Yesterday Masjid Al-Amin organised its inaugural monthly Tamil talk, on issues pertaining to Islam. It became a fashion about 2 years ago to have monthly talks by the Imams of the different Tamil-based mosques. So each mosque invited the other's Imams regularly. Telok Blangah has a strong Indian-Muslim presence, but suggestions for a monthly talk fell on deaf ears for about 2 years. Finally, it was made a priority and alhamdulillah, it was a successful one yesterday. I thank my dear friends who made time for the event to help out by snapping photos (Jalsa) and doing random acts (Ali). (Good jobs guys!)
On the "Responsibilities of Parents", the talk did not start off with a full house, but eventually about 70% of the seats were filled. The content of the talk was basically a collection of hadiths that our Master s.a.w. had said about parenting.
I feel that a talk given by any India-based Imam is never fully in sync with the needs of a diverse Singaporean, Indian-Muslim audience. The audience consists of those who - yes- come for a exposition of hadiths, but it also consists of working professionals who seek Islam's practical relevance in their lives, and interested youth who are forming their opinions on their faith in relation to other faiths they come across. In view of such diverse needs, just quoting and unquoting acontextual hadiths will never cut it. There needs to be a mix of messages for the different groups.
I look forward to future monthly talks, where hopefully, we can control the content of the talks by actively engaging the speaker beforehand, and try to make it even more meaningful for those who attend.
On the "Responsibilities of Parents", the talk did not start off with a full house, but eventually about 70% of the seats were filled. The content of the talk was basically a collection of hadiths that our Master s.a.w. had said about parenting.
I feel that a talk given by any India-based Imam is never fully in sync with the needs of a diverse Singaporean, Indian-Muslim audience. The audience consists of those who - yes- come for a exposition of hadiths, but it also consists of working professionals who seek Islam's practical relevance in their lives, and interested youth who are forming their opinions on their faith in relation to other faiths they come across. In view of such diverse needs, just quoting and unquoting acontextual hadiths will never cut it. There needs to be a mix of messages for the different groups.
I look forward to future monthly talks, where hopefully, we can control the content of the talks by actively engaging the speaker beforehand, and try to make it even more meaningful for those who attend.
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