Minhaj-ul-Quran Youth League (Norway) holds its annual Mawlid conference at famous college of Oslo – Elvebakken. Minhaj Youth League Norway is the only youth organization in Norway that has the honour of organizing Mawlid Conference in the public. This is the fourth time MYL organized such a prestigious event. The theme of the event was: “Celebrating Mercy”, and among the distinguished guests on the occasion were Shaykh Rehan Ahmed Raza Al-Azhari from UK, Shaykh Nasir Ali Awain from Norway, and the renowned nasheed artist Nader Khan from Canada.

During the conference Shaykh Rehan elaborated the concept of Prophetic mercy and proved through Quranic and Hadithic evidence that Prophet Muhammad’s (SAW) mercy is universal and not limited only to Muslims. Shaykh Nasir, in his speech, discussed the necessity of having an emotional attachment to the Prophet (SAW) with your heart, parallel to your good deeds. The conference was initiated by the Quranic recitation by Awais-ur-Rehman (MYL), followed by a talk by Hayat-ul-Mir (MYL). And finally before break, Shaykh Nasir delivered his fabulous speech. After Shaykh Nasir´s speech, a poem about the beloved Prophet (SAW) was recited by a student at the Minhaj Education Center in Oslo. We also had a quiz during the event, where the winners were awarded with gifts by President of MQI Norway Ejaz Ahmed Warraich. After the break, Iqra Mushtaq (MYL-S), the host of the event preceded the program with nasheed by SHEEMA nasheed-group. Before the main speech, MYL had prepared a Mawlid-video which was shown to the audience, and which contained a sketch of a girl, who through her life, wanted to take every step in her life, in accordance with the Sunnah of the Prophet (SAW).

Finally, after the second break, it was time for the main speech of Shaykh Rehan Ahmed Raza from UK, followed by a nasheed concert with Nader Khan from Canada. In the end of the program, President of MYL Awais Ejaz thanked all the participants for joining this event, and especially the coordinators – Zulqarnain Hussain (MYL) and Anam Butt (MYL-S), for organizing such a beautiful event. Shaykh Hassan Mir Qadri concluded the event with dua. During the Mawlid conference, MYL Norway had put up stalls for various books. These stands also included literature in Norwegian language. The biggest gift of the event was the book: “Mawlid al-Nabi (SAW)” in English written by Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, which was available on the stall along with other English books, such as “Muhammad (SAW) The Merciful”, “Islam on Peace and Compassion”, “Minhaj-us-Sawi”, and Norwegian translation of the Holy Quran. Above 200 youths– both brothers and sisters, belonging to different communities attended this conference. As the previous years MYL served cakes and flowers to all participants in the end of the program. Later on in the evening MYL organized a gathering of nasheed in the mosque of Minhaj-ul-Quran International Oslo, with the guests we had invited. Nader Khan performed some beautiful nasheeds during this mehfil.

It may also be added that MYL arranged a seminar in cooperation with Muslim Students Association in Bergen (another city in Norway) about the significance of the ‘Seerah’ of the Prophet (SAW) a day prior to the main event. Shaykh Rehan Raza was the main guest and delivered an interesting talk about the above-mentioned theme.

Reported By: Qaiser Mahmood