Talha Saifi, Mohtamim Ishaat, MKA USA
Mahmood Kauser Sahib reports that the tabligh department of Majlis Khuddam-ul-Ahmadiyya USA set in motion this year’s “Da‘wat Ilallah Camp”.
For this year’s camp, we had 200 Khuddam registered who joined virtually. The average number of users was 90.
Topics discussed during the camp were:
• Good without God – How to tackle Atheism?
• Messaging: what should we say?
• How to harness self-confidence, identity, motivation and passion
• Don’t just spread the message, but be the message
During the conclusion of this year’s camp, we had a special ceremony for the “Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra Lifetime Commitment Award” which was awarded to Akbar Tshaka Ahmadi Sahib, a pioneer Ahmadi Muslim who resides in Harlem, New York.
During the first Segment – Good without God – How to Tackle Atheism? – Rizwan Khan Sahib delivered a presentation in which some statistics regarding the USA and their belief in God were highlighted. After sharing these statistics with all participants and a short discussion on the topic, the following questions were then discussed:
• Why people don’t have faith in God?
• Why are people leaving organised religion?
The next question that was posed to all Khuddam for their impressions and thoughts was, “Can you be good without God?”
Some Khuddam were able to answer the question and have an interactive discussion back and forth with the presenter. After several Khuddam answered this question on their own, the presenter answered the question based on Islamic viewpoints.
During the second segment, Tariq Malik Sahib (North American Coordinator of The Review of Religions) delivered a presentation on “Tabligh, self-confidence, identity, motivation and passion”. He went over topics such as “Ethics of tabligh” and “How Khuddam can gain confidence in doing tabligh”.
A question he posed to the Khuddam was, “Can you remember the last time you were afraid of something […] but you did it anyway?”
Some of the Khuddam gave their input on this question, relating some incidents of their life where they were not committed to doing certain things, but did them anyway and were able to push through their fears.
Next, Tariq Malik Sahib shared six tips and tricks with the Khuddam to improve their confidence skills.
At the very end of the lecture, some clips of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IVrh were shared in which he talked about relying on prayer and how we should attract people to ourselves first and then draw them to the message of Allah.
After this, Abdullah Dibba Sahib, a missionary, gave a presentation on “Messaging – What should we say?”
He gave an interactive presentation on how to interact with people. Moreover, some excerpts from the sermons of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IVrh were read and questions were asked based on those excerpts.
During the third segment, Ali Murtaza Sahib (former National Tabligh Secretary) spoke on “Don’t just spread the message, but be the Message”.
Each year, Majlis Khuddam-ul-Ahmadiyya USA presents a pioneer member of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya USA, the “Mufti Muhammad Sadiq Lifetime Commitment Award”. This award is given to recognise pioneer Ahmadis, those who played a big role in the establishment of the Jamaat here in the USA through their efforts of tabligh and personal relations.
Akbar Tshaka Ahmadi Sahib was the recipient of this year’s award.
Ousman Mbowe Sahib, Naib Sadr MKA USA, introduced Akbar Tshaka Ahmadi Sahib.
A series of questions were asked to Akbar Sahib regarding his early time as an Ahmadi here in America.
In the end, Akbar Ahmadi Sahib led silent prayer and the event concluded. The total duration of the camp was 2 hours and 15 min.