Event Report 

Thus on Saturday 5 April 2008, with the backing of the President, the Abbasi Youth Committee (AYC) organised a premiere event in our community. The event entitled “Question Time” was entirely based on the BBC1 programme Question Time hosted by David Dimbleby.

The main aim of the event was to encourage and promote healthy debate within our community in an open and comfortable environment.

The panel was made up of the following members of the community:

-    Shabir Rahemtullah – A well known recitor of marthiya and nahwa and the current president of KSIMC of Birmingham.

-    Abid Bata – A member of the buildings committee and active in the field of education.

-    Syed Muzaffar Abbas –The current chairman of the Education Board.

-    Shahid Merali – An active youth volunteer for many years and the editor of the Al Muntazar magazine for over 7 years.

-    Baqir Hemraj – A long time member of the community with numerous articles being published in the Al Muntazar magazine.

Each panellist added a unique perspective to the debate and their varying experiences / ideas enriched and enhanced the discussions. Furthermore, the event was wonderfully facilitated by Brother Hussein Kanani who effectively filled the role of Chair.

In order to ensure that a suitable melange of topics was addressed, members of the community were asked to submit questions online beforehand in order for an appropriate range to be chosen. In total, five key questions were chosen as shown below:

QUESTIONS ASKED TO PANEL:

1.    Do our community programmes equip us to deal with the stereotypes regarding Muslims and contribute positively to the wider community?

2.    Are women treated as second class citizens, with specific reference to voting rights, attending the AGM and other issues?

3.    MAP-Vision of the future or tunnel vision?

4.    Is the primary objective of the education committee to make money?

5.    Do our traditional matchmaking methods allow enough social contact before choosing the correct spouse?

As illustrated above, the questions related to current, significant matters within our community and as a result, captured the attention of the audience and generated numerous questions, comments and discussions. It was encouraging to see such dynamic and active audience participation, reflecting the vibrant and engaged community we live in.

Alhamdulilah the feedback received was tremendous and it was delightful to see so many new ideas come forward to the AYC about future events to build on this one. It was evident to see that the main aim of the event had been achieved, especially during dinner time where one could only hear talk about community affairs.
 
The Abbasi Youth Committee would like to thank all the volunteers, the panelists for their time and efforts, Brother Shabir Rehemtullah for his continued support and Brother Hussein Kanani for his excellent facilitation and encouragement throughout.

We hope and pray to Allah (S.W.T) that he may continue to give all of us the strength to serve the community, take a full interest in its affairs and inshAllah help us to organise and participate in events like these in the future.

Abbasi Youth Committee