Abdul Jamil Mubbashar, Sadr Majlis Ansarullah Australia
In January 2021, on behalf of Majlis Ansarullah Australia, I requested Hazrat Amirul Momineenaa for a virtual mulaqat. Alhamdulillah, Huzooraa graciously approved this request. The mulaqat was to be held on 6 March 2021.
Right after receiving this approval, the national amila was informed and an urgent meeting was called on 31 January 2021. The national amila formed a committee with Romeo Khan Sahib in-charge, to make appropriate arrangements under the supervision of Sadr Majlis Ansarullah Australia.
Since the meeting was to be held in Sydney, all interstate national amila members and nazimeen-e-ala were invited to attend this blessed event. All naib qaideen were also included in this meeting for the purpose of blessings and learning.
The committee’s in-charge was asked to prepare his team for various departments. Interstate guests arrived on 3 March for the daily training rehearsals that were to be held in the days leading up to the mulaqat.
Initially, the national amila meetings were held on a weekly basis to review the progress of all arrangements. All these meetings were chaired by Sadr Sahib. In the final week of the mulaqat, training rehearsals were done for three days continuously before the mulaqat day. The MTA department started their full preparations and testing from 3 March and provided immense guidance and support.
The blessed day that everyone was eagerly awaiting had finally arrived. Members congregated in the Khilafat Centenary Hall at Bait-ul-Huda Mosque at 5pm. Dinner was served at 6:45pm and was followed by further rehearsals.
I personally supervised and provided detailed instructions about the format, sequence, seating and mode of the meeting. Qaideen reports were also reviewed to ensure that they clearly reflected the efforts of Ansar, yet still, were brief for presenting to Huzooraa.
The central MTA team made first contact with the Australian MTA team at approximately 8:50pm to test and ensure that all the technical aspects of the mulaqat were covered. They thoroughly tested the system setup, which included the sound clarity, hall setup, picture quality, the sequence of introductions with Huzooraa and camera work. After the testing was complete, the central MTA team advised that Huzooraa would be arriving in the next hour or so.
During the wait for our beloved Huzooraa, all members were reciting durood and istighfar continuously. There was pin-drop silence.
When Huzooraa appeared on the screen, it seemed that all our anxiousness, nervousness and worries were turned into pure moments of joy and thankfulness.
I greeted Huzooraa and introduced myself and then Huzooraa asked about the coronavirus conditions in Australia.
Huzooraa then gave every member the opportunity to introduce themselves, asking questions about each department and graciously responding to each member and providing guidance and advice for each department on how to improve and the areas to focus on.
Following the introductions and departmental reviews, Huzooraa graciously granted members permission to ask any questions they had.
All members felt feelings of happiness and joy for the blessings received and the time spent with our beloved Huzooraa. Members offered congratulations for a successful and blessed meeting. All members felt rejuvenated, full of zeal and vigour, to work harder to follow Huzoor’saa instructions, advice and expectations.
Sweets were distributed to everyone paying gratitude to Allah the Almighty for this very special and blessed event.
Some of the impressions of participants are listed below:
“[I am] feeling honoured and fortunate to be part of this blessed historic event of a virtual meeting with Huzooraa. However, [I was] also feeling stressed how to answer as I had not done justice to my responsibilities.”
“I was very excited but a bit nervous, fearing if Huzooraa asked a question and I did not know the answer.”
“When we were invited by Sadr Sahib for the virtual meeting, it was a moment of great excitement. While such was the happiness, it entailed worries as to whether we had done justice to the responsibilities we were given.”
One member viewed such a blessed opportunity as a mix of fear and happiness.
“As the meeting progressed, the stress and nervousness transformed into a pleasing environment. Worries turned into affection.”
“Before the meeting, I feared if I would be able to even talk to Huzooraa. However, Huzooraa spoke with us with such affection that the fear completely disappeared and love for Khalifa emanated.”
“The environment was so joyful and affectionate that the hour passed by within a few minutes.”
Another member said, “Alhamdulillah, Allah covered our errors by bestowing honour on us and our beloved Huzoor was happy with us”.
“Watching our beloved Khalifa happy and smiling, mostly while advising and guiding members in their responsibilities, were the best moments compared to anything in this world.”
“Very pleasing to hear from Huzooraa that I was remembered as previous sadr; this provided extra motivation and encouragement.”
“Elation! Beloved Huzooraa helped everyone to feel relaxed and be at ease with his humbleness and humour. Very humbling and emotional experience for everyone.”
The overall feelings were that everyone was so very thankful to Allah the Almighty that He blessed us with this great opportunity for a mulaqat and that all the nerves and anxiety turned into pure joy and serenity once our beloved Huzooraa arrived. His Holiness put everyone at ease immediately with his humility, humour and great demeanour.
After the conclusion of the virtual meeting, I held a brief meeting with the national amila and advised them to prepare their action points and future plans forthwith in accordance with the guidance of Huzooraa.