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Children’s Majalis – Idea 7: Project Majalis

Dec 8, 2014 | Children's Majalis Ideas, Majlis, Muharram/Safar

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

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– 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.

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– Mannequin with abaya and chains

– Taboot and cradle

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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

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-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.

– Here is a powerpoint on Azadar that was made – some slides were used as posters also. Download: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12898635/What%20is%20Azadari.pptx

Procedure for the day –

  •  As the children walked in they were welcomed by a child who took their shoes.

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  • 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.

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  • 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.

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  •  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.

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  • Some children helped to prepare the take home tabarruk bags.

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  •  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.MCIMG-20141208-WA0015 Tilawat of Qur’an  IMG-20141208-WA0013 Marsiyas

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    Speeches

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  • Noha/LutmIMG-20141208-WA0017
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  • All the children pledging allegiance to Imam HusaynIMG-20141208-WA0028
  • 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.

 

 

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  • They were also requested to write their thoughts on the project on a large drawing of a dome.

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*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.

Children’s Majalis – Idea 5: Majlis in a Bag!

Children’s Majalis – Idea 5: Majlis in a Bag!

Dec 1, 2014 | Children's Majalis Ideas, Muharram/Safar

This year, my daughter held a majlis for some girls around her age (6-10 years). We decided to do something different and have a very interactive majlis – thus, Majlis in a Bag!

First though, as the children came in, they did a craft activity. They drew around their hand add cut it out. They thought of one good deed they had done, and wrote it down. Their task was to fill the rest of the fingers with good deeds that week!

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We started off with some girls reciting some Suras and a marsiya, and then I gave some examples of actions, and asked them to guess what the topic was… These examples included: picking up litter from the street, holding the door open for the person coming next, helping mum unpack the shopping, and smiling at someone on the street. They guessed it – Good Deeds! Buzz Ideazz had previously done a series on ideas to encourage our children to do good deeds, and I incorporated many of them into the majlis.

I then showed them my bag and told them that today’s majlis was all in a bag!

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I invited different girls up to choose something from the bag. Here are what they picked and what the ensuing explanation was:

First, someone picked an Ipad. I played this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQacqJsWyrs

The key point here was that good deeds keep going round and come back to us eventually! There were also plenty of examples of good deeds people can do 🙂

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Then item someone picked was a jar. I then pulled out the other smaller jar. I then got some marbles and using those, explained how when we do good, Allah gives us SO many blessings, but when we do something bad, He only gives us the like of it. Check out the full activity here: https://buzzideazz.com/3-doing-good-gives-us-loads-of-happy-points-making-this-visual/

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Next someone picked up this eraser (GOOD DEEDS written on it). I had some bad deeds written out on paper, and we showed how good deeds help the bad ones go away! See the full activity here:  https://buzzideazz.com/4-good-deeds-take-away-bad-deeds/

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Someone then picked up this water bottle. I poured some into a plate and we saw how quickly it spread. We compared this to something solid, which wouldn’t spread at all. We then compared the water to good deeds, and how quickly it spreads – people who have had good done to them pay it forward, and sometimes even seeing someone do something good can be motivating for us to do the same! Time permitting, you can even show these clips here: https://buzzideazz.com/8-pay-it-forward-and-make-good-deeds-viral/

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Another great reason to do good is that it makes us FEEL good. And that is what was represented by this smiley ball that someone picked 🙂

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Lastly, someone picked these magnets. Here, i brought up a plateful of rice with some coins hidden in it and we did this exercise from Islam from the Start: http://www.islamfromthestart.com/2013/10/good-deeds-bring-you-close-to-allah.html – this helped show the children that good deeds will pull us to Allah, even if they are small or hidden! They loved this one 🙂

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When someone picked out these lovely slippers, I gave them an example of Mahatma Ghandi’s selfless good deed, and how this is just one attribute of such an amazing man. The story goes: ‘While boarding a moving train one day, one of Gandhi’s shoes slipped off and fell upon the track. As he was unable to retrieve it, Gandhi – to the astonishment of his fellow travelers – calmly removed his other shoe and threw it down the track to where the first had landed. “The poor man who finds the shoe lying on the track,” Gandhi explained, “will now have a pair he can use.”’

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That covered the reasons why we should do good deeds. Then we spent some time on talking about HOW to do good deeds.

I showed them this Good Deed Jar, and we discussed that although we have all contributed to it (whenever anyone does a good, they write it down and put it in WITHOUT a name), no one can tell who did what good deed. This emphasises that our good deeds are best done anonymously – check out this link for more details on that: https://buzzideazz.com/6-anonymous-acts-of-kindness/

For more information on the Good Deed jar, look here: https://buzzideazz.com/idea-5-a-good-deed-jar/

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Finally, we looked at how sometimes our good deeds get spoiled when we remind people about what we have done for them, or tell other people about how they needed our help. We likened this to an apple, and how a good deed was like a fresh apple, but when we spoilt it it was as if we threw it down hard on the floor, and bruised and blackened it. See full post here: https://buzzideazz.com/5-dont-spoil-the-good-deeds-you-do/

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We then split the girls up into four groups and they each came up with a short role play on good deeds – they came up with wonderful ideas in the short time that they had and acted it out beautifully!

We finished off by remembering Imam Zain-ul-Abideen (as), who would always do good. He would go at night to feed the poor, and despite it being dark, he would still cover his face so that it stayed anonymous. We also remembered Bibi Fatima (as) who always comes to a majlis, and we said Salaam to her. Finally, the children did maatam, a ziyarah, and had some fatiha.

As a reminder to do good and to make people smile, they got this smiley face cup when going home. They also got a small sticky note pad to write notes to make people smile – either anonymous notes on people’s cars or neighbour’s doors, or notes to people they loved.

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Alhamdulillah, that very evening i got a message to say someone had been receiving love notes from the children, and the next day i heard that people had already made their own good deed jars!

 

 

Muharram Idea 18 – Kerbala Wall Displays

Muharram Idea 18 – Kerbala Wall Displays

Nov 2, 2014 | Ideas for Marking Muharram/Safar with Kids, Muharram/Safar

Have your children been learning lots this past ten days? Why not have them reflect on the main points and put them up on a Muharram wall, like this family have done (main pic above)? It would be a great way to solidify and build on their learning 🙂

  • This is what another mum sent in and said: As Muharram approaches us every year, I ponder over how to create an atmosphere in the house to give the children a sense of understanding and importance of the next two holy months. This year, I created a banner with various vocabulary applicable to my children’s ages. I placed it opposite their bunk bed so that they are able to see it before going to bed. It is to be a source of discussion every night:

  • Also check out what another mum did with her children to commemorate these months… they looked at quotes by Imam Husayn (as) and made it very visual. A great way to learn new and relevant hadith while marking these days as well.

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Muharram School Assembly

Muharram School Assembly

Oct 31, 2014 | Muharram/Safar, School

On Buzz Ideazz, we have shared many outreach ideas for schools about different aspects of Islam, such as assemblies and plays Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Adha, and even inter-faith Christmas Kidzz Cardzz to hand out in class.

However, sharing the concept of Muharram has been quite a tricky one, given the nature of the content. Alhamdulillah, two mums managed to overcome this obstacle in a very classy way – by linking it into the Anti-Bullying Awareness month at schools!

This is the powerpoint that was playing as the students entered the hall:
This is the powerpoint that was used alongside the main talk:
And these are the notes for the actual talk:

Muharram Idea 17 – Create a Family Tree

Muharram Idea 17 – Create a Family Tree

Nov 8, 2013 | Crafts, Ideas for Marking Muharram/Safar with Kids, Muharram/Safar

With so many Islamic personalities to remember, it might become a little tricky for little ones to remember who was present in Kerbala and Shaam and who wasn’t.

Here’s one way that children might be able to remember – by making a (modified) family tree and underlining those present in Kerbala and Shaam in different colours (here, red has been used for those in Kerbala, and green for those in Shaam).

Here is a version for slightly younger children from Islam from the Start: