Why is SeekersGuidance launching SeekersPoint Auckland (and what is it)?

by Aarif Rasheed
In the Name of God, The Compassionate, The Merciful
Assalamualaikum everyone,
The Need in Our Community
For about the last 10 years we have been trying to establish for ourselves and the wider community an aspiration towards fulfilling our potential as Muslims – our higher potential as the best of Allah’s (God’s) Creation.
Our goal so far has been to revive the classical Islamic education in our community: the highest standards of academic excellence that we know is responsible for the great Islamic civilisations of the Golden Years of Islam.
We now know that in this post-colonisation era, access to traditional Islam from the great lands of learning that we now see in utter strife, such as Syria, Iraq, and Egypt, had been diminishing for some time. The wider post-colonisation reality of the Muslim world was one in which the academic excellence of the previous Islamic civilisations had all but gone.
Already Part of the Community
Over the last 10 years, we have had numerous international scholars from Islamic institutions around the world come to us who have been learnt widely and deeply in such cradles of knowledge. The result of this hard work is that many students are now learning with either local teachers or with scholars teaching from the around the globe. We have regularly come together for learning together locally, and for serving together locally. Students, and volunteers, are scattered across all the well-known Islamic organisations, including RMDT, WTG, Al-Hikmah Trust, Fatimah Foundation, IWCNZ, etc.
What we see is that from learning Islam together, and practising together (including, importantly, serving others together) we actually build a community together. But not just a community for the sake of building one, but a community that is based on guidance from Islamic teachings, respect for those teachings and the teachers that teach them, and a respect for all that is sacred in our world.
Join Us On This Journey
We invite you to join us on this journey to reestablish the high standards of academic excellence and service. This return to excellence involves spreading balanced, mainstream understanding of our religion, so that we may once again be a people of Taqwa (God-Consciousness) & Service.
These efforts must occur under the guidance of scholars who are both deeply learned in the religion, but also in the context and needs of the communities that are being served. SeekersGuidance has brought together such scholars, and established institutions that are now bringing together all these years of efforts into one globally coordinated but locally based, effort. This has meant a great increase in access to scholarship, which is also now free of any cost, under the Knowledge Without Barriers initiative of SeekersGuidance.
SeekersPoint Auckland will represent the first formal SeekersGuidance collaboration in New Zealand. Many of its students, servants, and now, associated teachers, are in Auckland, and the community is one that is more than ready to embrace the SeekersGuidance ethos of serving the community and upholding the standard of Islamic excellence.
SeekersPoint Auckland is where seekers of knowledge and servants of the community (hopefully that is everyone!) can come together and support each other to remain committed to Building a strong, united community. That is, united on the teachings of the Quran & Sunnah as compiled and codified by the continuous generations of scholars from the time of the companions. That strong community comes out by facilitating the learning of this authentic Islam, and serving of others, both as the means to ultimately seeking the pleasure of Allah The Almighty.
Giving Access
Therefore SeekersGuidance has made it a priority to make the seeking of authentic knowledge accessible to everyone. The 20th Century (post-colonisation of much of the Muslim) saw a considerable weakening of access to authentic knowledge. SG is striving to reeducate the masses globally, given the huge now prevalent post-colonisation. This is so that we can return to the academic excellence that existed in the earlier times of Islamic civilisation. The ongoing destruction of cradles of knowledge like Iraq and Syria (and more recently Egypt) has greatly affected the prolific teaching and learning that was going on in these lands.
In the present climate, there is a lot of pressure on Islamic institutions around the world. In this difficult environment, SeekersGuidance has been able by Allah’s blessing to make sacred knowledge available for free, globally, thanks also to the generosity of those who can afford to donate. Presently, over 10,000 students in 130 countries already are establishing their grounding in Islam, with many amazing stories of those who previously couldn’t access proper Islamic knowledge for reasons of cost and being unable to find scholarship where they are.
Global effort, Local results!
SeekersGuidance aims to reconnect Muslims to the academic excellence of traditional Islam, and accessing any local scholarship available is a high priority. SeekersGuidance is involved in supporting many of the great scholars now scattered around the world, and in ensuring they remain accessible not just locally, but globally! This means supporting scholars and their families as and when required, and allowing scholars to devote their time to academic excellence, meaning proper guidance from scholars and a reawakening of love for Islamic sciences. Of course, a major symptom addressed by this revival of Islam is making Islam relevant once more to our people, young and old, wherever they may be in the East or West.
SeekersPoint Auckland Events, 7-9 February, 2014
SeekersPoint Auckland is launching! This allows the Auckland community to access even more of SeekersGuidance benefits, including the visiting of major scholars, supporting of local scholars, facilitating committed service to beneficial organisations already serving Islam and Muslims here in Auckland and much more: many of the symptoms we see in our community, such as Islam appearing less relevant to many young Muslims and gradually disappearing from our Masjids, are symptoms of the underlying absence of this knowledge and spirit of Islam that must be properly established, wholesomely and organically, in our community!
International & Local Scholars
We will be having very special scholars visiting us to explain all this, and launch Auckland’s SeekersPoint! SeekersGuidance founder Shaykh Faraz Rabbani will be travelling to Auckland to join us, along with local scholars, to not only launch SeekersPoint but also teach for the weekend while here. Shaykh Faraz alone will be travelling for over 30 hours to reach us, to be with us for only 3 days! Though in huge global demand, such local milestones wherever they may be, are so dear that the scholars are making his way to Auckland especially for our launch events.
Many NZ and Auckland students who are already learning with SeekersGuidance will get the opportunity to meet the people behind this global initiative that is going local everywhere, without barriers!
Guests from all around New Zealand: we will also be joined by seekers and community leaders from all around New Zealand, including Wellington, Hamilton, New Plymouth and Christchurch. If you’re interested in coming, or establishing a connected community in your area, please let us know ASAP so that we can help you in any way we can!
CONTACT:
All queries may be directed to us at: auckland@seekershub.org OR TEXT: 021 763 810.
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