Blog Series - Seerat Camp
Seerat Quest 2024
Huzaifa Shaikh
Recently, a three-day Seerat Camp was organized at Shafqat Masjid Phase 4 DHA in Karachi, spanning from July 25-27. The title was “MY PROPHET (PBUH) MY HERO”. As the title suggests, it revolved around the life of the Prophet (PBUH), in an attempt to educate kids more about his life and how it can be a role model for everyone. It taught kids that the heroes of the 21st century i.e Superman, Ironman, Spiderman, Hulk, etc; were nothing but pure fiction and the real heroes for Muslims, old or young are the Prophets and Companions, in particular the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Even though he didn’t possess supernatural powers such as flying in the sky, shooting webs, running at the speed of light, he still performed certain miracles that even today, 1400+ years later, amaze humans globally. His example was also the Paragon of Excellence, inspiring numerous individuals at his time which came to be known as his companions (Sahabah) and these same people went on to conquer the world, defeating the superpowers at the time and even influencing Non-Muslims in our time. Today, in many European nations, such as Britain, Umar’s Law is implemented. This is basically the pact Umar (RA) signed with Dhimmis (Non Muslims living in a Muslim state) when he conquered Shaam (Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan) in 637 CE. That’s one of the ways in which Europe is ahead of the Muslims today.
Only a couple days before the starting of the program, a handful had registered. The next day, 35 were to be a part of it officially and almost 50 unofficially. Slowly but surely, the numbers escalated, and to everyone’s astonishment it crossed 100 kids, by Allah’s permission, Alhamdulillah. That was a major achievement itself. The organizers were people of the local community, who had an ambition to educate school- going kids about the Prophet (PBUH), and initiate a healthy activity for the kids, during their summer break.Through their perseverance and determination, they were able to spring their idea into a reality which benefited both the students and the organizers. There were five groups made to divide the kids age wise, spanning from 4 to 18 years of age. The groups were named after famous Companions, Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali and Zaid (May Allah be pleased with them all). After the session of storytelling there were activities arranged for the kids which they would perform at home. To make the lessons interactive and engaging, class was taught through powerpoint slides via projector. The teachers aimed at keeping the lessons full of discussions with questions thrown at them from time to time.
The first day covered stories of the prophets. It focused on Prophet Adam, Prophet Ibrahim, Prophet Ismaeel, Prophet Musa, Prophet Isa (May Allah be pleased with them all) and the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The stories were shared with the kids to enlighten them about the previous prophets and to derive important lessons, owing to the fact that all stories in the Quran have a purpose. This was followed by an activity, involving a circuit with an LED light bulb, play dough and ice cream sticks. A type of ladder was made with the play dough and the names of the prophets on the sticks. The circuit connecting the LED and playdough lit up the bulbs.
On the second day, the session revolved around the Prophet’s family, his uncles, aunts, offspring etc, in order to get the kids familiar with hisfamily (PBUH). Just as kids nowadays want to know every single detail about their role model, whether it’s their family members, their residence, their assets, likes/dislikes, etc. Following it, the kids were handed out sheets of paper. One had the Prophet’s (PBUH) family members' names written. The other with circles attached to a tree, so the kids cut the names and pasted them on their desired location on the tree.
The last day was an exceptional one. The 30 minute session before the activities was based on Shab e Mairaj (Night of Ascension) which was when the Prophet (PBUH) was taken from Makkah to Jerusalem in a couple seconds and then miraculously from there to the heavens and back. In Jerusalem, he (PBUH) led all the Prophets in prayer, a truly mesmerizing sight. He visited Musa (AS)’s grave too that night. This session on Shab e Mairaj was an attempt to help more kids uncover the reality of Palestine and that it is a sacred, miraculous and blessed lands, with numerous Prophets visiting it, such as Yusuf (AS), Ishaq (AS), Ibrahim (AS), among others. Some like Isa (AS) were born there and several were buried there too. Moreover, through this session, the kids were able to realize the reality of Palestine with footage of the Al Aqsa Compound, as well as videos of the atrocities instigated by the Israelis. The kids too, were shown the distance between Makkah and Jerusalem on the world map and were astonished at the fact that the Prophet (PBUH) covered a distance which would otherwise have taken a month back then, in a couple seconds! The activity that followed was a word search where the kids would need to find the names of the Prophets mentioned and draw half of Masjid Al Aqsa.
All in all, it was a success and the volunteers and organizers enjoyed the initiative as much as the kids, and a small ceremony was held a day later with the participants receiving prizes and a powerful lecture by the renowned Maulana Abdus Sattar. May Allah accept this deed from all those who organized this camp and make us perform much more in the near future and may He allow it to remain as a Sadaqa Jariyah for us, Allahuma
Ameen.