The seminar room was cooled by the central air-conditioning, and the combination of the fluorescent and natural lighting gave it a touch of serenity. Against the ambient chill-out music, courtesy of an Anoushka Shankar album, the participants chatted among themselves and probably wondered how this was going to turn out, having been organised by an Indian Muslim association.
For one, the venue was not a mosque, it was a university. There were mostly young people aged 17 to their early thirties, and no "Indian Chief" in sight. There didn't seem to be any commotion and confusion among the organisers that is usually characteristic of an Indian Muslim event. Shockingly, there was no tea or smell of briyani (to be distributed later). The whole thing looked too... organised. Corporate, even.
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When this certain association first approached us, the job was to "do an event for the youth". It was as broad as that. No objectives, no deliverables, nothing. This was a good thing, it gave us a large scope with which to play around. The opportunity to change the face of the tag "Indian Muslim" was glaring at us in our face. With whom were we trying to change this face?
From my observations, experiences and conversations with many friends, community leaders and activists, I found out that Indian Muslim youth were not engaged enough. Most of the activities organised by the various associations were aimed at the general adult population (maulid ceremonies and religious talks), or for the really young ("Islamic" quizzes, adhaan and Qur'an recitation competitions). Those in-between, namely teens, young adults and working professionals below age 35, were not interested in these events. If at all they attended, it was for face, not because of a real need to do so. They also seemed to be put off with all the over-the-top hoo-haa that came with the events, such as thanking speeches, briyani distribution, sub-par venues and absolutely no value proposition for them.
What happens when a community doesn't pay enough attention to this group? A wealth of resources is wasted. The potential of tomorrow's young blood is surrendered to an unknown black hole, and the leadership skills and resources of today's young leaders goes untapped and unappreciated.
With this opportunity from the association to do an event for youth, we decided to put some of this thinking into use and decided to organise a talk on career options for youth Indian Muslims in the tertiary institutions. The persons who would share their experiences would be the community's own creme de la creme of young professionals. We hoped that this sharing of experiences would postively reinforce the youngsters' sense of purpose and establish some direction in their lives, while the professionals were able to share their life experiences and have a sense of contribution to the community.
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And we come back to the seminar room at the University. All very corporate-looking.
We went ahead with the idea and with all the support from the Almighty, Who never fails His servants when they do something for His sake, the event was a great success. You can read about it
here. We had a good crowd and believe everyone took home something useful.
This is only the first step of many steps to come, Insha Allah. The youth of the community will become a force to reckon with if only we do our part to engage them, guide them and help them as and when they need it.
