Boys Night Out Heldekruin

Whilst for some the highlight of the Boys Night Out was the exciting experience on the mechanical bull, whilst for others the interaction with the less fortunate and the appreciation showed in return was an experience that could have never been better.

The evening of Friday 2nd of Dec 2016 was a start to a vibrant weekend for the community of Helderkruin. The Deen team together with its members commenced the evening with an interactive program into the field of qiraat by Qari Ridhwaan Bavardeen and Qari Ammaar whilst displaying to the participants the different modes of recital and after which participants were also given the opportunity of reciting in the style of their preferred qurra and Alhamdulillah a youngster from the Lenasia area came forward and portrayed a beautiful recitation in the style of Qari Abdul Basit.

Later on into the program Hfz Shaakir Bhyat went on into an open discussion with our participants on the topic of the harms of pornography and how its affects our youth, during the discussion a brave participant came forward and gave us some insight into his recovery from this addiction and some of his research into the harms of this addiction. Also our participants were given the opportunity to interact with recovering drug addicts. These discussions were concluded and the participants made their way towards the parking area of the Masjid for an experience on the mechanical bull which was something that was much anticipated by the younger of the crew.

The mechanical bull experience:
How it works??
The mechanical bull is a machine driven replica of a bull where a person is challenged to mount the bull and stay on for a period of time without letting the bull drop you off, when a person falls off he falls onto an inflatable jumping castle type of surface and thus causing it to be the end of your session on the bull. The Deen team structured a competition around the time period that a person could remain on the bull. Thus allowing every participant to take a ride on this bull for a period of 1 minute in a round and that would determine whether you have made it to the next round. For a fact that in every round the ride intensifies thus lessening your chances of remaining on the bull for the time period, indicated. Alhamdulillah during the first round all our participants had made it through to the 2nd however in the remaining two rounds many of the participants hadn’t been able to make it through, thus making it difficult for the judges to decide upon a winner. But Alhamdulillah after the 3rd round we came with a winner a brother from the Lenasia area Br Yusuf who had won himself a Palestinian scarf courtesy of The Deen team. Alhamdulillah towards midnight our participants enjoyed a scrumptious meal by the local musallees of Masjid Jabale Nur. Later on into midnight a very informative Islamic quiz was held for the participants by one of the members of The Deen team followed by some muraaqabah and tahajjud salaah which brought the program to a conclusion and thus our participants went of to get some rest. Alhamdulillah the next morning our participants were awoken by the beautiful azaan for fajr salaah after which Hfz Shaakir held a program for the participants and the musallees which lasted for about 15 min and thus the program was concluded with the performance of Salaah tul Ishraaq.

Alhamdulillah immediately after the breakfasts our very energetic participants got down into the preparation of two degs of Akni for the less fortunate people of the area. From the cutting of the onions to organising the firewood our participants took on the tasks with a hands on approach.
At around 11am Deen team members together with the participants made their way to a the local informal settlement to distribute the meals to those less fortunate.
Alhamdulillah it was a great experience for our participants many had never been to any informal settlement before, making it an eye opener and thus creating an inner feeling of gratitude and appreciation for the bounties that the Almighty has blessed them with. During the distributing of the meals our participants experienced the life of those living in under privileged areas and our participants were also given the opportunity to view one of the homes and experience what is it like to live in an informal settlement.
Alhamdulillah after the completion of the distribution and on the return to the Masjid we had some parting advice by Hafiz Shaakir and we had conducted some interviews with our participants thus in this way bringing us to a close to our overnight program.

Herewith are some of the interviews that were conducted:
Riyasat Rehman a grade 6 learner says: “I enjoyed the mechanical bull experience it was the best”.
Hanzala Kaka says: “The worst was cutting the onions for the Akni because my eyes were burning and the best was spending time with everyone and being around everyone and playing soccer”.
Azmat Rehman a grade 6 learner says: “I really enjoyed the qiraat and I learnt about the quraan that was recited in the Mujawwad and Hadr modes”.
Anas Ahmed a 4th year university student says: “ From the interaction with recovering drug addicts I got to know that people on drugs have hope and talks from drug addicts have always kept me away from drugs”

Alhamdulillah TDT is grateful to the Almighty for granting us an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of the youth of the Muslim ummah and we ask Allah to accept our efforts.