DM Islamabad’s First Event at IIUI
As the semester wraps up at International Islamic University Islamabad, the pressure of finals can easily turn students into “biological robots.” Life becomes a cycle of quizzes, assignments, lectures, and deadlines, with little time to pause and ask a deeper question: Why are we doing all of this in the first place?
To offer students a meaningful break from that exhausting routine, the newly formed Dawah Motivation (DM) Islamabad Team organized its very first event. It was a beautifully balanced day consisting of casual sports activities alongside a reminder session titled, “What are we really chasing?”
Behind the Scenes: Planning in One Week
The idea was initiated by Sis Mehwish Nawaz, who emphasized the urgency of organizing the event before finals pushed students away from campus. She provided the initial event plan and took charge as the official event planner.
Despite having less than a week to organize DM Islamabad’s debut event, the coordination remained smooth and focused. The team held an online meeting to map out the strategy, followed by a final WhatsApp call the night before the event to finalize logistics. Most of the remaining planning, from refreshments to giveaways, was handled entirely through text discussions.
Event Day Preparations
The day began early for the team. By 6:00 AM, preparations were already underway, with everyone getting ready while reviewing final updates in the group chat.
Around 8:00 AM, few of the team members arrived at the university venue. Including event head, Sis Mehwish Nawaz and her friends joined, and everyone immediately got to work. Motivational quotes were written onto small slips of paper while volunteers continued setting up and organizing the activities for the day ahead.
Board Activities & Sports
To create a welcoming atmosphere, the event began with an interactive board activity. Students passing by were invited to respond to a reflective prompt:
“What is your biggest ambition, and what is your advice to others?”
The thoughtful handwritten responses set a meaningful tone for the event.
As more participants gathered, the sports activities officially began. Sisters, volunteers, and team members participated together in casual games of badminton and bat-ball, creating a relaxed environment filled with laughter, fresh air, and a much-needed mental break from academic stress.
The Reminder Session: A Two-Part Reflection
Once everyone gathered after the games, the reminder session began, led by Sis Gul-e-lala and Sis Mehwish Shafi. The discussion was designed as a two-part dialogue, beginning with the reality of everyday university life and gradually moving toward deeper reflections on purpose, identity, and human nature.
Part One: Purpose, Slavery & True Freedom
Sis Gul-e-lala opened the session by bringing attention to the purpose of life through a relatable university example. She pointed out that students spend years studying, attending lectures, and chasing career goals, but rarely stop to genuinely think about the true purpose behind life itself.
She explained that without a divine purpose, life loses its deeper meaning and becomes centered around subjective desires, personal opinions, and temporary emotions. When divine purpose is removed, people become driven only by their nafs, passing thoughts, and individual interpretations of meaning. To describe this directionless state, she used the analogy of a person abandoned alone in a vast ocean surrounded by sharks, left without guidance or any clear destination.
From there, she explored a profound reality: every human being is enslaved to something and constantly running after something in life. She broke this down into three major forms of worldly enslavement:
- The Variables We Never Chose: Things like our appearance, skin color, family background, and other aspects of life were never in our control. Yet people still allow themselves to become enslaved to worldly definitions and standards attached to these things.
- Slavery to Desires: Sis Gul-e-lala referenced the wisdom of Imam Ghazali, explaining how people often assume that whatever they feel must automatically be right. But if human beings only follow impulses and desires without reflection, then there remains little difference between humans and animals. What truly distinguishes human beings is the ability to use intellect (Aql) to consciously evaluate and correct actions rather than blindly following desires.
- Slavery to Society: She highlighted the mindset of “Log kya kahenge?” (What will people say?) and reminded the audience that Muslims should not remain consumed by society’s expectations. Instead, the focus should be directed toward a far greater question: What will Allah SWT say?
This naturally led to a question raised by the audience:
“With so many conflicting ideologies today, how do we know what the right path is?”
To answer this, she introduced the concept of Fitrah, the innate nature Allah SWT has placed within every human being. She explained that even in a world filled with confusion and competing ideologies, the human soul still recognizes truth and naturally seeks peace through its Creator.
She described true liberty as freedom from being enslaved to creation by willingly enslaving oneself only to Allah SWT. According to her, the journey toward that freedom begins with sincerely striving to know Allah SWT.
To further illustrate the importance of questioning existence and purpose, she shared the “Factory Analogy.” Imagine waking up inside a locked factory where everyone around you is already busy working. Would you simply begin copying everyone else, or would you first stop and ask: Why am I here? What is my purpose? Where am I going? She explained that many people move through life without ever pausing to ask these foundational questions.
Part Two: Fitrah & the Human Maintenance System
Following the discussion on Fitrah, Sis Mehwish Shafi picked up the conversation, expanding on how we find the practical answers to those core questions by looking directly at our innate design.
She explicitly stated that every single one of us has a purpose in life, firmly challenging the notion that anyone could exist without one. To dive deeper into the concept of Fitrah that was just introduced, she shared the famous expression:
“There is no atheist on a sinking ship.” Why?
Because in the worst, most desperate times of crisis, a human being naturally strips away all social pretenses, forgets false ideologies, and calls out directly to their Creator. It is an automatic reflex of our true nature. She took this further with a powerful thought experiment: if you were to leave a child completely alone in a desert without any societal conditioning or outside influence, that child’s raw Fitra would still lead them to believe in and know that there is a Creator.
The human soul naturally craves and needs alignment toward this Manufacturer, Allah. To make this tangible for the students, she explained it through the lens of a “Human System Maintenance Manual”:
- The Modern Paradox: In a world where we have every luxury and technology at our fingertips, why is it that we still feel mentally exhausted and spiritually empty?
- Redefining Ibadat: The presentation clarified that Ibadat is not just a collection of ritual actions; it is an integrated survival mechanism we need for ourselves to function without burning out. Think of a car: without proper alignment, the system vibrates, wastes energy, and eventually breaks down. Similarly, the human mind and soul only find peace when aligned through worship.
- Diagnosing the System Blocker: Unlike inanimate machines, humans have a built-in obstruction to alignment: The Ego (Pride). Pride acts as the “rust” generated in the brain’s command center, causing internal friction and system obstruction.
- The Physical Override (Sujood): This is where the beauty of daily prayer (Salah) comes in. She broke down the physical mechanics of Sujood (prostration). In a standing state, the brain is plagued by mental noise and arrogance. But during Sujood, our highest physical part (the brain) is placed in the lowest position on the ground. This symbolizes an absolute ego collapse. By physically forcing the logic command center to the ground, we force the Ego to “step down,” clearing the mental noise of self-importance and making the signal clear again.
And then she mentioned that when our purpose of life is clear, our life automatically becomes disciplined because when our purpose is Allah-centric our worldview (Islam) provides discipline in our life and it leads to connection to our creator and all of this ultimately leads to inner peace.
Purpose + Discipline + Connection = Sakinah (Inner Peace & Success)
The Concluding Q&A: Connecting Practice to Impact
The interactive atmosphere sparked another deeply practical question toward the end of the presentation:
“How can we bring others who are non-practicing closer to Allah or ibadah?”
Sis Mehwish Shafi addressed this question directly by cutting straight to the heart of daily action and companionship. She explained that bringing others closer starts simply by sharing what you know. To do that, you first need to genuinely know Allah yourself, and then share that knowledge of Him: His love, His mercy, and His deeply personal care.
This is exactly why Dawah is so critical. It is a common misconception that Dawah belongs only to a specific, specialized team; in reality, it is a duty and a task for every single Muslim. She emphasized that when we seek to truly know Allah and strive to be practicing Muslims ourselves, a natural shift occurs. When people around you see the good, the beauty, and the khair radiating through your everyday actions, they won’t feel lectured, they will be inspired to learn more.
A Strong Beginning for DM Islamabad
By the end of the event, more than 50 sisters participated out of over 100 online registrations. Considering the event was organized within a single week and with minimal meetings, the turnout and impact were deeply encouraging.
For DM Islamabad, it became more than just a sports day or reminder session. It marked the beginning of creating a space where students could pause from the rush of Dunya, reconnect with purpose, and reflect on what truly matters.
One Response
Mashallah, what a wonderful blog. After reading it, I truly feel there should be another event like this. The way the sisters delivered the reminder was both beautiful and effortless. I especially appreciated how the sister explained the concept of sujood — framing it as the complete collapse of the ego. Powerful and humbling.