The love for Allah (SWT), the love for Islam and the love for fellow sisters had inspired a group of Muslimahs to form a Muslim women’s organization in Bangladesh. The group appeared with the name 'Witness'- with a connotation as its root is in the Qur’an – "Witness to the Ultimate Truth". It started with a group of conscious sisters searching for the true understanding of Islam from authentic sources, who came to know S. A. Hannan, a well-known scholarly figure in Bangladesh, and had started a study circle under his guidance. This soon had taken an organized form and was named Witness with the goal of becoming witnesses before the mankind the way Allah SWT has commanded through the Qur'an. Some sisters used to get together at the house of S. A. Hannan who used to conduct classes on the fundamentals of Islam and also on the contemporary islamic issues. Within a year, the meeting place had been shifted to a participating sister's house. At that time, the class was primarily focussed on women's rights and duties in Islam & also on how to correct the misconceptions about the status of women in Islam prevailing in the society.
With time, the class, with its somewhat different way of learning Islam and its properly
balanced and global perspective addressing the current issues that boggles today’s
young minds - started to attract sisters from different educational and social
backgrounds. As the group grew larger, the sisters deeply felt the need for an
organizational structure. On the other hand, the members came to realize the urgency of
having a competent islamic balanced intellectual group in the present socio-cultural context of the
country, where ignorance about Islam had been perniciously detrimental to the healthy
development of the society. Both these two factors had initiated the emergence of
Witness, the organization. Its primary purpose was to learn, practice and spread the
balanced perspective & message of Islam all around with special emphasis on the rights
& duties of women. The sisters made a pledge to become good sincere Muslimahs and
dedicate themselves to speak against the existing non-islamic elements in the cultural
hegemony by spreading the true islamic knowledge based on unbiased interpretation of the
Qur'an & Hadeeth. With such visions in mind and with strong intentions, sincere
efforts and Tawakkul (supreme reliance) on Allah (SWT) the group continued to advance
ahead.
In addition to major emphasis on self-improvement through learning, the group's activities involve Dawah, developing awareness against social and political injustice & hence publishing articles and letters in major newspapers and magazines on important issues, arranging islamic book fairs & islamic dress shows, conducting social service among the deprived population of the country & many other social activities.
Indeed, it is the aim of every Witness member to establish the Deen (the Way) of Islam in every sphere of life as it is supposed to be:
"Ye are the best
community that hath been raised up for mankind.
Ye enjoin right conduct and forbid indecency; and ye believe in Allah ..."
Al Qur'an 3 : 110
May Allah (SWT) grant our effort and guide us to be on the straight path to practice and establish His Deen. Ameen.
by Nazmun Nahar
On the Origin of
Pioneer
"Verily
He sent His Messenger with divine guidance and
the true Deen in order for it to be dominant over the world"
Al Qur'an 9 : 33
It is the grace and will of Allah (SWT) that had concretized the astounding effort and spontaneity of a number of Muslim brothers to form the "Pioneer", a group with a vision to learn, practise and spread the proper and balanced perspective and the message of Islam all around.
The birth of Pioneer is closely linked to that of "Witness"- a group of sisters organized by Shah A. Hannan, an eminent islamic scholarly activist of Bangladesh. The Witness had originated as a study circle for the sisters to educate and build them up as dedicated practisioners of Islam. This led S.A. Hannan to envision the start of a similar class for young Muslim brothers. By the grace of Allah (SWT) , the class started sometime in the year of 1991 with a small group of students.
The original Pioneer played the role of a nucleus to accumulate more members around it. Gradually, youths from different educational and social backgrounds were attracted toward this concept and method of learning Islam in its balanced and global perspective, something that was missing from the method wide spread in the current society. This quenched the thirst of the truth-seeking intelligent youths, who spontaneously joined the group to learn and practise Islam. The primary intention of S. A. Hannan was to enlighten them with pure islamic knowledge from authentic sources with a well-balanced interpretation. But the nature of the class and the inspiration of the students had led him to give it the shape of an islamic organization. Within next seven years, Pioneer had grown and organized its effort for the propagation of the message at some larger scales.
It is Allah (SWT) who judges the success of any individual or collective human effort. However, the members of Pioneer have always been very optimistic about its future plans and activities. Today, Pioneer is not merely an islamic study circle. Together with Witness, it is a complete islamic organization with a continuous effort to remain upright with its proper spirit and balance under all circumstances.
The members of Pioneer are nourishing themselves with necessary islamic knowledge from authentic sources. This training has accrued a balanced combination of proper islamic knowledge and the leadership qualities among its members making them eligible to run islamic classes by themselves in their own communities & participate in other Dawah activities.
The organization publishes a quarterly magazine, "The Pioneer". It contains a good number of articles, letters and other information focussing important issues and aspects of Islam. A good number of leaflets are also published for free distribution among the community.
In the past, Pioneer had organized two calligraphy and islamic book fairs together with Witness. Numerous books and Calligraphic materials have been sold for minimum profit for islamic Dawah purposes.
Recently, Pioneer and Witness jointly organized a successful seminar on "Islam and the 21st Century".
"Verily He sent
His Messenger with divine guidance and the true Deen
in order for it to be dominant over the World"
Al-Qur'an 9 : 33
Today a lot of islamic organizations are working all over the world with this aim in view. The Pioneer is one of them. It's members have devoted themselves to spread and establish the message of Islam. May Allah (SWT) accept any honest and sincere efforts to learn, practice and spread His Deen.
by Md. Hasan Shahid
