The Quran Competition, cornerstone programme of IMWA’s success was held at SIMS on November 16th, followed by Awards Conferral on December 8th, 2018 at ICSK Auditorium. Amman Street. Until, last year the gap between these two interlinked programmes used to be one and a half month. However, under the tremendous pressure of participating students to know the results as soon as possible, the Executive Committee of IMWA yielded to their genuine concern of knowing the outcome and decided to do it within three weeks. The results were put on the IMWA homepage on the tenth day of the competition. It was indeed a hectic task, more especially in view of one another, outdoor get together prograamme of IMWA families in between. This family programme, though could not take place because of inclement weather and was postponed, just 24 hours before the scheduled date.

The Awards Conferral programme began with the recitation of last two verses (285 & 286) of Sura Baqara by one of the Callagraphy, prize winner Hajra Hisamuddin. It was indeed a wonderful rendition of these ayats in a very pleasant and harmonious voice which charmed and fascinated the audience. Later on in the programme, she spellbound the attendance with her mellifluous recitation of Dua E Qunoot E Nazla.

The two verses, which are the last two ayats of Sura Baqra, which were chosen have got two significances.

One is that when Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) ascended the heaven – of the three things - Allah also revealed these two ayats to him. Second - Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) while emphasising the importance of these two verses of Sura Baqra has said that if one recites them in the night – they will be sufficient for him.

In light of the constrictions that IMWA faced this year, vis a vis the venue and time limit, we reduced the numbers of Elocution presenters to two.

1. Mohammad Rafey Akram and

2. Alina Fahad

Both of Class IX, presented their Elocution winning speech. The topic of their speech was – “The decline of Islamic values adversely affect mankind”. Both these, speakers won admiration for their skill of clear and expressive speech from the audience as well as the Chief Guest who later in his address made reference of their distinct pronunciation and articulation.

That, which really swelled the hearts of the organisers was not only approximately 400 registrations with actual participants of around 350 and 110 of them winning the prizes – but the calls received from a couple of children who were keen and intense to present on the rostrum. Fearing that they might not get a chance, an audio message of their speech presentation followed by the video of the same were made available to us on whatsApp, Thus leaving no choice with the organisers but relent in their favour

and include them in the programme. This reminded us of exactly what happened last year. It was the repetition of smaller class children, who too, approached us with a similar request. When we discussed this situation with our esteemed guests, they were

highly appreciative of IMWA’s decision. The two lucky girls were:

1. Rida Maryam of Class IV and

2. Zainab Rufi of Class V

After all, the purpose of the programme is to develop and awaken in child, - the values which are required of them by the social milieu for which they are destined. What else or what can be better than learning, teaching and sharing Quran. Muslims learn from Quran – morals of life. Quran is a guide and command for rituals including prayers, fasting, pilgrimage, rules of marriage, divorce, inheritance, finance, partnerships. You name it and the subject is covered in Quran.

Dr. Ibrahim Al Adsani and Abu Othman, the two teaching faculties of College of Engineering and Technology, Kuwait University were our Guests. Breaking from the tradition, Dr. Adsani, the Chief Guest took to the dais after more than half of the programme was over. This was deliberately done so that he can see and feel for himself about IMWA’s activities and the outcome. Dr. Ibrahim Adsani, congratulated all the winners of Quran Competition who had put in their hard work well supported by their passionate parents. He praised the efforts of IMWA for conducting such competitions which help children explore and understand the true meaning of Islam. Abu Othman, was well known to the parent audience because he handled a very sensitive topic on the day of the Quiz Competition, when he held captive the audience by his discourse on – Child Parenting. An Islamic Perspective.

Another striking feature of the programme was the quiz section of parents, where the mothers made a clean sweep with all three merit prizes. In a novel way, respective husbands honoured their wives with a token of appreciation on behalf of IMWA and household kitchen utility oriented items. All the student participants were presented a certificate and a memento for their performance and small gift items. These household and gift items were sponsored by the Administration of the Grand Mosque.

President Jawaid Anwar paid glowing tributes to Mr. Zia Uddin and Mr. Jamal Jafar, who have bid farewell to Kuwait. Both of them have been associated with IMWA since its inception in early nineties. He highlighted their role in establishing, promoting IMWA from a seedling into a full-fledged organization of more than 20 years. He further emphasized while addressing to the Students and Parents the importance of knowledge of Quran and Seerah of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) along with the contemporary worldly knowledge of science and technology. IMWA as a humble contribution organizes Quran Competition every year, where PDF of books on SEERAH of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) is uploaded on the website to make them easily accessible to every participants.

While extending the note of thanks to Mrs. Manshauddin,President Jawaid Anwar acknowledged her sincere, encouraging and inspiring services, in the ladies section activities of IMWA. Another commendable feature of the President’s speech was the acknowledgement of presence of Mrs. Najma Shahana whose love for Prophet’s seerat makes her participate regularly in quiz competition despite the barrier of her age and understanding of the English language. She is assisted by a translator.

The most awaited segment of the programme – the prize distribution. The special feature of Awards Conferral was that the winner participants anchored the programme in bits and portions. The idea behind is to promote the talent in them and build confidence of facing the audience. The lively anchors kept the audience engaged and informed of the events for the evening. This was an evening for the children presented by the children. The award conferral function was anchored by

1. Fahad Ahmad (Class XI) for Islamic Calligraphy

2. Tuba Shamvil (Class IX) and Sumaiyya Parveen (Class XI) for Quran Recitation

3. Hilal Salim (Class IX) and Parveen Hidayatullah (Class XI) for Elocution

4. Madiha Javed Ansari (Class IX) and Mohammad Sadiq (Class XI) for Quran Quiz

The programme concluded by vote of thanks offered by Brother Syed Hanif. The programme could be successful because of dedicated efforts of Dr. Naeem Uddin, who booked the venue and ensured that it is available to us. Br. Shafaq Mumtaz and Nadim Tirmizi played a pivotal role in facilitating the smooth distribution of prizes.

The other EC members, under the stewardship of President Jawaid Anwar and Vice President Muzammil Malik, namely – Iftekhar Ahmad, Israr Ahmad, Syed Hanif Ahmed, Dr. Naeemuddin, Shafaq Mumtaz, Syed Nadeem Iftikhar, Firdous Alam Khan, Shaikh Khaleel Basha, AW Rumani, Mir Abrar and Convener Irfan Mohammad Khan - played their role by being a part of the total environment.

We continue to seek Allah’s blessings that more and more of us benefit from this programme with each passing year and that we remain steadfast in our efforts.