With the blessings of Almighty Allah and intermediation of His Beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW), the monthly gathering of “Halqa-e-Durood and Giyarvih Shareef” was held at Minhaj-ul-Qur’an Central Mosque (Madina Hall, 122 Withington Road, Whalley Range, Manchester, M16 8FB) on December 07, 2014. Allama Muhammad Haroon Abbasi, Director of Minhaj-ul-Qur’an International Greater Manchester, presided over the programme. This blessed spiritual gathering was organised by Minhaj-Ul-Qur’an Greater Manchester (Manchester, Ashton, Bolton, Oldham, Rochdale). All tanzeemats and forums took part from MQI UK Greater Manchester areas, Minhaj Womens League and Muslim Youth League participated abundantly, in which Ashton, Oldham, Bolton, Blackburn, and Cheetham Hill, are especially included. 270, Brothers, Sisters, and Children, attended. The Sisters and Children were fully catered for.

The programme commenced with recitation of the Holy Quran. Everyone read Durood Shareef collectively. Heart-warming Naats were presented by Muhammad Ahmad-al-Qadri, Muhammad Shabaz Warsi, Ashfaq Warsi, Muhammad Zain, and Muhammad Kabeer: these youth of Minhaj-ul-Qur’an recited in a truly beautiful manner that made tears flow from the eyes of the audience.

After this, the young religious scholar Allama Muhammad Haroon Abbassi Al-Azhari gave an enlightening talk on the topic of piety. He said that that out of the key aims of Minhaj-ul-Qur’an, the first is Talluq Billah and one of the aspects of today’s spiritual gathering is to strengthen our link with Allah Almighty. Then in light of this Quranic verse يا ايها لذين امنو اتقوا الله و كونو ا مع الصدقين) he said that Taqwa is the name given to that which maintains the link between a Servant and his Lord. Similarly, Taqwa is instrumental in reaching the Presence of Allah, but first we would need to fix our destination. Our Destination is Allah ka Dedaar (وجوه يوميئذ ناظرة). To see Allah, our destination, we will use taqwa as the navigation to achieve this and without taqwa (وكونوا مع الصدقين ) this is not possible: and for this the best thing is to join Minhaj-ul-Qur’an and be in the company if Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri. InshaAllah, through this our destination will be reached and we are fortunate that Allah has bestowed us this great Movement and the leadership.

Lastly, there was a Dhikar-e-Khatam-e-Ghausia which was spiritually uplifting and there was a heart-felt Dua made which touched people’s hearts bringing them to tears. Also the participants generously donated money to the Mosque. The attendees were informed about future activities of MQI Central Mosque and leaflets were given about the approaching Sisters Mawlid in Manchester (on Friday 2nd January 2014, 6-10pm at St.Johns Hall, St.Johns Rd, Old Trafford, Manchester, M16 7GX), celebrating Eid Milad-un-Nabi (SAW) 12 Rabbi-ul-Awwal. Refreshments were served during the programme and at the end Langhar-e-Ghausia was served to attendees. As the participants departed they were handed date favour boxes.