Someone sent in their majlis idea! I love the idea of a heart pillow with Ya Husayn written on it 🙂
“There is a group of girls conducting activity for kids 0-5. Recently we did this from a very different angle and would like to share it with you.
Our topic was love and we started by singing ‘I love you, you love me’ song because young kids love their mums the most :). From there we explained that mum loves Imam Husayn (as) and that’s why we go to majlises and Imam loves us so much. He is so special that when he was born he started giving gifts and here we told them the story of FITRUS getting his wings.
Then we explained we cry, do azadari and share food for Imam and the things that Imam would also love us to do, like pray – we all went to Sajdah and did Shukar. Imam would also like us reading Quran so we did 2 ayahs with actions. Finally Imam loves Azadari.
We love our Mum and Imam loves his mum too. Therefore we said ‘Abd Walkah Ya Zahra…’ to end with.
We gave away heart pillows with Ya Husayn written for kids to hug live and connect with Imam.
At the end we did a planting activity ad told the kids as we watch and see the plant grow our love for Imam will also grow!”
Another great interactive majlis sent in! Here are the details:
“Alhamdulillah I was blessed to conduct this Interactive workshop/majlis for my son and few of his friends age 5-6 years at home.
Topic:- Dua and being amongst the supporters of Imam Mahdi:–
Our mummies love us sooo much, and she wants to know each and everything that we do eg in school. Did you know Allah loves us 70 times more than our mums. He also wants us to talk to Him about everything.
Activity:
Draw hand and explained how to make Dua. Pray for family/ people far from us/ imam Mahdi/Those sick and ill/ and lastly pray for yourself. Allah says He will accept our Duas if done via Imam Mahdi so we should pray through him.
Activity:
All kids wrote arizah with their mummies help using the “letters to my Imam” book of buzzideazz, using their hand model that they had drawn.
We were blessed that one of the kid, was going for iran ziarat the following day. We handed over the arizahs to this little girl to put it in the well behind masjide jamkaran in iran. This well is a place where people put their arizahs to Imam Mahdi, Imam visits this masjid every Tuesday.
Santa fulfils wishes only once in December. Imam Mahdi will fulfil our wishes anytime when we raise our hands in Dua and anytime we write to him Ariza.
But when Dua is not accepted, know that it’s because it’s not good for us. Eg:- if we pray for chocolate factory, Allah may not accept as it will spoil our teeth.
So whenever you want to talk to imam Mahdi write to him using this book which they all were given to take home.
Dua plus action is required:-
Sitting in one place and praying to be amongst the supporters of imam mahdi isn’t sufficient. We need to do action too.
Cited example of Bibi Hajras Dua for water and her running from safa to marwa in search of water. Because of which we have zamzam water flowing till today.
Activity:
Showed them a house model with 8 windows. Asked the kids to think about what deeds they would do that would make imam Mahdi come to our house and we stuck those deeds using cardboard on the windows.
Cardboard pieces had these deeds written:-
Pray on time
No lying
No haram food
No haram things in the house like music
Respect and care
Stay clean
Recite Quran
Check your deeds before sleeping.
Building on point no 8, i gave them all a laminated weekly chart that they could use to self assess themselves before bedtime. This chart has space for 5 good deeds to do and 5 bad deeds to avoid. ( left these empty for the mummies to personalise what deeds they would like their kids to build on and can change when needed)
Then kids can assess if their imam is happy or sad with them by putting a smiley face or a sad face.
Based on above actions, we will know if we really await imam mahdi or do we dread his coming as a “Thief wouldn’t await the coming of the police ”
Will we be the thieves or will we be with the police in catching/fighting the thieves?
How can we help imam when he comes when we are just 5-6 years old?
We need to prepare ourselves just like bibi Sakinas example.
In kerbala, we had bibi Sakina who was 4 years old. Inspite of all the tortures and especially in the jail in shaam, she never missed her Namaz, woke up in the cold mornings for subh namaz, until one morning when she didn’t wake up when she had already passed away.
A 5 yr old girl then recited for us a poem about bibi sakinas tortures.
Then we had two boys recite Dua hujjat and then we had matam and ziarat.
References :-
A bond with Imam e Mahdi volume 14, printed and presented by Al Mahdi (as) Centre -ladies wing, Dar es salaam.
Project Majalis was set up to teach children all aspects of the Majalis process, from setting up the hall, to reciting noha and marthiyya to making the ‘alam and tabout. This helped to engage children in what work goes into the majalis process and familiarised them with different roles so that inshallah they are able to conduct similar roles in the future.
We focussed on Bibi Zainab (s.a) as the role model for Project Majalis as she set up the institution of Majalis, and thus one of the majalis’ the children conducted was dedicated to her.
To make the majalis process interesting for the children we devised certain roles that they could participate in, this included the following. The children had to chose what they would like to do when they had to RSVP to their Majalis invite:
– Setting up the hall
– Reciting majalis: x 3 children (5min or less per child)
– Reciting marsiya & matam: x 6 children
– MC: x 1 child
– Making & distributing Sabil
– Making & arranging niyaz/tabbaruk
– Welcoming Azadari’s & arranging shoes
– Cleaning up: x 5 children
– Car park volunteer: (with adult supervision)
– Audio/visual system
– Majalis Guide: (to show the children who have just walked in around the life size displays)
– Quran recitation: x1
– Dua recitation: x1
– Ziyarat recitation: x1
– Imam Hussain Anthem (all children)
We also recreated certain parts of Ashura day and Shaam-e-Ghareeba so that the visual stimulus will engage children in the stories of Karbala & Shaam, this included:
– Tent with burnt cloth on top (which the children helped to make)
– Spears on heads with blood (which the children made)
– Cut outs of the shaheeds, this included Hazarat Abbas (a.s), Imam Hussain (a.s) with Ali Asghar (a.s), Dome and minaret of Imam Hussain (a.s), Zuljina, helmet of Hazrat Qassim (a.s), Ali Akbar (a.s) bidding farewell to Imam Hussain (a.s) . This was printed on A1 paper and stuck on corrugated card.
– Mannequin with abaya and chains
– Taboot and cradle
We had three main activities on the day that all children participated in during Project Majalis!
– ‘Alam making
– Handkerchief: writing Ya Hussain on black handkerchiefs
-After the ziyarat all the children had to declare their loyalty for Imam Husayn through a poem (Anthem) they all recited together which was circulated to them a week before to practise.
Here are the words to the anthem:
Hussain you are the symbol of strength
Hussain you are the symbol of strength
And brave you will always be x2
Hussain your name is in my heart
And your life will live with me
All of your family received the pain
Your sister, your brother, your son and wife
Hussain your name is in my heart
And your life will live with me
Hussain you are the symbol of strength
And brave you will always be x2
Hussain your name is in my heart
And your life will live with me
My eyes will weep for your brother Abbas
He never lost one arm but he lost two
Hussain your name is in my heart
And your life will live with me
Hussain you are the symbol of strength
And brave you will always be x2
Hussain your name is in my heart
And your life will live with me
Comments:
– The Imam Hussain (a.s) anthem was a great finish to the Majalis, and was truly amazing to watch children pay their allegiance to the Master of Martyrs.
– We provided Project Majalis certificates at the end of the Majalis, this helped to legitimatise the children’s had work and they truly appreciated it.
– The pocket money that we requested if children wanted to donate went to 2 different options: ‘Helping little Hussaini’s & Zainabi’s who are poor’ which The Zahra Trust will distribute to orphans and vulnerable children. And the second option was ‘Spreading the message of the Ahlulbayt (a.s)’ which went to Safeer TV as they are showcasing majalis.
As the children walked in they were welcomed by a child who took their shoes.
Children then had to register their names at the registration table.
At the registration table there was a large flag on paper where children could sign their names or write their wishes to Hazrat Abbas. This flag will be taken to Hazrat Abbas’ s shrine in Arbaeen 2014.
The children were then taken in groups to see the displays produced by the Zahra Trust.
Thereafter the children could make their very own Alams and Hankerchiefs (with Ya Husayn written on it. These activities were supervised by the older children.
The children who had chosen various jobs like preparing the tabarruk and sabil also had the opportunity to do so. Children made Milk Sherbat or squash.
Some children helped to prepare the take home tabarruk bags.
Some children made Chocolate Ladoos (chocolate oat truffles) the night before ready for the majalis.
Once the children had set up everything for the majalis the MC started the majalis.MCTilawat of Qur’anMarsiyas
Speeches
Noha/Lutm
All the children pledging allegiance to Imam Husayn
At the end tabarruk was served. Children waiting for their Tabarruk.
As the children were leaving they were given their take home back with various goodies and gifts from the Zahra Trust. They were all presented with a certificate to legitimise their hard work in taking part in the project.
They were also requested to write their thoughts on the project on a large drawing of a dome.
*Here is the text sent out to parents:
PROJECT MAJALIS!
In conjunction with The Zahra Trust child’s name would like to invite you to Project Majalis.
Project Majalis is an initiative to teach children all aspects of the majalis process; from setting up the hall, arranging the food, reciting Majalis/noha, making the ‘alam, to cleaning up at the end!
Also there will be an exhibition of life size cut outs of the shaheeds to help the children learn about the story of Karbala.
Date:
Time:
Venue:
for boys under 10 (non baligh) and girls of all ages.
Following roles are open for the children:
– Setting up the hall: x 5 children
– Reciting majalis: x 3 children (5min or less per child)
– Reciting marsiya & matam: x 6 children
– MC: x 1 child
– Making & distributing Sabil: x 4 children
– Making & arranging niyaz/tabbaruk: x 6 children
– Welcoming Azadari’s & arranging shoes: x 4 children
– Cleaning up: x 5 children
– Car park volunteer: x 2 (with adult supervision)
– Audio/visual system: x 2 children
– Majalis Guide x2
– Quran reciter x1
– Dua reciter x1
– Ziyarate reciter x1
If children wish to they can bring in a small amount of money as they will be given an opportunity to donate to a worthy cause.
Yesterday in the post, as well as having things in a bag for the children to pick out and discuss, we also mentioned that there were some role plays going on in the majlis! The girls were split into four groups and asked to come up with a short play on good deeds. In a short space of time, the ideas they came up with were outstanding! One showed good deeds going round as each person who was helped, helped another. Another gave the example of offering a thirsty person water, without being asked, and the third group acted out helping a sick person.
Here is one group’s role play on picking up litter and amr-abil-ma’ruf – apologies for the audio (I think my finger was on the mic!) – hope the annotations help 🙂
“There are many ways we can keep the memory of Kerbala alive and it starts with sowing the seed in our children for what they are tomorrow. This year we decided to have a matamdari for my son and his friends – they are 7 years of age and all love to recite and do maatam. The invite stated that each invitee should come prepared with a nawha of just 2 verses and from the time they arrived they were fidgety and excited to shout “Ya Husayn”.
We started with Hadeethe Kisa in English, followed by an informal story and question/answer session. Our youth really benefit from these informal sessions, especially if there is a speaker they look up to.
Thereafter we had the matamdari while two boys took turns to be the home-made Allam holders. The house echoed with names of Ali/Husayn/Abbas/Sajjad/Zainab… The list goes on for our legendary role modles who stood firmly in patience against injustice. The naare haydaris, the famous ‘Mawla Haq Imam’ (see video!) led to the perpetual slogan of ‘Labbayk Ya Husayn’ reverberating against our living room walls. After a 14 Masumeen ziyarat in English, the dua for Imam e Zamana’s safety was recited in loud unison.
After cookies and milk in the garden as fateha, the boys got to play 5 a side football in the garden as it was a Friday and they all waited to be picked up by their fathers after Jummah. This matamdari brought the boys together, and Inshallah I pray that it solidified their understanding a little further. Alhamd the program stirred an awakening in many mothers and many wish to do the same to keep the memory of Kerbala alive. It just starts with one person – what are you going to do for Imam Husayn this year?”
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