Our Hope for the Future

I did something out of character last weekend- voluntarily helping out at a masjid sponsored event.

Maybe you would understand why from looking at the photos.

The event was dubbed SAMBA (Santai Bersama Belia) 1.0

The aim was to get more youths to 'hang out' more frequently at the masjid for all the right reasons.

While there, hopefully, they'll be able to fill the gaps in their knowledge and practice of our chosen Way of Life thereby improving themselves.

The name SAMBA actually alluded to the main draw of this activity, a friendly game at the indoor court, Samba de Futsal at Seksyen 51A just past Kampung Tunku.

"1.0" is a hope and a prayer that this will only be the beginning of more such events to come...

 The ice-breaking session. I have no idea what this game is but it was seriously fun and sure broke the ice!

 The main draw- a game of futsal at Samba.

This is one of those times when I feel the loss of my DSLR most acutely, all those lost moments and actions...

 After a session of learning, there followed an "explorace" to gauge their current level of knowledge and how much they've managed to retain from the lessons.

 And this was the other attraction, the meals provided. For dinner is Domino's Pizza! They even got a Magnum Gold ice-cream each later for supper!

 One of our participants had to leave the program that evening to attend his grandfather's funeral. This lead to an impromptu class on solat janaazah, the prayer for the dead.

 Qiyam al-lail, the night prayers. Getting them to wake up by 5.00 in the morning was tough. I felt proud of them, of the fact that they all made the effort to get up and join in.

 Filling up their tanks with a light breakfast in anticipation of the grueling punishment to come.

 A watered down session of bootcamp-style fitness workout by our very own certified trainer.

It looked highly unpleasant from where I stood, despite being seriously toned down!

 Totally unrelated to the activities. This is the son of our siak (the keeper of the masjid).

I just thought the little devil happened to look very angelic here for once, haha!

The final session was to learn and refresh their knowledge of solat.

These kids and young men still have a long way to go, but it's a start.

I took off early as I had a prior obligation to attend to and was not present during the closing ceremony.

It was perhaps a good thing that I missed it. This event has got me all melancholic, especially thinking about the future of our Muslim community here.

I may just break down and cry.

But we shall pray daily for a new hope.