Updated 22 September 2008
To celebrate the month of Ramadhan, youth from the Wessex Jamaat organised “Bring a Friend Day” at AL MAHDI in Wickham, Fareham. The programme, led by 12 year old Amir Nasser, had over thirty teachers from local schools and friends of the community come to AL MAHDI to break their fast. When asked why such a programme, Nasser replied: “There are too many distorted stories about Islam and Muslims and we wanted to dispel this myth locally by sharing our faith and the true meaning of Islam that it is a peaceful religion that has co-existed with other religions for hundreds of years.”
The programme of the day was a play and was organised with the theme of fasting and the spiritual reasons behind this. Young Muslim girls clad in the hijab gave an account of the true meaning of fasting: that it is not only abstaining from food and water but the fasting of the ears, eyes, hand and mouth.
Sajjad Jaffer gave a beautiful rendition of an English nasheed about his conversation with God. The pin drop silence as he sang “was spiritually uplifting”, said one of the young man of the community.
However, the highlight of the day was a question and answer session where three girls, namely Zahra Alkadhimi (13), Zahra Jaffer (15) and , Maryam Rahim (15) answered questions from friends who had come. The moderator, Mohamedabbas Jaffer began the session by asking friends and teachers to ask any questions and prefaced his remark by saying, “please park political correctedness outside and ask any questions to the young girls.”
The range of the questions asked by the guests was as powerful as the responses given. One local teacher who attended the evening said: “Never have I seen such powerful exchange of frank dialogue where faith was presented by three young girls.”
Another teacher said: “We generally get our questions answered by men and women. We never get a youth perspective. This opportunity you gave us was unique“
Questions ranged from “what is the difference between Shia and Sunni” to “why do you wear the hijab and were you forced to wear one” to “why is there segregation between men and women as they pray together within one faith to one God” were answered with clarity and frankness.
A religious education teacher commented: “Whilst one could not help but notice that the young girls did not have some script in front of them that they were reading, a thought crossed my mind: “This generation of Muslim girls in Wickham are not only comfortable in their faith but also in the society they find themselves in.”
Perhaps it is possible that different faiths can co-exist in harmony and that the vision of the young person behind this day can one day be realised. At AL MAHDI, alhamdulilallah, a good start has been made in Wickham.