Leeds Islamic Society Handover Meeting Training Scenarios
Read and discuss the following scenarios in your group.Scenario One:
The ISOC committee have less than a week to plan Freshers Dinner. It is an important social event during Freshers Week for old and new students to get to know one another. Food and venue have been sorted out but publicity is yet to be printed.
Muhammad volunteers to ring around printing companies and get a quote for posters and flyers.
Unfortunately that weekend his pet frog comes down with ‘flu and he spends two days nursing his beloved amphibian back to health.
By Monday there are only three days left until Fresher Dinner and he still hasn’t managed to get any posters or flyers printed. He avoids telling anyone - he’s committed to doing something and doesn’t want to let people down.
But time is running out…
He rings the first printing company in Yellow Pages who give him a rough estimate. They promise everything will be printed and ready in two hours. When Muhammad picks up the posters he is asked for £600 to cover costs, which he pays out of his own bank account.
In a meeting later on that day, Muhammad asks for a refund for the money he has spent.
The Treasurer gets out the ISOC cheque book. “How much did it come to altogether?”
“It came to £600. But make it £550. I’m feeling generous today.”
The Treasurer turns extremely red.
“Brother…that’s more than we’ve spent on the food and venue together! The constitution says committee members can’t spend more than £20 without consulting the rest of the committee. What the ‘eck were you thinking?”
Ø How could Muhammad have prevented this situation from happening?
Ø What could other members on the committee have done in the beginning to prevent this situation from arising?
Scenario Two:
Zaynab has an idea for an event she believes will make da’wah on campus more effective. She announces her idea in a meeting, but after a lengthy discussion everybody feels it may not be worth doing. Arranging it will be very complicated and costly, and it is very close to the end of term.
As a result, the idea does not go ahead.
Zaynab feels upset. Everything she suggests doesn’t seem to be good enough, and she feels unappreciated by the other people on her committee.
Later on that night, Zaynab spends an hour on the phone to her friend Khadijah.
“They never listen to anything I say, they just do their own thing. I want to leave the committee”, she complains.
“Don’t ever get involved in da’wah work; it’s such a waste of time with these people. Two of them have their way all the time, no one else can get a word in edgeways. And that Brother Ibrahim is so revolting. Every meeting we have he spits paan all over the wall.”
Khadijah is shocked.
The following day she tells some sisters in the prayer room about the reality of the Islamic Society at their University
“They treat her so badly, the miskeenah. They ignore her, and it’s got a point where brothers are spitting on her. It sounds like she’s being bullied. Astaghfirullah. This is one Islamic organisation we had all better stay away from” says Khadijah, shaking her head with disgust.
Ø Why is Zaynab wrong to feel offended by her idea being put down?
Ø Who would it have been better to discuss her disappointment with?
Ø What are the consequences of letting other students know about internal conflict within a committee?
Ø What could other members on the committee have done to prevent this situation arising in the first place?
Scenario Three
Sarah is half Pakistani, half English. Since starting University she heard about an Islamic Society and wants to find out more. She knows very little about Islam despite her dad being a Muslim and thinks joining their society might help her understand the religion a bit better.
During Freshers Week she approaches the ISOC stall and asks if she can sign up.
Two sisters are busy registering people on a computer. Sarah asks if she can join and they simultaneously look her up and down. She is wearing a short skirt and a top that leaves very little to the imagination.
“Are you even a Muslim?” asks one sister abruptly.
“Yes, I am. My dad’s Pakistani...”
“Why aren’t you wearing a hijaab?” asks the sister. “Sister, when I saw you I thought you were some random gori. Don’t you know Allah says in the Quran in SurahAnNisaaayahfiftynine a woman must cover herself! Not walk around half naked with everything on display. Be a slave to Allah, not a slave to Western ideologies of freedom!”
Sarah feels extremely embarrassed and confused. She decides joining the Islamic Society is probably not such a good idea after all.
Ø What did the two sisters do wrong in this situation?
Ø How could they have been more welcoming?
Scenario Four
Sulaiman and Nabeela have been asked to attend a meeting in London to represent their Islamic Society. They book their tickets separately but end up sitting on the same train together. The journey is long and they start talking about their ideas for Islamic Awareness Week, a big Dawah event in the ISOC calendar.
Unknown to them, Auntie Jameela [Nabeela’s next door neighbours’ younger sisters’ cousins mother-in-law] is also on the same train. She is sat four seats behind watching and listening to every word of their conversation.
“I would really like to invite Barry,” says Sulaiman.
“Yeah I think that’s a good idea,” agrees Nabeela.
Aunty Jameela is shocked. She just heard the boy say “I would really like to get married”. And Nabeela - who everyone always commended for her modesty - replied with “Yeah I think that’s a really good idea.”
Jameela always suspected Islamic organisations were full of people with ulterior motives. What she had witnessed just proved her point.
Her daughter had recently asked if she could help out at an Islamic Society iftaar after lectures, but if this was the kind of thing going on between brothers and sisters after hours there was no way she would allow her to get involved.
When Aunty Jameela returned home from London she made sure everyone in her family knew about Nabeela and the conversation she had overheard.
“She wears the hijaab and yet she speaks to boys. I don’t want any of you becoming like her.”
A few weeks later Nabeela hears through a friend that she has developed a bad reputation in her community. Many of the women are talking about her and saying something is going on between herself and a brother on the committee. She is extremely upset and cannot understand where the accusations have come from.
Ø Discuss the reality of brother sister interaction; where do you think a person should draw the line?
Ø How could Nabila and Sulaiman have protected themselves from this kind of accusation?
posted by The Baji @ 10:35 AM
3 Comments:
Assalamo 'alaikum
Masha Allah, a very beneficial write-up and quite interesting too - whoever wrote this has wisdom beyond his/her years, and certainly more than what one would expect from the average British undergraduate! :-)
As-Salaamu 'alaikum,
With regard to the Nabeela & Suleiman story, there is only so much anyone can do to protect him or herself from malicious gossip. In this particular case, they were discussing Islamic society business in a public place (a train), not knowing that a nosy "auntie" was sitting a few seats away and, rather than introducing herself, decided to snoop on their conversation and got the wrong end of the stick in the process. There are very clear Islamic injunctions against spreading rumours about Muslims, particularly Muslim women, in such situations - is this not what happened to Umm al-Mu'mineen A'isha, radhi Allahu 'anha, who was seen being brought into town by a Sahabi who had picked her up after she had been left behind by her riding party, only for the hypocrites to concoct a story from their own warped imaginations.
Yes, being isolated with someone of the opposite sex other than the well-known exceptions is haraam. We all know that. But every society has its gossips and we can only do so much to protect ourselves from their mischief. And there is an argument that the brothers should protect the sisters when they are in vulnerable situations as on public transport. What would have happened if a bunch of hooligans had got on at the next stop? Who would have protected Nabeela if Suleiman had covered his own back by going to the next carriage?
Brother sister interaction is not a simple thing on campus. I wrote these scenarios to make people think more than anything.
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