Usually when I arrive at work on a Monday morning my supervisor asks me: “did you have a good weekend, was it restful?”

Alhamdulillah, it was an excellent weekend but far from restful. I think I would have been annoyed if I had a restful weekend where I didn’t achieve anything.

Apart from discussing with my parents about getting married inshAllah I attended the biggest demonstration that I’ve ever been to. This was huge! My only reasons for going were the reward and pleasure of Allah (swt). However, when I look at the example of Prophet Muhammad (saws) and the Sahaba (ra) I see that they never did anything without an objective. So although my reason was the pleasure of Allah and this reason should always be the same for everything I do, the objective changes depending on the aim of the event or task I’m planning to undertake. That’s why I never go to any demonstrations where the organizers themselves cannot give me a crystal clear objective.

Some people tell me that demonstrations do not achieve anything but when I ask them what was the objective of the demo they say they don’t know. You can never judge an event and say if it was a success or failure unless you know the objective. For example, if I saw Abdul walk into Pizza Hut and then leave after 15 minutes without eating any pizza can I say that he didn’t achieve anything? It depends on his objective. If he went in to have lunch, then he has failed in his objective. If he went in to sit in the warmth whilst waiting for his bus, then he has achieved his objective. So before judging the success of this demonstration, we would need to know what the objective was and why that particular objective was set.

I know there were so many unsolved problems on the day that we all noticed. However, only a handful of us had walkie-talkies. Since I had a walkie-talkie I got to hear the hundreds of other major problems that came up with security, lost children, logistics, etc that were quickly resolved. I wish everyone could have heard what I heard because it makes you really appreciate the hard work and initiative that the brothers and sisters put in and how this could have gone completely pear-shaped. Compared to this I think it was a great success and inshAllah we can learn from our mistakes.

The BBC reported it as 10,000 even though the Police said themselves that Trafalgar Square had a capacity of about 25,000. The Trafalgar Square warden said that the Square has held up to 40,000 in previous rallies. Judging from the fact that the Muslims flooded the square and poured out of the sides, I think it’s quite easy to see that the BBC was once again downsizing the numbers. Nevertheless, according to the organizers; the main objectives were met so alhamdulillah.

(more: Blogistan)