Conventions Are a Waste of Time

Saad Tasleem

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Channel: Saad Tasleem

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Sit on one acre what I'm delighted when I got through. So we just finished what I like to call convention season or conference season, basically the end of the year where a lot of Muslim conferences and conventions tend to take place. And every year, I hear a lot of the same criticisms. First of all, it's a waste of time. And I hear that a lot. And I just want to establish a principle first and foremost regarding this issue and other issues as well. And that is in our melburnians, as Adam said that actions are judged by their intentions. So someone may attend a convention with the wrong intention. And that's what they're going to get out of it. And that applies not only to

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conventions, but to anything to even an Islamic class, which there may be lots and lots of benefit in that class. But if a person has the wrong intention, then that's what they get out of it. So for conventions, if somebody comes with the right intention, and they want to come and learn, or they want to come to raise their Eamon and I'll talk about some of the other good things that come from conventions, but then they will get that out of it. And they will see in shallow out of the reward for that as well. And for me, conventions, like anything else, like classes, or Hanukkah, or any type of Islamic learning, or Islamic activities, is all about what we put into it. So the effort

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that we put in shows us the reward if a person goes to the convention, and they have the intention to learn, and they put in the work, and they attend the lectures, and they you know, take notes, I've seen people take notes at conventions as well, then they're going to get a lot more out of that convention, obviously, than than someone else. The other thing that I hear about conventions is people say you don't really learn anything, it's just, it's just, you know, just to feel good type of environment, you know, you go to these talks, and you feel good for a little bit, and then you take nothing home. I disagree. Number one I do, I have seen many people actually learn many

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important aspects of their Deen from conventions. And even the whole emaan boosting aspect, I think is incredibly important. I mean, how many things are happening in our lives on a daily basis where we can actually increase our email. And so if somebody does attend a convention or a couple conventions in that have, and that helps keep their email up, then that is a beautiful thing. And Hamdulillah, you can attend a few lectures, and it kind of recharges your email and hamdulillah that within of itself makes that convention worth it. So this person making this judgment that you know, it's a waste of time, and you get nothing out of it, maybe they are projecting their own biases onto

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everyone else. So just because you didn't benefit or just because you didn't, your email wasn't raised or didn't do much for you. It doesn't mean it didn't do something for other people. Maybe for someone they just needed this little boost, and maybe it changes their life, they needed to hear this one lecture or this one talk or this one particular topic be addressed, and maybe it changes everything for them moving forward. Also, I think one of the things that is kind of under emphasized or people don't recognize the importance of is the issue that it is a gathering of Muslims. Now Muslim living as a minority that comes with certain drawbacks, and one of that is that we don't get

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to see a lot of Muslims and we may not feel the sense of community, we may not understand what the Muslim Ummah actually feels like. So to attend a convention where we see literally 1000s of Muslims gathered in one place, that can be very beneficial to help us understand that we're not alone, and that there are 1000s, and millions and billions of Muslims across the world who practice the same way of life as us, especially for young children, young children growing up as minorities, with their faith, for them to be able to see this type of environment is is excellent, it can empower them, it can strengthen their imagination, it can strengthen their resolve to practice Islam, when

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they see others in such a large quantity of people, or should I say such a large quantity of Muslim so like my previous point, this aspect of conventions on itself can make it worth it. Lastly, what I hear is, you know, people say a lot of how Tom stuff happens at conventions, you know, there's free mixing and this and that, and guys going to check out girls and girls going to check out guys, and it's just a bad environment. So once again, I'll refer you to my very first point, and that is that in Binya that actions are by their intentions, yes, there are some people who go to conventions with that intention. But there are also many, many people who don't go with that intention, they go with

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a very good intention, and therefore they benefit a lot from that very same convention. And I'm not going to say that conventions are perfect that it's the ideal environment and nothing bad happens. Of course, like everything else in the world, there is good and there is bad, but in my opinion, conventions and conferences are a place that there's so much good going on that it far outweighs the bad. And like I said, for a lot of people this is the recharge that they need. This is the amount of boost that they need. And that is why I personally I love attending conventions even as a speaker for

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It's an it's an econ boost not only preparing these talks and delivering them to people, but also attending other speakers lectures as well, I found some very, very beneficial lectures. And for me, it's a very big Eman boost also. So look, I get it, it's easy to criticize conventions, it's a very easy target, because you can just single out and pinpoint all the things that you don't like or, or maybe as I said earlier, maybe you didn't find that benefit in this convention. But it doesn't mean other people will not find benefit. But it's a very sad day when we start to criticize the goodness that has taken place in the world. And as I said, for some Muslims, they really, really need this

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and they and they look forward to it all year long. So those are some of my thoughts on conventions and conferences. But I'd like to hear from you as well. First of all, what conventions Do you usually go to? Second of all, how do you benefit from conventions? what particular benefits do you find when you attend a Muslim convention or conference and as always a Lost Planet Allah knows best. Until next time. Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh