On (Saturday) 24th of January 2015, Minhaj-ul-Quran Women and Muslim Youth League UK Sisters organised a Mawlid entitled Muhammad (SAW), the Merciful. The hall was full of guests, not an empty seat in sight. Around 500 people attended the programme. It was a bilingual Mawlid gathering, the first half was in English for the youth and the second half in Urdu for the elder generation.

Sister Ruksana Parveen (MWL) and Sister Raheela Barkat (MYL) both welcomed the honourable guests to the greatest spiritual gathering you can be in and invited on stage Tehreem Zahra (MYL) from Walsall for Quran recitation along with translation. It was a very beautiful recitation and everyone listened attentively, after that we invited Minhaj-al-Barakah on stage for a medley of nasheeds in Urdu and Punjabi style. This was their first debut performance as a group and the members were given a warm welcome. One of our youngest members of the Youth League, Amina Ishtiaq (MYL), at the tender age of 13 gave an excellent talk of how the Holy Prophet (SAW) is the best role model for all of us. Her confidence and delivery of her message was mesmerising and a very proud moment for Muslim Youth League UK Sisters. Aarifah Ali (MYL) then graced the stage with an inspirational poem written by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf titled Springs Gift.

Our guests were a nasheed group called Voice of the Hearts. They were formed 5 years ago under the guidance of Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi of Sacred Knowledge to revive the tradition of reciting poems of praise in the Arabic language. Their performance added to the spiritual atmosphere that was already present and brought about a tranquil mood amongst the listeners. Hina Nawaz (MYL) really spoke out to the crowd of youth to inspire them to come and join Muslim Youth League Sisters UK, really highlighting the fact that working for the religion is a great honour and not only benefits you but all the people around you, whether it’s your family, friends, neighbours or community as a whole. She did an excellent job of motivating. After her speech, we had a lot of youth visiting the stall to join our organisation. The final speech in English from the Muslim Youth League was from Fardos Shahid (MYL). She gave an excellent speech on how we can still have a personal, spiritual relationship with the Holy Prophet (SAW) in this day and age. It was a very moving talk and stirred strong feelings of love for our holy Prophet (SAW) and really fulfilled the purpose of us doing the Mawlid, which is to get re-connected with Allah and His Beloved Messenger (SAW).

Minhaj Naat Council from Derby came on the stage next and recited beautiful nasheeds. Sister Rosina Nawaz (MWL Midland Zone General Secretary) was called to inform the attendees about the Minhaj Dawah Project and Sister Jabeen Naveed (PAT Convener) also spoke to the ladies about political struggle of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT).To conclude the eventful day sister Ruksana Parveen finally invited our guest speaker, our beloved Ustazah Fatima Mashhadi who is the President of Minhaj Women League UK. Ustazah Fatima Mashhadi gave a beautiful talk in Urdu about spiritual status of the Holy Prophet (SAW). The programme concluded with recitation of Salaam and Dua. The Mawlid Celebration cake was cut by MWL and MYL jointly on stage. Food was served to all attendees. Alhamdulillah it was a great success.

Report by: Firdos Shahid