ATFAL RALLY 2020: Preview Interview

With the first virtual Atfal Rally kicking off on the 25th of July, the Naib Mohtamim Atfal Shoaib Ali Sahib has arranged for Tahir Magazine to interview a member of his team, Jamal Sahib.

1) What is the purpose of the Rally and is it in lieu of the Atfal National Ijtema?
 

Despite our efforts of wanting to organise an online event that can go someway to fill the void of the National Ijtema, an online event can never replace the actual Ijtema. The word ‘Ijtema’ itself means a gathering or congregation, and the essence and purpose of the Ijtema is the spiritual experience that can only be achieved through the physical event itself where Khuddam and Atfal gather together for the remembrance of Allah.
 
However we do pray that this academic rally will at least bring the Majlis together in what should prove to be a different and unique event that will still be beneficial to all, InshAllah. This is the first time we are holding an event like this so do pray for the success of the event, and we hope you can join us to make this a very special event.
The special theme set for this Rally is the Life of the Holy Prophet (saw) and the Life of the Promised Messiah (as). All of the academic competitions are around this theme and we are also including a variety of different activities such as live interactive discussion groups, academics, quizzes and ‘untold narrations’ relating to Hazrat Khalifatul Masih.

The special theme set for this Rally is the Life of the Holy Prophet (saw) and the Life of the Promised Messiah (as). All of the academic competitions are around this theme and we are also including a variety of different activities such as live interactive discussion groups, academics, quizzes and ‘untold narrations’ relating to Hazrat Khalifatul Masih.

2) What are the main challenges and positives of organizing a virtual Rally?

The positives are that by having the Rally online we may be able to reach out to those Atfal who haven’t been able to attend Ijtema in the past for whatever reason. The obvious negative impact is that we can’t all be together and pray together to inculcate the feeling of brotherhood between us.

3) How long has this idea been in the works and how many people are working on it?

The planning started a few months back in March and around 20-30 people on the Atfal side are working on bringing this event together for you. The Khuddam Rally will run in parallel to the Atfal one so if you include those workers too, there’s a large number working behind the scenes.

4) How do you plan to get the word around about the Rally?

We have dedicated a page on the Atfal website and have been advertising the Rally during our online activities such as the Kahoot! Quiz. We are also promoting the event on social media, sending messages and posters to Regional and Local Atfal nazimeen to send on to the Atfal. We have also sent out details in Khuddam communications and passed the message through Lajna and Ansar channels.

5) Technology wise, what are the problems you and your team are encountering/ expecting to encounter?

This is the first time we are putting together an event like this, so we are trying to become familiar with all the technologies. Also, we needed to find a way of holding so many competitions in parallel for all the Atfal age groups. We found that Zoom worked quite well with the online Talim Classes, so we decided to use Zoom for the Academic competitions. We are also looking into streaming technologies to present different content throughout the day on the Atfal YouTube channel. We request all Atfal to pray for us and write to Huzoor for prayers so that Allah covers any of our shortcomings and enables a successful event for the Atfal. Insha’Allah

by Nuruddin Jheengoor
19th July 2020

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