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[quote]
When planning activities for youth, you must keep in mind the fact that all youth are not
interested in the same things. There will be some youth who are interested in having
Islamic study circles where they learn about the Qur"an, Seerah, etc. It is likely however
that a larger amount of youth would like to participate in social events such as basketball
games, dinners, etc. As leader of your youth group you have to know how to balance
these activities by planning social activities where Muslims can meet each other and at
the same time placing importance on acquiring Islamic knowledge. If we look at the life of
the Prophet, there were activities that all the Muslims participated in. Participation in
battles, building the masjid, going to Friday prayer required a strong commitment to
Islam. The strong and the weak Muslim alike however could fulfill these duties. However
other activites required an enormous dedication to pleasing Allah. Staying awake
throughout the night in prayer, giving all of ones wealth in the path of Allah or even
brushing the teeth everyday, were activities not required of all Muslims. The Prophet,
saws, encouraged all to do these things, but understood the different levels of spiritual
development in his community. The majority of the people need time to develop before
they start activities that require a great deal of taqwaah to do.
LEVEL ONE: In the Triangle Model, the bottom layer is activities for the largest number of
peopIeTThose are activites that are enjoyable by all levels of the community. They satisfy
the need for social interaction with other Muslims and build the brotherhood or sisterhood
in the youth group. These activities are structured according to the Quran and the
Sunnah (no unsupervised intermingling between members of the opposite sex, for
example.) Since these activites attract the largest amount of people, they should be your
most publicized events. During these activites, you must try to attract people to activities
in level two or above. The more the youth are willing to come to higher levels of
commitment, the stronger your youth group will become, inshaAllah. examples:
dinners/iftars, sports events, eid festivals, demonstrations, after jummah lunches.
LEVEL TWO: Once the spark of interest has been lighted in a young Muslim, you must
do your very best to involve him or her in higher level activities. Level two activities
require a little more commitment of their time and resources. However these activities are
still fun for the majority of youth, examples: bake sales, Islamic culture fairs, masjid
cleaning/recycling project, selling t-shirts, Islamic tapes etc.,
LEVEL THREE, This level requires a bit more commitment and knowledge about Islam.
Activities in this level are designed for members who have a growing interest in seeing
Islam prosper among the youth as well as the community at large. These activites also
give the youth a chance to do thing that are encouraged in Islam, examples:
presentations in highschools, distribution of information about Islam, sponsoring orphans,
feeding the homeless, lectures on "hot" topics- marriage, women, politics, etc.
LEVEL FOUR, Activities for youth who wish to increase their Islamic knowledge are the
main focus of level four. These activities are very beneficial not only for those youth who
are interested but for the members of the executive board of your youth group as well as
adults who wish to build ther knowledge of Islam, examples: lecturs on tafseer, aqeedah,
seerah, etc, memorization competetions, interfaith meetings.
LEVEL EIVE, This is the highest level of commitment. Most often 5% or less of the
members of your youth group attend these activites. These activities should be very
useful to the members of the leadership. As a leader, you should try to participate in
these activities to the best of your ability and constantly encourage others to participate.
examples: Islamic all-nighters, Tarbiyyah /halaqah program, intensive arable courses,
intensive courses in Islamic sciences. This triangle model gives you a basic idea of the
types of activities you should have and the number of people you should expect for them.
This model, however, will vary from community to community...An effective youth group
will be able to cater to the needs of these different groups."

friend[/quote]

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