October 16, 2004
Conferences and Speakers: A Partial Primer
Section: WRITINGS | 108 reads
Here are some reasons why people seem to have conventions, conferences, seminars or whatever else you call them:
a) If you are a formal organization of some kind, your constitution or bylaws may mandate holding a conference of some kind periodically. They may say things like ‘you will hold a regional conference every six months’ or ‘you will hold an annual conference every year.’
b) You may want a convention or conference because everyone else is having one. So, your motive is if everyone else is doing it why not you?
c) For lack of anything else to do. That means you have some energy and some time on your hands. You don’t know what else to do. So a convention or conference looks as good as anything else.
d) To get a share of the limelight. Muslims, after all, are people like everyone else. And people – most people – crave a bit of limelight – a spot of publicity and prominence from time to time.
Everyone else seems to be getting all these big-name Muslims coming down to them from all kinds of places. There are large gatherings, powerful talks, and even more powerful talks, and so on. There is hustle and bustle and all that blood rushing to the head. So why can’t you get your piece of that action, a day or two in the spotlight?
e) The lure of money. If handled right, these gatherings of Muslims can bring in a bit of money. And what is wrong with money, right? With good planning and a carefully selected panel of celebrity speakers, you could make enough money to run whatever you are running quite comfortably for the whole year.
Islam, as we all know, has turned out to be big business. Part of Allah’s blessings on his people, would you say? There is money in Halaal meet. And there is money in book, audio, video and Islamic trinket sales. And naturally there is money in conventions and conferences.
All of these things should remind us of the continuation of the intention Hadith in Bukhari cited earlier: If a person leaves home to emigrate (Hijrah), the question is why. If it is for worldly reasons or for marriage, then that is exactly what that Hijrah is for – for marrying a woman. So also, if a conference or convention is for name, fame, money and other similar things, then, that is precisely what we should expect from it – name, money, fame. And nothing more!
Therefore, I suggest, you set your goals quite early in the game – and set them right. That means before you do anything else ask yourself why you are doing what you are doing. That means set your conference or convention or program goals quite clearly in advance. These goals will then guide your steps and direct your activities throughout the convention.
We have already talked about the purity of intention or motive, have we not – doing the convention or conference purely to please Allah? Not for money; not for name; not for fame; not for advancing organizational purposes and agendas; but purely to make Allah Almighty be pleased with what we are doing.
But where do we go from there? What practical purposes or reasons can we use for our conferences or conventions?
Here are some ideas. Read on.
Some Ideas You Can Use
Assuming you are holding a conference, convention or camp purely for the pleasure of Allah, here are some ideas you can use to help you to set your goals:
a) Education and Information.
That means you hold your conference to educate and inform the Muslims, or whatever other group you may have in mind, about Islam and Muslim affairs and issues – and about the world.
If this is your goal, it goes without saying that you would take pains to tailor all your activities to the attainment of that goal. You will then select the right programs, call the right speakers, make sure that your participants do indeed learn what you want them to learn.
And that is an interesting question in itself: What is it that you really want your participants to learn? I once came away from a convention speech with the impression that if all of us, let us say, wore turbans, that will somehow make us better people and will, at the same time, make this world a better place. I am not saying it may not happen but I would like to know how. So, what exactly is it that we are trying to teach the knowledge-hungry, eager, trusting, unsuspecting and deprived Muslim masses in the name of Islam?
But is that generally what Muslim conferences and conventions do uniformly and single-mindedly? One thing that has struck me about Muslim conventions and conferences is the adroitness with which almost all of them avoid any meaningful contact with the reality of Muslims. They generally seem to avoid issues of practical concern to the Muslims. For example, when was it you last attended a convention or conference on the state of education in the Muslim world and what to do about it? I was trying to raise that issue 30 years ago, but no one listened.
b) Motivation and Energization.
All of us need help with motivation from time to time. We need to be reminded of some wonderful things about us and moved to a higher level of consciousness, excitement and enthusiasm. And Islam is a great motivating force – the best there is. The right kind of speakers can make an audience quite excited and enthusiastic. They can put fire in our belly and make us burn with a desire to do things.
In my mind, learning, motivation and excitement go hand in hand. They work together. And the best programs are those which combine both aspects – the learning as well as the motivational aspects. But a question worth asking is what are our speakers motivating us about? And it could be a slippery slope.
Unless we are careful – few of us generally are! – this may become an exercise in glib generalities and clichés like how good and wonderful the Muslims are and how bad and terrible the “kaafirs” are. Or some slick and simplistic analysis of how all the troubles of the Muslims are the result of colonialism or imperialism or this “Kaafir” group or that.
That is not to say colonialism and imperialism have not hurt the Muslims in the past, or to say some non-Muslim groups do not wish the Muslims ill at present. But the way to deal with Muslim troubles – whether real or imaginary – is not to blame it all on the Kaafirs or to turn around and make turbans the compulsory wear, even though turbans may have been an honoured headgear through much of Muslim history. The way out is to engage in serious and systematic analysis and research and pursue solutions following a path of reason, observation and science.
Next Article: SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 – THE Muslim Story and A strategy for Coping – Part One
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