This was written for the purpose of a western based donor. Requested by Imran ibn Mansur.
Bismillah..
From someone who has had the privilege of being a part of dawah for over a decade. Have had the opportunity to be a part of many dawah projects with different organizations especially at a grass roots level, I think I could give a fairly accurate analysis of the recent WINDS OF CHANGE lecture tour involving Adnan Rashid, Yusuf Chambers & Imran Ibn Mansur
I was also a full time member of the entourage at last year’s WOC aswell as this one , Alhumdulillah.
At the outset I would like to declare our 2nd lecture tour was a resounding success! Alhumdulillah!
I am basing my statement on the following factors:
Turn out
Impact
Feedback
Interaction
Changes amongst the youth
We went to about 17 different educational institutes at Peshawar, Lahore & Islamabad. Some of these were prestigious Universities, colleges and even schools. Included were
Islamabad:
QAU, Shifa college of medicine, FAST, COMSATS, NUST, RIPHAH, RMC, UCI, ALMA & Oxbridge schools.
Lahore:
Punjab Uni, LUMS, PMU and others.
Peshawar:
PMC & RMI.
Aside from the University campuses we organized events for the non students at PC, Ali Institute, Al Wabil, Al FALAH & Faisal Masjid auditorium.
Most of the Universities and colleges invited us especially after being impressed by last year’s tour.
At each of the Universities barring Shifa, the halls were packed. Alhumdulillah. Overwhelmingly majority were young students aged between 16-29.
At near enough every University, the Q&A were long & exhaustive and the speakers especially Imran always used to maintain that we aren’t leaving until you’re fully satisfied with the answers.
Many young brothers & sisters especially after interacting and becoming inspired by Imran ‘s heart hitting dawah were in tears! This was almost a constant theme! Many youth emailed us (Youth Club) & Imran himself saying how they wanted to begin praying salah after being made to think!
We also had a few ‘non organized’ gatherings at LUMS campuses, Bahria Uni , the streets of Jinnah super, and a few brothers houses. In these interactions, the rational foundations of Islam were discussed and false erroneous ideas refuted! Many brothers had doubts, had secular thoughts and even agnostic / atheist ideas because of the ever rising tide of these false notions at various educational institutes.
But even the most wayward youngsters here in Pakistan were receptive to change!
In other words, a lot of Pakistani youth are increasingly becoming western in behavior and more dangerous in adopting these false anti Islamic ideas. But YC as well as other organizations, by arranging these lecture tours are countering this successfully! Mashallah! We are actually seeing practical results on a ground level and the immense benefits these tours are having!
Please support this very important dawah project, because yes, we have scholars and madrasses here but the problem is the youth are using a different language to what the ulema are using! But these duaat from the UK can easily engage and relate to these youngsters, mashallah!
Jzk khair.
