By Zakiyyah Maryam Muhammad
DETROIT—The Nation of Islam’s Youth Committee hosted its first in-person Saviours’ Day workshop, “Guarding Our Righteousness.” This workshop placed Muslim youth in the forefront of establishing a culture and standard of righteousness. Instead of a traditional panel discussion, this Feb. 24 workshop guided attendees to form study discussion circles on various topics dealing with righteousness.
“The circles that I was in [and] who I was discussing, the questions at hand, it was really informative just seeing other people’s perspective on how to follow the Restrictive Law and different perspectives of how to go about it,” said Brother Asaad Muhammad of Mosque No. 15 in Atlanta. He said one of the questions posed was, “How can we as youth find our place in the kingdom of God?”
“And one of the brothers said that we have to really love the Teachings, we have to love the law. Because we can’t cheat our way out of Allah’s (God’s) law. We have to follow it. And if we love the law, that just makes it way easier to follow it,” Bro. Asaad added.
Steering committee members included Sis. Joi X of Miami; Sis. Aalia Muhammad of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Sis. Naajia Muhammad of Brooklyn; Sis. Elisha and Sis. Ilyasah Muhammad of Memphis; Bro. Sultan Sadeeq Muhammad of Chicago and Bro. Kaleem Muhammad of Washington, D.C.
Sis. Joi X, 19, explained that one of the things mentioned is that there are young Muslims that do not have a lot of other youth in their mosques or study groups. “So, we wanted to make a study group style for specifically youth, of course others were invited, but it was for specifically youth so that they can talk amongst each other and get their own perspectives and just really unite,” Sis. Joi X, 19, explained.
“That was the main purpose for our workshop. And I think it turned out beyond our expectations, because we had a lot of people, and insha’Allah (God willing) we can put on another workshop like this in the future,” she added.
Group discussion facilitators included Bro. Zuri Muhammad of Memphis; Bro. Nasir Muhammad, Bro. Hassan Muhammad and Bro. Khadir Muhammad of Waxahachie, Texas; Bro. Zahir Muhammad of California; Sis. Ilyasah Muhammad of Houston; Sis. Saaliah Muhammad and Sis. Nassirah Muhammad of Brooklyn, and Sis. Siyyan Muhammad of Atlanta.
The entire workshop was youth-driven, youth-led and youth-facilitated. The words of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan served as the basis of the study circle discussions. Each group discussed topics such as “What is your own self?” “What does Allah require from us so that we can accept our own and be ourselves?” and “As youth, how do we find our place in the Kingdom of Allah (God)?”
Toward the closing of the workshop, Bro. Sultan-Sadeeq Muhammad, 21, of Mosque Maryam, emphasized the importance of study and respecting the structure of attending study group.
“We are to be consistent in our study no matter what we have going on,” Bro. Sultan stated.
