Breakfast Club@Kassim

No, not that Breakfast Sessions by leading thinkers and academics for busy CEOs.

This is a meeting of friends who actively contribute to the development of young Muslims through their own organisations or initiatives. Almost self-organising, they meet to discuss, share and compare notes to achieve greater synergy and more importantly renewed commitment and stronger ukhuwwah.

Guess what? Yes, prata and teh tarik opposite Masjid Kassim is part of the agenda, hence the Breakfast Club @ Kassim.

This morning's discussion was interesting, to say the least. Apart from agreeing to have a workout session (the 1st was in 2005) to deal with big issues, such as YMLDP, new media and outdoor outfit, the concern on Rumahtangga Dakwah was also raised.

YMLDP is an attempt to take stock of all training programmes for our young (and young at heart) and to cohere within a comprehensive framework -- currently referred to as the Tarbiyah Triangle. It will also identify existing gaps and enrich existing muwassofat (attributes) to develop leaders for tomorrow, today.

Many among us are now active bloggers, socially-networked through facebook and contributes our views, ideas and creative juices through youtube, multiply, etc. The New Media is here to stay, and provides an alternative platform for da'wah. However, a strategy of sorts is required to ensure that our blogs, facebooks, podcasts, youtubes are linked and maximised to create and share content for our media savvy young and wider reach.

Outdoor is another life-style activity that interests the young. There is a recognition of the significance of experiential learning through outdoor activities (and this is incorporated in aLIVE programmes). Outdoor programmes such as Perkasa and Ramadan Rocks (by Perdaus-SAFF) are useful for character development. There is a large pool of (human) resources within the community, going by our sport trainers/coaches, NS officers, facilitators, who can provide expertise to create an alternative programme for character development -- perhaps an Outdoor aLIVE Programme -- where the learning and teaching is all and entirely done outdoor, not in the confines of the conventional four-walled classroom.

One of our clubmember subsequently raised an issue to be discussed at the workout. There is a concern that our young activists are becoming less active once they got married, even though their spouse is also an activist for da'wah. Instead of (their marriage) becoming a multiplier for da'wah, the two of them (husband and wife) are no longer giving as much as they used to (when they were singles). The challenges facing a newly married couple are real and this is no exception for da'wah activists. For the seniors, their challenges are no less, albeit different -- parenting skills for the growing teens, how to ensure their children partake in tarbiyah to continue their parents' contribution to da'wah, etc.

Over prata and teh tarik, we traded week-long experiences of life and takeaways from our younger days.

Unlike those led by academics on high-sounding concepts for busy CEOs, the Breakfast Club @ Kassim is a metasystem to cohere and synergise so as to gain greater blessings of Allah.