shorter. at times, there are sunni jalse that last 6-7 hours. this is too long. an annual conference is a separate matter but a jalsa at a local mosque at a local level must be shorter, 4 hours at most.
Bro Aqdas, I meant exactly that, ie to hand out to the members of the committees at the local masajids, not to individuals per se. But, it does offer us individuals a valuable tool for discussion
It's not just the kids who need to make less noise, in my local mosque (in the UK) it's the elders who need to remain quiet. Uptil a year or so ago, we only had an urdu speaking imam who would deliver the friday sermon in urdu, with a smattering of punjabi. All the 'elders' used to listen to it quietly while the young guys who didn't understand anyhting would talk among thermselves. But, now that we have an english speaking imam who delivers the sermon in english, the youngsters listen to him while the 'elders' sit in groups and talk among themselves.
I asked a few murids of the Habaib from Yemen, and they told me that it is very disrespectful when children make trouble and shout while the Imam is speaking, or a dars is going on, or an attendee is asking a question. It is best a baby/minor sitting area is reserved a bit far off from the majlis, where the minor children are kept under extra care and safety. It is the responsibility of the parents. In that baby/minor sitting area, we can conduct educational programs for the minors. Shaykh NuH, for example, is very careful about this in his SuHbas. There is a SuHba of his happening this month in Leeds, in the UK.
i'm not sure it should be distributed to everyone because most of the recommendations are for the imams and committees. if we give it to everyone in the congregation and then the committee did not comply, they might get questioned. hence, i would only give it to the imams and committee. --- 26. we discussed bringing children to masjids here. it's very off putting when children sit at the back of the mosque and talk loudly when an orator is speaking. there should be at least a few elders who sit at the back with these children and warn them against making noise. 27. mobile phones must be switched off or at least silent at all times in the mosque. isn't it oh-so-annoying when someone is pretending to speak quietly whilst covering their mouth and phone with their hand but we can still hear them loud and clear? mosques could even invest in one of these.
I respect both opinions for and against na'aras personally preferring limiting them to just takbir and risalah and at reasonably stretched out intervals, like every 20 - 30 minutes ... it also serves as a refreshing jump start to the brothers and sisters who have dozed off or have wandered away into lala land while the wa'izdh is speaking. BUT to ALL Sunnis worldwide: for the love of Allah - PLEASE - DO - NOT - start with the political naarebazi of desiland. It is makrooh and unIslamic firstly, and secondly, VERY CHEAP, (in colloquial language its called 'chaaplusi' or 'chamchagiri'), thirdly, imho it is disrespectful to the Islamic knowledge being discussed (maybe its just me who feels such na'aras value personality above knowledge) and fourthly, it pretty much offers a free penalty kick to the enemies of Ahlus Sunnah and/or the particular sheikh's followership as in "see! I told you these guys venerate their sufi masters like the jews do their rabbis" or "these guys value groupie fan club loyalty above Islamic scholarship" and so on... I don't need to remind anyone how the gossip and rumor mill works in our desi communities. All the "'allaama fulan - ZINDABAAAAAD" and "mawlana fulan - ZINDABAAD" na'aras should be hated like the bloody swine flu... seriously, the harmful repurcussions of such kissing up are way too many to list, in an age where intelligent questioning has been replaced with blind fan club following, where seeking accountability from a person with a title is tantamount to a kabeerah, and knowledge and truth are determined from titles, popularity and the number of fans - we REALLY don't need this. our greats did not participate in mass kiss up gatherings like this, rather they were criticized on their blessed faces and they appreciated it and answered to such queries with a straight face. Regardless whether the attacks were on their personal characters or their knowledge was questioned, they gladly faced those questions not bringing their nafs anywhere close to it. Such examples from the khulafaa ar-raashideen and sahaba and a'ima mujtahideen and others are plenty. They were publicly questioned on matters pertaining to their positions in power and administrative policies or aspects of their life affecting the masses or their knowledge and their daleels for their stances, and so on. Sadly in our current fan club culture, such is considered taboo and popularity is what validates a person rather than sacred law. sadly, more than once I have even seen some "mawlanas" initiate a [shakhsiyat] zindabaad na'ra towards some mufti or 'allama or speaker of a higher, more senior standing than himself and his tone and excitement in kissing up was beyond apparent... or maybe it could have just been my imagination running wild- silly me!
This list is great and fantastic idea. I can't wait for the full and final version so that I can distribute in my local area
24. car parking at sunni gatherings is awful. which sunni gathering have you been to where someone hasn't disturbed the main speech to announce: can the person with car registration number X please move their car, you are blocking someone in? illa mashaAllah. it's discourteous and rude to park incorrectly. a man should be designated to organise the parking and ensure no contraventions are committed. 25. lengthy slogans - speakers have a right and should be allowed to utilise their allocated time as they wish and lengthy na'aras disturb this. aH discussed na'aras here and i disagree with him that na'aras are not needed but i do think they should be kept short. takbir and risalat are fine and even if one adds tahqiq and haydari; it's not too lengthy. however, there are times when na'aras get so long that the speaker has to indicate to the person to stop and that time is short. sometimes people begin shouting na'aras even before a speaker has finished their point! this is absurd. you have just disturbed the flow of the speaker and may have caused a point to be missed by the audience or at least reduced its influence. worst thing is, the slogan shouter probably didn't understand the point in the first place; if they did, they wouldn't have started shouting so soon.
21. if not all, then at least the bigger mosques need to have websites that are updated regularly. how many times are there gatherings at a mosque and people aren't sure when they are? a website would get rid of such problems and tell us times/dates. better still, there would be a schedule for the event including names of speakers, topics and times. i say updated regularly because some sunni mosques do have websites but the last update is 2 years ago. this thread is about sunni gatherings but sidetracking slightly, the website should have times for jum'a and the monthly timetable. there should be an email address for the imam to answer questions on. announcements such as 'id and ramadan could be put on too. even the finances and exam results. 22. at some gatherings, there isn't a pulpit to sermonise from. when there is one, it obviously allows a speaker to place notes but also focuses more attention to him from the audience instead of him just standing there with a mic clipped to his kameez. on the topic of mics, why can't they just a have a fixed mic instead of allowing every other speakers to trip over the wire when they finish? those clip on mics are ok for namaz but not for speeches etc. 23. it is not fard to announce the names of each mawlana as they arrive. worse still, we must not exagerrate epithets. mawlana is a grand enough title and there is no need to promote everyone to 'allama. for me, this actually reduces the rank of a real 'allama in the eyes of people. if the local hafiz is an 'allama then perhaps the real 'allama is not so knowledgeable. we must accord titles according to real rank and nj touched upon this earlier. --- i apologise for sounding nitpicky and harsh, but we do need to look at such things.
this thread reminds me also of something else which AH once said. I think on this forum, that certain people should be made to read the alice in wonderland books by lewis carroll (a mathematician at oxford) to learn how to spot fallacies in arguments. i agree. except i want to take it further and suggest a list of books budding ulama [who live in the UK] should read to get to know their target audience (and i am only being slightly tongue-in-cheek with some of these): 1. alice in wonderland/through the looking glass by lewis caroll 2. the english by jeremy paxman 3. complete works of shakespeare 4. islam and postmodernism by akbar s ahmad 5. the female eunuch by germaine greer 6. the second sex by simone de beauvoir 7. the art of baloney detection by carl sagan [this is a chapter in one of his books --cannot remember right now but i think the book is called 'science'] 8. a short introduction to logic [oup] 9. a short introduction to philosophy [oup] 10. Doing It by Melvyn Burgess* 11. Atomised by Michel Houellebecq 12. The Telegraph/The Times/The Guardian/The Independent newspapers at least once a week. 13. Watch Question Time/listen to Any Questions on BBC Radio 4 each week. 14. Listen to In Our Time (Radio 4) 15. Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman 16. The Lost Art Of The Great Speech: How To Write One - How To Deliver It 17. Essential Teaching Skills by Chris Kyriacou 18. Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم by Martin Lings 19: Listen to recordings of The Annual BBC Royal Institution Christmas Lectures to see how to deliver academic speeches to a Westernised audience and keep them gripped without dumbing down. [bold is essential]
i was actually referring to this bit: thanks in advance, asif. we will all subsequently deliver your document to our locals mosques. only kiddin', bro. if you have time, do it; if not, someone else can do it but it's a good idea. we will deliver and then it's up to the masjid to implement.
