My mate told me to go and get some fish & chips, and we ended up at a lecture about the purpose of life!

By Nadeem Ashraf

Disclaimer: The purpose of this article is to inspire other brothers and sisters that Dawah missions can be organised anywhere in the world. You just need the will to do it.

Yes, the above title was suggested by the CEO of Youth Club, after he heard about one of the many Dawah adventures that I had whilst on my short stay in the UK!

Youth Club has made some efforts in getting involved in the Dawah scene in UK. It is a sad reality that aside from iERA, Discover Islam, the Quran Project and the many small affiliates, not much is being done for the benefit of the numerous wayward Muslim youth in the UK.

So, we went about organising a few events for the brothers and sisters of Crawley.  Crawley is a town located in the county of Sussex, about 45 minutes south of London.

In all, we organised 5 events.  Brother Imran Ibn Mansur aka Dawah Man was the main character in our projects supported by his Dawah Man team, which includes Dawud Loka , Guled , Saad Ibn Mansur and Musa Adnan.

Before, I give a brief about the various events we organised, I also want to add that we also made several collaborative efforts with iERA, Hittin Institute and Exhibition Islam, Alhumdulillah. These organisations will support our Dawah efforts through various means including financial , material and general support inshaAllah.

So, back in April 2013, we organised an event to expose the beauty of Islam to those young Muslim brothers who had never attended an Islamic event in their lives, or even those who had doubts about their faith.  Non-Muslims were also invited to attend. We envisaged around 10-15 attendees.  This was an exclusive workshop/halaqah based on an invite-only system.  My brother Wasim was the main driving force in getting the crowd to the Masjid.  Through his crew, we had around 27 brothers who turned up MashaAllah!  Most of whom were of the ‘street gang’ background.  Imran gave a pitch-perfect discussion which lasted for about 5-6 hours.  It ended with pizzas and one-to-one counselling sessions at my place.  He spoke about the purpose of life, the rational foundations of Islam, the fallacy of the western culture dominated by the music culture etc.  A common theme woven through his lecture was his vivid portrayal of Paradise (especially talking about the hoor ul ayn!) The halaqah was very interactive, full of humour, Q&A and even role-plays to get the message through.

The next event was at my house; and we had a packed room again, around 25 guys.  This time Imran spoke about the concept of gratitude and our relationship with Allah SWT, as well as general points related to ‘Aqeedah.

In the third halaqah, held at my place, Imran discussed his post-Bayyinah course visit.  He discussed various points he had learnt related to tafseer.  He also connected the language of the Quran with that of the English-speaking youth, using all kinds of colourful slang.

Next up was the Dawah Training and Street Dawah missions that we organised with the help of the local Masjid and some enthusiastic brothers.  The training was conducted by Imran ibn Mansur and Br. Imran Hussain (who undertakes training sessions with iERA).  The training was held in the morning, and actual Dawah with the local non-Muslims of Crawley started in the afternoon.

The brothers who participated in the Street Dawah enjoyed the occasion immensely.  It was a first time for many of the brothers! A first for YC Street Dawah also!

Next up was the final double bill curtain drawer to the summer of Dawah ventures under taken with the Dawah Man!  At my house, Imran addressed around 15 sisters, some with the veil and a few without.  A powerful and moving discussion about the purpose of life and the role of the sisters took place.  The feedback from the sisters was excellent; the sisters resolved to try and organise more get-togethers etc.

After the sisters workshop, Imran addressed a packed crowd at a Community Hall.  There were many new faces mixed with the ‘regulars’.  Amongst the mix were about 3 non-Muslims.  One of these was a guy of Oriental origin who earlier had no idea that he would be attending a lecture about the purpose of life!  He thought he was just going out to chill with a few Asian mates and maybe get some chips!

The lecture was powerful and precise.  The main theme was: Allah SWT is calling out to you..will you respond? And surely later in the night one brother took his shahadah! Over pizza at my house! A few days later there was news of another attendee who was a Hindu who took his shahadah! This particular ex-Hindu brother was actually shaken by the eye-opening presentation on Islam. Even when I had spoken to him after the talk, he was in genuine shock! SubhanAllah! On top of those amazing pieces of news, there is an unconfirmed rumour that another guy has taken his Shahadah after a few brothers who have been attending our projects/events invites him…Allah SWT knows best!

So, the bulk of the Youth Club summer adventure in UK was the super efforts of Imran ibn Mansur.

It was a busy summer, but I’m hoping that a few seeds have been sown. Youth Club is  unique and it’s message is universal, with an enthusiastic response to it even in a country such as UK which has hundreds of organisations.