I have been summoned by Kaki Bangku to write something about RIS 6 (2007), so here I am, presenting my personal account about this so called North America’s largest Islamic convention - arguably. According to Syaikh Hamza Yusuf, RIS is the best Islamic Convention in North America, even better than the ISNA convention.

The Reviving the Islamic Spirit (RIS) convention was first held in 2003 at Metro Toronto Convention Centre, and it was quite a hit, with 3500 attendees. Since then, RIS is been held annually during the winter break at Toronto, and the attendance has grown three fold in subsequent years, with the 2006 convention is reported to have over 15 000 attendees. The official attendance figure for the 2007 convention is not out yet, but I would vouch that this year’s hall is even more pact than last year’s.

Over the years, distinguished scholars from all over the world have become speakers at RIS, including the likes of Tariq Ramadhan, Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah, Dr. Zakir Naik, Dr. Abdal Hakim Murad (T.J. Winter), Dr. Abdal Hakim Jackson, Bilal Abu Ameenah Philips, Dr. Jamal Badawi, Syaykh Riyadh ul Haq, Tariq Suwaidan, Imam Zaid Shakir, and of course Syakh Hamza Yusuf himself.

One of the major attractions of RIS is its nasheed concert, which is usually held as the last event of the convention. Famous nasheed artists like Sami Yusuf, Native Deen, Najam Sheraz, Outlandish (hip-hop group, of course), Hamza Robetson, and Raihan (Ye la, yang itu la, Raihan mana lagi!) have made appearances there. This year, the concert is held as a separate event from the convention, due to ’some other reasons.’ There was also a special screening of the film, Al-Ghazali: The Alchemist of happiness with commentaries by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf at this year’s RIS entertainment session (the new name for the separate concert).

After giving you these staggering figures and facts, the first question that comes to your mind might be, “Who is the organizer?” Well, the answer is, there is no official organization which organizes this convention, and the closest one that I can give you is: This event is “A Unique Youth Effort.” To give you a further hint, Syaikh Hamza Yusuf, Imam Zaid Shakir, and Tariq Suwaidan have perfect attendances as speakers for RIS thus far - albeit, Tariq Suwaydan didn’t make it to this year’s convention due to unavoidable, outside circumstances.

This year RIS started with the Knowledge Retreat (traditionally the Knowledge Retreat is held after the convention), which is an educational program that focuses mainly on core sciences of the Islamic Tradition (i.e. Usul Fiqh, Ulum Hadith, Tafseer Qur’an, Tasawwuf, etc.) - the convention itself usually focuses more on contemporary issues. At first, the knowledge retreat was meant to give the organizers and volunteers of the convention a chance to learn and interact with distinguished Shuyukhs (speakers) of the convention. Note: The organizers and volunteers are unable to listen to the lectures in the real convention as they have to do their assigned duties during that period.

Nowadays the Knowledge Retreat (KR) is open to everyone, but priority is still given to the organizers and volunteers. The KR has also grown into sort of a small convention that complements the real RIS itself, with 500 participants in this year’s KR. I have been told by the organizers that some of the Shuyukhs were actually more interested to teach in the KR than the real RIS itself, which had given the organizers some real headaches! Probably some of the participants were more interested to come to the KR than the real RIS too - how ironic.

I have promised to give my own personal account of this year’s RIS, so here it goes. After the gruelling and tiresome Fall semester (not to mention I got owned by the final exams), I was looking forward to the winter break - primarily due to KR and RIS, and forget about catching up with my sleeping time after pulling out a couple of all-nighters during the exams week. Actually, KR started right on the next day after my final paper of exams. So it was like cramming for the wordly, and then suddenly the hereafter came without warning - metaphorically, of course.

This year’s KR promised to be an amazing event. I couldn’t wait to hear lectures by the star-studded speakers line-up of Syaykh Hamza Yusuf, Syaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah, Dr. Umar Faruq Abdallah, Habib Ali al-Jifri, Dr. Abdal Hakim Jackson, Imam Zaid Shakir, and Ustadh (or is it Ustat?) Yahya Rhodus. Furthermore, the Shuyukhs will be reading, translating, and explaining the works of great, traditional scholars such as Shaykh Waliullah Dahlawi’s Causes and Cures of Differences of Opinions , Ibn Juzayy’s Refinement of the Heart (Taswiyat al Quloob), Ibn Ata’Allah’s Taj al-Arus (literally it means Crown of the Bride), commentary on selected hadith by Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah, and a kitab by Imam Alawi al-Haddad which I can’t quite remember it’s title (pardon me). In short, if you know who those shuyukhs are, and what these kutub (shall I say kitabs?) are about, you won’t want to miss this event - you can ask Bangku if you don’t believe me.

The ‘setback’ of the KR was that some of the speakers failed to turn up due to unexpected and unavoidable circumstances - nobody’s fault really, the organizers had done whatever they could to bring them to the event and the speakers had made every intentions and preparations to come too. As for Habib Ali al-Jifri, his mother got severely sick, so he decided to stay with his mother during that trying time. He was supposed to give a lecture with the title “Jannah is Under the Feet of Mother” at RIS, and Shaykh Hamza Yusuf made the comment: “Habib Ali al-Jifri gives us a living-lesson on this topic by choosing to stay with his mother back at home”, which I can’t agree more. Dr. Umar Faruq Abdullah and Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah also failed to turn up, probably due to problems in getting into the country. So the absentees of these great speakers was a bit of a let down, but it was understandable, plus we still have plenty of other great speakers at the convention.

Admittedly, I was pretty tired during the KR, so it was a bit hard for me to concentrate on some of the lectures - at times. Dr. Abdal Hakim Jackson was given the task to dissect Ibn Ata’Allah’s Taj al-Arus, which seems to be an awkward match at first sight, but to me, his lectures turned out to be one the best in KR - at least they were meaningful to me. For those who are not familiar with Taj al-Arus, it is mainly about the science of spirituality, or in other words, tasawwuf. To me, he gave a practical approach on this highly subjective and individualized business of spiritual hygiene - not to mention he quoted quite a lot of Ibn Taimiyya and Ibn Qayyim too along the way.

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf translated and elaborated some parts of Ibn Juzay’s Refinement of the Heart (Taswiyat al Quloob), a topic which seems to overlap Dr. Abdal Hakim Jackson’s lectures. However, it turned out fine; in fact, they complemented each other and this formation added more dimensions to the subject - so to speak. By the way, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf mentioned that he had a ‘chit chat’ once with Richard Dawkins, and the guy labelled him as “powerfully stupid” - new, ‘poweful’ adjective that I learned on that day. You know Shaykh Hamza, he always exudes this ‘aura’ whenever he is around - if you know what I mean, and don’t take it out of context - he is always the man. It was indeed a pleasure to hear lectures by this humble genius (as opposed to “powerfully stupid”, I suppose), not to mention, the chance to speak with him (albeit for a short while), and to pray behind him.

Moving on, Imam Zaid Shakir explained about Shaykh Waliullah Dahlawi’s role as a mujadid during his era and he gave a decent treatment on the subject of handling differences of oppinion (ikhtilaf) according to Shaykh Waliullah Dahlawi. The subject is too technical for most people, so he had to make his lectures more appealing to the audience by touching on other ‘lighter’ side issues from time to time; thus lessening the time spent on treating the main subject. To me his approach was understandable - we need a different program if we want to get real deep into this subject. 

Ustadh Yahya Rhodus did an extensive commentary on Surah al-Fatihah and Surah al-Hujurat, while Syaikh Abdullah bin Hamid Ali substituted Habib Ali al-Jifri on Sirah Nabawi. Syaikh Abdullah Hamid’s references were mainly Ibn Hisham’s and Ibn Ishaq’s classical works, so I was pretty familiar with most of the stuff, especially since at that time, I was reading Tariq Ramadhan’s In the Footsteps of the Prophet. Nevertheless, it served as refreshment for my ailing memory about the important subject, the life of our Prophet s.a.w. I have listened to Habib Ali al-Jifri’s lectures on Sirah Nabawi posted on Youtube by Tawel Sensei – they are really touching to the heart – I still hope I will be able to hear his lectures on sirah live in the future – next year’s KR perhaps.

To sum up, the KR lived up to my initial, high expectation; in spite of the exclusion of certain much-anticipated speakers. I would say, I benefited a lot from the KR, although I hope the topics were covered in more details. As you might notice, this program is really heavy on spiritual subject. When you have these quality scholars handling this topic; it made a lot of difference – they really enlighten you. Click here for decent notes on the lectures of KR done by one of the participants.

Note: a bit of sidetrack after this

This brings us to the question of what kind of wacana (discourse) is suitable for a program? To me, whether the discourse is ‘basic’ or ‘deep’ is not really an issue. But more importantly, how the speaker tackles the topic, how ‘deep’ is his knowledge on that particular topic, and whether or not he is capable of conveying the topic effectively to the audience. There is no point in touching on ‘deep’ issues if the speaker’s knowledge on the topic is inadequate or he/she is unable to deliver the topic effectively – worst, if the deep topic is put forth with an agenda. Whereas, a ‘basic’ topic can be very enlightening if the speakers of the program are of high quality and if they really know their stuff. 

So the question of what kind of discourse is a subjective one; the answer is it depends on the organizer, and it shouldn’t be an issue – if it is an issue, I believe we are diagnosing the wrong cause for the problem. Having said that, I won’t negate the need to put in more public discourses on heavier and ‘deeper’ topics – especially among ‘us’, as generally, we have good groundings on ‘basic’ knowledge, but lacking in ‘deeper’ knowledge. 

I believe, the main cause for us failing to appreciate a supposedly quality program – not necessarily deep or heavy - is because of our mindset and level of thinking. It is a question of why Harry Potter is infinitely more popular than Lord of The Rings (I am talking about the book, not the movie), not the question of why Lord of The Rings is more popular than 1984. The problem is not what kind of genre; instead, it is the problem of our failure to appreciate what is a truly quality material in a particular genre – be whatever the genre is. You can put forth Lord of The Rings next time around (instead of 1984), but then people will still come to you and say, “You know what? I think we should do Harry Potter lah next time around, it’s much more interesting. More action, easier to understand, macam-macam lagi lah.”

Even if we put forth quality speakers talking about a supposedly ‘basic’ topic, there will still be people who will say: “I still like XYZ instead of this. XYZ is clearer, straight to the point” etc. Essentially, what I am saying is, the quality of a program should not judged by the type of discourse that is presented (i.e. heavy or basic), but rather how substansive the topic is covered in the program. Our problem is a problem to appreciate real substance, and to prefer ‘mediocrity’ due to the lack of depth in our own thinking. To change mindset, will take time, but it is doable,  insyaAllah. I hope the reader is able to understand the message that I am trying to convey with those analogies.

This is just my two cents on this topic; I admit that they are mere conjectures and maybe I am utterly wrong. Plus, I won’t negate the fact that LOTR is indeed more popular than 1984 in any case.

End of sidetrack

After writing this long, finally I arrive at the real thing: RIS. Ironically, the convention is something that I have the least point to talk about – probably Bangku has more things to share on this. I was volunteering, so I missed most of the lectures (I would say I attended roughly around 35-40% of the lectures). The theme of this year’s convention is “Family: The Basis of a Civil Society.”  By the way, I was in charge of the Children’s Program. What better ways to realize the meaning of the convention’s theme than to take care of little rascals? It was an interesting experience indeed. I realized that it’s one thing to take care of one noty kid, but it is something totally different to take care of twenty of them. 

Furthermore, it doesn’t get any easier if you come from a different culture or upbringing than your ’subordinate’. Those kids that I ‘took care’ of are indeed Arabs, Pakistanis, and Persians by race, but they are essentially Canadians – they are brought up with the dominant culture in their mindset. They are being thought to question authority, to be confident, etcetera. Moreoever, if you ask me the rules of galah panjang or baling selipar then – maybe – I would know, but if you ask me to judge a game of Octopus, then…. Well, I can make good, flyable paper airplanes. Anyway, I had ‘fun.’ Not to mention, now I have more respect for kindergarten teachers and perhaps – moms (hehe..). 

So, the burning, unanswered question thus far is still: “What is the convention all about?” I have mentioned that actually, I am not the right person to answer this question. To sum up, this year’s RIS is about the ‘mundane’ stuff: Arranged marriage (not forced marriage), dating (or perhaps how not to date), give and take (in other words, how not to fight with your wife or husband), Homo Familius (not Homo Autonomous), parenting skills, etc. You can go to RIS’s program page to get a rough idea of what I mean.

I find that the inclusion of three British speakers: Mufti Muhammad Ibn Adam, Dr. Abdal Hakim Murad, and Abu ‘Aaliyah as interesting, as their superfluous British accent is a rarity to hear in this part of the world – yeah, I am side tacking right now. 

I always think that pornography is a big problem in our community – it is a widespread activity among our youth. It ruins our spiritual health and often we underestimate how our ailing, inner spiritual condition manifests in the outside world. Shaykh Hamza Yusuf has always been particular about this topic – he always cites the fact that the largest amount of viewers of internet pornography comes from Muslim countries (I have no citation for this, sorry). So there was an hour and a half session dedicated to the problems of pornography (spiritually and physically) done by Shaykh Hamza himself and Pamela Paul in this year’s RIS. I applaud this effort. 

On something noteworthy that I learned from the lectures: Dr. Abdal Hakim Jackson pointed out that we should not give an over-idealistic picture of super-Muslim marriage and super-Muslim family – we are only human. Yes, we strive for the best, but we are not in utopia in this ephemeral world. He pointed out that even the anbiya’ like Nabi Ya’qub and Nabi Nuh had problems with their sons – it’s only normal, we shouldn’t feel like a total failure if everything is not 100% right in our family. 

Finally, I don’t think it is fair if I pass any judgement about the convention as I attended barely half of the lectures. My guess would be, it should make everyone happy: The children got advices about respecting their parents (which should make the parents happy), while the parents got advices about not forcing their children into ‘unwanted marriages’ (which I presume will make the young audience happy), the young couples learned how not to fight with each other, and the eager-to-marry ones learn how-not-to-date-yet-still-able-to-find-a-suitable-partner. Maybe Bangku’s opinion on this matter would lend more credibility – honestly, I can’t tell whether he was really interested or not in those lectures, given his usually stoic expression. 

To sum up, I enjoyed RIS 6 a lot, and I made a lot of new, heart-warming friends – including the little ones – during the convention. I hope to see more of ‘us’ in the next RIS convention – especially those from the States – insyaAllah we will organize properly for people who are interested to come next year. I hope I have fulfilled your request Bangku, with the writing of this report. I am sorry if I jump on random, incoherent points, in this report, as I was – am – writing it with high dose of caffeine, late at night. I wish ma’at taufiq wan najah to kakis and readers who are in fatarah imtihan, and to those who are starting the new semester.

Jom datang ke RIS 7 ramai-ramai!

P/S: Sorry for the lack of personal photos of the event, I’m not biggie on camera.