Download
1 / 39
E N D
1. Life is a Journey Faith is a vehicle MAJLIS 8 Nurturing the Next Generation
2. Series – Muharram 1431 1. Karbala – an instrument of reform
2. Power of Intentional Living
3. The power of Critical Thinking
4. Time is life’s capital
5. Value Proposition of insaan
6. Emotional Intelligence – EQ v/s IQ
7. Living a purposeful life –
8. Nurturing the Next Generation
9. Concept of the Society of Believers
10. Life is a Journey – Islam is the vehicle
3. Moving with Husayn Do not move with Husayn in history;
Move with him in reality, revolution, and change.
Upon the crib of Ali Asgher , eyes have flowed (with tears)
In the crib of life, those very eyes have remained shut.
4. Role of women in Karbala . In Karbala women are depicted as warriors, fighting against injustice
A message for women to fight against oppression and to work for justice
Able to personify the quality or attribute that Zainab(a) exudes
More than Hijab ……..
5. Looking at the multitude rejoicing the daughter of Ali AS said: "Woe upon you O people of Kufa. Do you realise which piece of Muhammad’s heart you have severed!
Which pledge you have broken!
Whose blood you have shed!
Whose honour you have desecrated!
It is not just Hussain whose headless body lies unburied on the sands of Kerbala.
It is the heart of the Holy Prophet. It is the very soul of Islam!"
6. Empowering Women The aza enables for the modern woman to identify with Zainab’s (SA) role in Karbala .
Fatima (SA) became a symbol of courage
Strong and powerful roles as angered wife
Outraged daughter of the Prophet Muhammad,
Demonstrated a defiance of the limitations assigned to her by culture
to “transcend gender expectations and regulations."
7. Empowerment of Women Two most important aspects of faith are community and family
Within the family, the role of woman as mother is considered one of the most sacred tenets that underpin our faith
The Prophet ‘ Your Mother’
8. Indispensable for building the next generation. indispensable for building character of the next generation.
ONLY A believing mother can imbue her children with faith and moral values
9. Indispensable for building the next generation. She will raise children with
courage,
Truthfulness
love and kindness
faith and self-confidence.
A society without mothers and home-makers will produce at-risk youth.
10. Family Family - an intentional society
To lead a common life,
With common responsibility,
With reciprocal rights and obligations based on a definite social system
Hukulul Ibaad – critical need
11. “Raise your children differently from the way you were raised, for they are going to live in a different time” Imam Ali (AS) Behaviors change with time
Prepare the future generations so that they will not be out of tune with their time and place. TWO DIFFERENT GENERATIONS: PARENTS AND CHILDREN
Ali b. Abi Talib, Amir al Mumineen, counseled that parents should rear their children in a different manner than the one in which they were reared, on the premise that they were born in a different time. What is the value of rearing from a perspective which respects time difference? What is the role of past methods and experience here?
What al-Sharif al-Radi related in Nahj al-Balagha is, "Do not mold your children's ethics according to yours, for their time is different from yours." “Do not force your children to behave like you for surely they have been created for a time which is different to your time” – Imam Ali (AS)When we wish to analyze this narrative, we must take note that there is a difference between the principles and the ethics, which form the behavioral aspect of life. If we wish to delve deeper into the matter, then we must state that ethics is of two categories: morals that are immutable and morals that change.
Immutable morals comprise the pure morals necessary in thought and deed for daily living, necessary in every time and place (e.g., truth, honesty, chastity, and the like) from the best ethical models for perfectly integrated human life.
The morals that change are manners and methods of interaction which reflect social interaction and ways of living in the evolution of the self, etiquette, and protocol. The etiquette of respect, speech, political or social relations changes from time to time.
Take clothing as an example. What is important is not to wear what the Prophet wore, or what the Imams and the Companions wore. Every epoch has its form of dress, and it is possible for us to employ the modern items people have invented while developing various forms of eating, dress, and other things. A tradition was reported from Imam al-Sadiq(a.s.) : "The best dress of the time is the dress of its people"-i.e., a person should wear what the people wear.
EVERY AGE HAS ITS MORALS
The morals Imam Ali (a.s.) referred to, therefore, are those that change and are reflected in daily relations and manners, and every new horizon. We find that in the past man had limited horizons. People's values were limited to their lives and to working in order to reach particular, limited ends. But life has expanded, and with it knowledge. Changed also are the ways of instruction and the benefits.
Thus, the Imam wanted to say, You must be aware that temporal values change with time, to prepare the future for your children, that you may mold them for the ethics of that future time and that they will not be out of tune with their time and place. The Imam did not mean the methods people invented, no matter how little they are in keeping with the limits imposed by God (Exalted). For there are types of clothing which are not harmonious with decency. This changed value may thus clash with an immutable precept. There is no way, for example, for us to agree on women's fashions in public, since even where they differ from the changing issues in actuality, they clash with established morals.
The Imam's position had to do with ethics that change, being the result of the normal course of life which brings difference and development-on the condition that temporal values do not clash with immutable, established morals.
THE DESIRED BALANCE IN THE LIFE OF THE YOUTH
During the stage of youth, there is an inclination either, towards frivolity, game playing, and horseplay, or to drowning in spirituality and worship. How do we balance these two extremes?
Every stage of life needs proper balancing through a personal process of harmonizing bodily needs with ideals. The person who drowns himself in the one or the other may either be a believer overcome by faith, which draws him to spiritual immersion; else his basic instincts may pervade over him and pulls him to sport and frivolity.
Therefore, one must contemplate his affiliations, and those involved in the field of education must work towards directing the youth to reach a level of balance in the material and spiritual dimensions. If we wish to deal with the spiritual dimension in someone's personality, we must stress a spirituality which does not distance itself from the physical aspect in the existential outlook of the person. This is because the physical dimension has in its core some aspects of spirituality. By the same token, the spirit cannot manifest itself without some external form, which makes the balance between the physical and the spiritual, something dictated by both dimensions.
TWO DIFFERENT GENERATIONS: PARENTS AND CHILDREN
Ali b. Abi Talib, Amir al Mumineen, counseled that parents should rear their children in a different manner than the one in which they were reared, on the premise that they were born in a different time. What is the value of rearing from a perspective which respects time difference? What is the role of past methods and experience here?
What al-Sharif al-Radi related in Nahj al-Balagha is, "Do not mold your children's ethics according to yours, for their time is different from yours." “Do not force your children to behave like you for surely they have been created for a time which is different to your time” – Imam Ali (AS)When we wish to analyze this narrative, we must take note that there is a difference between the principles and the ethics, which form the behavioral aspect of life. If we wish to delve deeper into the matter, then we must state that ethics is of two categories: morals that are immutable and morals that change.
Immutable morals comprise the pure morals necessary in thought and deed for daily living, necessary in every time and place (e.g., truth, honesty, chastity, and the like) from the best ethical models for perfectly integrated human life.
The morals that change are manners and methods of interaction which reflect social interaction and ways of living in the evolution of the self, etiquette, and protocol. The etiquette of respect, speech, political or social relations changes from time to time.
Take clothing as an example. What is important is not to wear what the Prophet wore, or what the Imams and the Companions wore. Every epoch has its form of dress, and it is possible for us to employ the modern items people have invented while developing various forms of eating, dress, and other things. A tradition was reported from Imam al-Sadiq(a.s.) : "The best dress of the time is the dress of its people"-i.e., a person should wear what the people wear.
EVERY AGE HAS ITS MORALS
The morals Imam Ali (a.s.) referred to, therefore, are those that change and are reflected in daily relations and manners, and every new horizon. We find that in the past man had limited horizons. People's values were limited to their lives and to working in order to reach particular, limited ends. But life has expanded, and with it knowledge. Changed also are the ways of instruction and the benefits.
Thus, the Imam wanted to say, You must be aware that temporal values change with time, to prepare the future for your children, that you may mold them for the ethics of that future time and that they will not be out of tune with their time and place. The Imam did not mean the methods people invented, no matter how little they are in keeping with the limits imposed by God (Exalted). For there are types of clothing which are not harmonious with decency. This changed value may thus clash with an immutable precept. There is no way, for example, for us to agree on women's fashions in public, since even where they differ from the changing issues in actuality, they clash with established morals.
The Imam's position had to do with ethics that change, being the result of the normal course of life which brings difference and development-on the condition that temporal values do not clash with immutable, established morals.
THE DESIRED BALANCE IN THE LIFE OF THE YOUTH
During the stage of youth, there is an inclination either, towards frivolity, game playing, and horseplay, or to drowning in spirituality and worship. How do we balance these two extremes?
Every stage of life needs proper balancing through a personal process of harmonizing bodily needs with ideals. The person who drowns himself in the one or the other may either be a believer overcome by faith, which draws him to spiritual immersion; else his basic instincts may pervade over him and pulls him to sport and frivolity.
Therefore, one must contemplate his affiliations, and those involved in the field of education must work towards directing the youth to reach a level of balance in the material and spiritual dimensions. If we wish to deal with the spiritual dimension in someone's personality, we must stress a spirituality which does not distance itself from the physical aspect in the existential outlook of the person. This is because the physical dimension has in its core some aspects of spirituality. By the same token, the spirit cannot manifest itself without some external form, which makes the balance between the physical and the spiritual, something dictated by both dimensions.
12. Guiding the Youth of the New Generation – Ayatullah Mutahhari “ Each generation is responsible for the guidance of the proceeding generation”
“ we must completely remove the thought from our heads that this new generation must be guided by following the methods used by the previous generations.”
13. Are Our youths developing into healthy adults? What challenges are they facing as they grow in the North American culture?
What role can the home and Jamaat play in nurturing these youth in multi-cultural and multi-faith systems
14. Four Challenges for Muslim Youth Navigate the adolescent period—the so-called teen years.
learn and practice Islam.
learn and feel a sense of engagement to the dominant culture.
learn, make sense of, and feel a sense of belonging to their parents’ culture of origin.
15. Muslim Youth in North America Torn between - maintaining an equilibrium of identities
nationality
faith
culture of their parents origins
How can we create futures that are meaningful for them
16. Family life in NA Today every other child in the U.S. is born out of wedlock.
38% of children now live without a biological father
6.6 m. live with divorced single parents, mostly mothers
20% of children in the United States, ages 6-12, have not had a 10 minute conversation with a parent in a month.
17. 15 million out a total population of about 60 million youth come from dysfunctional families
Conversation is with TV, which acts as their mother, father, baby-sitter, and teacher.
By the time they are teens, children have seen an estimated 18,000 violent murders on TV.
18. A country with many children but without adults. Every year 3.4 million of them try drugs.
Half a million attempt suicide.
A lot of them will drop out of high school and will be functionally illiterate in a country with free universal education.
"Something is wrong with the entire American family,"
Martin Marty, professor at the University of Chicago
"One has the weird sense that America is a country with many children but without adults."
19. So What Happened? What happened to their own parents?
They were not killed in a war, or by a plague, or a natural disaster.
Problem is self-inflicted.
Mothers left the home to "realize their full potential" in the work place
A society that belittled the task of home-making lost the home-makers.
20. Our Culture completely governed by the economic imperative.
Human life everywhere is now basically defined in economic terms.
Human aspiration in terms of economic goals.
Children - career & future employment, is the only thing in their life that really matters
Whole education is geared towards that end.
Education for the love of knowledge !!
21. Shaytan’s Strategic Plan We can't keep Muslims from going to Mosque."
We can't keep them from reading their Quran and knowing the truth."
So let them go to their Mosques; BUT steal their time
they don't have time to develop a relationship with Allah and his messnger Muhammad.
22. Keep the TV, VCR, CDs, DVDs PCs going constantly in their home
"Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day.
Invade their driving moments with billboards.
Flood their mailboxes with junk mail and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes.
Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on Allah's creation.
Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, and movies instead.
Keep them busy, busy, busy!“
This will jam their minds and break that union with Allah and his messenger Muhammad
23. "How shall we do this? Distract them from remembrance of Allah
Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life
Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow."
Persuade mothers to go to work for long hours & fathers to 7/11/365 so they can afford their empty lifestyles.
Keep them from spending time with their children
24. Help them Reconnect Reconnect with the core message which is the heart of our faith:
Surrender to His will (Islam),
Accept Allah into ones heart (Iman),
Belief in his Oneness (Tauhid)
Act with Justice (Adalah)
Lead a life of goodness and morality (Taqwa)
Avoid talk of hate, fiqhi gymnastics, negative aspersions,
Husne Zan – Help them think well of others
25. Role of Fathers Viewing fatherhood in material terms
Working long hours for the family
Lend me $30 …….
‘I have to see to it that my children are well fed, obtain a good education and are given a good start in life’.
The father’s role - far beyond that of just the financial protector.
26. A tremendous responsibility Pedestal of leadership in the home
Role model of the child
Leadership does not imply the right to be overbearing
27. Be for your child what you want your child to be Teach your children the faith
how to love Allah
how to be patient, how to be honest.
Hands on training.
Train your child to do things.
Train your child how to make good decisions. Train your child to be responsible.
Train your child to be a good husband and a good father.
28. Light of our future Look around you for a moment ……..
light of the future is our youth.
If we empower and nurture our young
adjusting to change
becoming agents of change.
29. Shift the Paradigm Make Space for that fresh vision
Accept that they may have a better handle on the road ahead.
Move away form the drivers seat
Don’t be a back seat driver
Allow them the privilege of making mistakes
30. Imam Sadiq (AS) “The person who is fully aware of the time in which he is living in will never be overcome with bewilderment (of the things around him).”
31. A matter of Serious Concern Well educated and economically well placed young men and women are running shy of the Community
Why are such youths choosing to keep away from the mainstream of the Community?
The Community belongs to them and they will have to lead into the future.
32. Profile of the IPOD generation Ahmed knows it's time to pray
not by a muezzin's call from a mosque minaret, but because his PowerMac has just chimed.
A child of the prosperous Muslim immigrants of the '60s and '70s
Member a new sub-culture that is a blend of Muslim and North American institutions.
Eg The Karbala Project
33. The ‘U’ Generation – A Self Definition ! I live in America and I am an Uncle
Mine is a mind that is in bondage to the past glories of my ancestors
The fast foods of western thought and the home-cooked porridge of Islamic traditions are equally agreeable to my palate.
indigestion & get verbal diarrhea.
34. A Prayer …… in verse Ya Rabb! dil-e-Muslim ko wo zinda tammana dey
Jo qalb ko germa dey, jo rooh ko tarpa dey
Phir wadi-e-faran kay her zarrey ko chamka dey
Phir shok-e-tamasha dey, phir zoq-e-taqaza dey
Mehroom-e-tamasha ko phir deeda-e-beena dey
Dekha hai jo kuch main nay, auron ko bhi dikhla dey
O Lord, endow the Muslims heart with motivation anew
Such that it can warm the heart and stir the soul anew
Let every drop of the Islamic nation shine once more
Bless it with determination and zeal once more
Those who have been blinded , give them fresh insights too
What I have perceived, show the same vision to them too
Allama Iqbal :
35. Imam Sadiq (AS) “The person who is fully aware of the time in which he is living in will never be overcome with bewilderment (of the things around him).”
36. Leaving a Legacy “By death the scroll of life gets folded for ever - three groups are exempted from it:”
The Holy Prophet
A scholar who has left behind a scholarly work as a reminder for the guidance of the people.
A good and pious off spring who remember their parents during the supplications with goodness.
A person who has left behind endowments and charities by which the people are profited
37. 37 Titles of Abbas Abu al-Fadl, 'the father of virtue', which is the literal meaning of fadl;
Abu al-Qirbah, literally 'the father of the waterskin' since he brought water from the Euphrates to quench the thirst of those with the Imam;
Qamar Banu Hashim, 'the moon of the Hashimites' - a title given to him by his father Imam 'Ali as he unveiled 'Abbas's face to the enemy at the battle of Siffin;
38. 38 Al-'Abd al-Salih, which means 'the righteous servant of Allah';
Al-Muwasi, which means 'one who gives consolation';
Al-Fadi, which means 'one who sacrifices himself';
Al-Hami, which means 'the defender';
Al-Waqi, which means 'the protector';
Al-Sa'i, which means 'the one who strives';
Bab al-Hawa'ij, which means 'the doorway for the needs [of people]';
Hamil al-Liwa, which means 'the standard-bearer', because he carried the standard on the Day of 'Ashura'.
39. 39 Arms of 'Abbas Imam Ali cried on the birth of H Abbas
"These arms of 'Abbas will be cut from his body on the Day of 'Ashura' in protecting my son al-Husayn."
40. 40 'Abbas replied, "O brother! How could I not cry when I see you holding my head in your lap and I know that in a while there will be no one to lift your head from the ground, place it in his lap and clean the dust from your face?"
