HOW TO DELIVER A GREAT REMINDER

Reflections from Friday Youth Night

OVERVIEW & PURPOSE

The “reminder” session is a 5-10 min session in the youth project which is aimed at

making participants:

● Reflect

● Develop confidence and communication skills

● Develop social skills

● Give something practical they can do to better themselves

AUDIENCE

Profile Impact

Aged from 7-50 Consider your language - keep it simple. Assume very basic knowledge suitable for understanding by a 7 year old.

Range of ethnicities mostly from

South-East Asian backgrounds

Use examples and language which they can relate to but don't be too exclusive as many are born and bred in the UK.

Range of abilities - learning difficulties,

dyspraxia, ADHD

Keep your speaking short as attention spans may be short. Be considerate about examples.

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FORMAT

1. Short story with a beneficial meeting. Some resources you may find useful:

a. Short stories http://www.ezsoftech.com/stories/mis67.asp

b. Hidden gems in our history https://desertjewels.wordpress.com/

c. Islamic information

http://www.islamicinformation.net/2008/06/allah-does-exist.html

d. Islamic books

https://islamfuture.wordpress.com/2010/05/24/al-adab-al-mufrad-a-code-f

or-everyday-living-the-examples-of-the-early-muslims-imam-bukhari/

2. Highlight a single, significant point of reflection from the story which forms the

focus of some peer / group activity to encourage interaction and discussion.

3. Pair/Group feedback

4. Thank them for their contributions and acknowledge their responses as good

feedback

5. Bring the reminder to a close with a short summary which brings it altogether.

Remember, the first and last thing they hear will be most impactful.

Throughout the reminder session, encourage the participants to interact by asking

questions and handling feedback positively.

Watch out for participants losing interest by signs of them being distracted, talking or

staring into thin air. This is perfectly normal and should be a queue for refocusing by a

change e.g. vocal tone, sounds, humour, asking a question, shortening etc.

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WORKED EXAMPLE

1. Short story

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair and his beard cut as always. He started to

have a good conversation with the barber who attended him. They talked about so

many things on various subjects.

Suddenly, they touched the subject of God. The barber said: "Look man, I don't believe

that God exists as you say so."

"Why do you say that?" Asked the client

Well, it's so easy; you just have to go out in the street to realize that God does not exist.

Oh, tell me, if God existed, would there be so many sick people? Would there be

abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. "I can't

think of a God who permits all of these things." The client stopped for a moment

thinking but he didn't want to respond so as to prevent an argument.

The barber finished his job and the client went out of the shop. Just after he left the

barbershop, he saw a man in the street with a long hair and beard (it seems that it had

been a long time since he had his cut and he looked so untidy). Then the client again

entered the barbershop and he said to the barber: know what? Barbers do not exist.

"How come they don't exist?" asked the barber. "Well I am here and I am a barber."

"No!" - The client exclaimed. "They don't exist because if they did there would be no

people with long hair and beard like that man who walks in the street."

"Ah, barbers do exist, what happens is that people do not come to me."

"Exactly!" - Affirmed the client. "That's the point. God does exist, what happens is

people don't go to Him and do not look for Him that's why there's so much pain and

suffering in the world."

2. Highlight a single, significant point of reflection from the story which forms the

focus of some peer / group activity to encourage interaction and discussion.

Although we believe in Allah(SWT), when was the last time we actually spoke to him?

For example, there’s something that every one of us says every day, yet very few know

its meaning.

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The word “Alhamdulillah”. What does it mean? [Elicit responses]

We say this at the beginning of every one of our prayers and repeat it 33 times after

our prayers as well. Someone proposed that it means “bless you” because we say it

after sneezing which is interesting. However, it is actually the way we thank

Allah(SWT) for all he has given us. A sneeze is Allahs (SWT) way of protecting us from

germs - our very own forcefield. So we thank him (SWT) for looking out for us and

given us protection.

What else can you think of which you could thank Allah(SWT) for? Pair up with

someone you don’t know and see if you can come up with 33 things you’re grateful for.

You have 2 minutes.

3. Pair/Group feedback

OK, so what have we got? [Encourage everyone to make a contribution especially the

quieter ones. Collect feedback and explain a few of the key answers to give time to

digest the favour of Allah(SWT)]

4. Thank them for their contributions and acknowledge their responses as good

feedback

Thats a great set of responses - thank you.

5. Bring the reminder to a close with a short summary which brings it altogether.

Remember, the first and last thing they hear will be most impactful.

Now that you have thought of so many things you can be grateful for, make this a daily

habit when you are praying or doing dhikr. Think of one different thing every time

and you will find this transforms your prayers and communication with Allah(SWT)

every day. And remember, the one who is grateful to Allah(SWT), is beloved to Him

(SWT).

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