Ta'abudaat in London
Monday 10th June 2003 / 10th Rabi al-Aakhar 1424H
Doctors' Symposium
A gathering of doctors took place at London's Masjide Husaini earlier
in the day with talks given on breast cancer and various other topics
by doctors and consultants from all over the country. The information
was well received and the format and quality of speakers clearly set
an example of how our community can spread and share their fields of
expertise with each other.
Women's Sports Day - Sunday 8th June
Earlier in the day a women's sports day was organized by Taalebatul
Kulliyaat in the iwaan of the masjid. A veritable mini olympics took
place with various athletic events and court games. Children were
provided for with their own races, a bouncy castle (enjoyed by adults
too!) and a creche and there was plenty of homemade food on hand to
reenergise the competitors. The sports day events were brought to a
finale with competition that focused more on mind than body with a
slide show quiz featuring questions on various photographs of Molana.
The event was brought to a close with the prize giving ceremony.
Inter London Cricket Match
The cricket season continued in London with the 'contract' team's
fourth outing in five weeks, this time against a non-'contract' team
of London based players. Team London (unoffical name for the purposes
of this email) batted first on an overcast day and soon found
themselves in some trouble with two wickets going down cheaply. The
third wicket pair of opener Huzefa Moosajee and Mustafa Feeroz brought
some steadiness to the innings before Feeroz was given out to a
controversial LBW decision. (Umpires were provided by the batting
team). Moosaji and new batsman Taher bhai proceeded to plunder the
attack for the next few overs before another controversial umpiring
decision took place. A no-ball was given by the leg umpire because
there were three fielders in the 90 degree arc between wicket keeper
and square leg - a decision compounded by the fact that Taher bhai was
caught off a skyer at long off. There was a lot of agitation but the
decision stood - though one result of the argument was that the umpire
had to be changed. It mattered little, however for Taher bhai was
clearly upset about the commotion and had another swing at the next
ball and duly departed for 42. Things were to get worse for Team
London when Moosaji pulled his hamstring for the second time in 3
weeks and left the batting arena on 48. There was a swing in the tail
that took team London to 186 all out - but not before Moosaji returned
with a runner only to be left high and dry on 49 not out.
The opposition went out to bat and were given the benefit of no doubt whatsoever in a clean run out before losing their first wicket to an LBW decision that was close and then not losing their second to an LBW that was as ripe a plum as you'll ever see. The second wicket pair batted ably and took the score to 81 for one in the 14th over before the heavens exploded and the rest of the game was washed out. Duckworth-Lewis was not used because no one's sure how it works. The game ended in a draw.
Taiseerun Nikaah Seminar:
Tayseerul Nikah International held a Darees and Seminar in Masjide
Husaini's iwaan later that evening. The seminar addressed key issues
in the current attitudes towards marriage and particularly focused on
the female education factor that plays such a pivotal role in girls'
decisions to marry or not.
One member of the audience spoke of "quality of life" - his meaning clearly being a materialistic view. This was addressed by posing the question, "What is meant by quality of life?" Is it merely material or is it a cultural and spiritual thing. Clearly a balance is requisite beacuse our norms and those of the west do not match. This is particularly evident in the role of women which for Mumineen would be as daughter, wife and mother. Her education should complement this role and continued higher education or career getting that results in the loss of this role is clearly detrimental to her as an individual and society as a whole.
Amongst the many issues raised - all of which could benefit from an email discussion - was the idea of a girl marrying someone not as educated as she herself was. An answer was given that the girl might refuse because she would feel that he would not be able to support her and their family. This was addressed by Shaikh Aliakber bhai (in the khidmat of Shahzada Ammar bhaisaheb) who pointed out that there is no guarantee that the most educated individual would be able to provide the best financial support and indeed it is quite often the case that a less well educated person might actually provide better for his family. (It should be pointed out that there is no attempt to correlate education with intelligence here.)
Another point raised was that many boys are looking for Jamea girls as wives - clearly because they see the development of their future families in the hands of a Jamea educated girl as being vitally important.
The seminar was well organised and well attended and once again the level of the speakers made it a quality gathering.
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