By Ahmed Wafi
GOMBAK, 13 November 2014: On this glorious night, IIUM students and guests from outside the campus gathered to remember the oppressed Muslim ummah struggling for their lives in Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Myanmar and all around the world. The Al-Quds foundation of Malaysia collaborated with PEMBINA IIUM, the Palestinian Students Association of Malaysia along with other sponsors and organisers in order to make this event possible.
Among prominent guests who attended the event were Uzair Izzat, Muawwids Fetya, Muadh Zulkifli and others. Â Leader of Islamic Resistance Movement HAMAS, Usama Hamdan, was the guest of honour.
The audience was treated to a very creative, eye opening and informative play that our very own IIUM students had put together. During intermissions, the crowd was enlightened with powerful speeches delivered by the attendants and Muawwids and Muadh dazzled the crowd with their jaw dropping performances of various songs in Arabic and Malay.
The early birds were enlightened with video clips showcasing the everyday struggles faced by the oppressed Muslims around the world, particularly the Palestinians at the hands of the Zionists. After the arrival of the main guests, the emcee of the night, Anas Yilman welcomed the crowd and our special guests before inviting someone to recite a few verses of the Quran in which he did beautifully.
Once the recitation was done, the emcee invited the mastermind behind the event, Mujahid Rashid to say a few words before officially opening the nights agenda. The prologue of the play came in the form of a scriptless video which was shot around the IIUM campus showing Israeli soldiers terrorising IIUM before the soldiers burst from the video and into the front door or the Main Auditorium. The first intermission came shortly afterwards and Vice President of 1 PEMBINA, Uzair Izza, enlightened the audience about al-Quds, the background of the holy land and the current occupation.
Before the play continued, Anas addressed the crowd once more with powerful words to electrify the atmosphere. œWhen you pay the price, a nation wakes up. And the price is “blood, he exclaimed. The second intermission of the night gave way to a delightful performance by Muawwids and Muadh in which they performed three songs and managed to get the whole auditorium to sing along. It was obvious everyone was enjoying the performance and a few audience members may have wanted just one more song before the intermission ended and the play resumed.
The villains in the play that was the Zionist soldiers were oppressing the Palestinians, stealing their food and land, and murdering their families. Although this may have just been a theatrical performance, these events did actually take place and somewhere in Palestine, there is a man grieving over the death of his family and the robbing of his land. The third and final intermission led the guest of honour, Usama Hamdan, to take the stage and we were all honoured by his presence as he explained about the history of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the numerous attempts of peace talks that failed. His speech was met with applause from the floor.
The play ended with the Zionist army being defeated by the al-Qassam regime which entered the auditorium in one of the most dramatic fashions and that was by abseiling down from the second floor onto the stage. The crowd was obviously not expecting that to happen but welcomed it with glee and excitement.
