Khuddam USA Souvenir 1989 — Page 34
important for a history such as this one, is dry compared to actual events that took place. Anyone who was active at this time can testify that on a local level more and more Khadims were becoming excited about their Majlis. They were attending meetings regularly, propagating the faith, following a regular education program. paying their chanda, doing service for mankind, and becoming closer with their brothers in Khuddam. No single event was this more evident than in the Natonal IJtemas for the Khuddam. and the Atfal Summer School ror the younger men and boys The first Atfal Summer School was held in the summer of 1975 at the Mission House in Baltimore, MD Sixteen Atfal attended with Yahya Sharif and the Respected Hajji Muhammad Sadiq as teachers or Murabbis. Five Atfal Schools fol - lowed, the last in 1982, with sites such as York, PA , Dayton, OH. and Brooklyn, NY Other teachers included Abdul Karim, Abdus Sarni Khahq, Imam Masud Jehulmi, Imam Abdur Rashid Yahya, Imam Ibrahim, Nasir Ahmad. Sadar Rafiq and others. On a personal note, the author has had the wonderful fortune of being one of the two Atfal who attended all of the east coast Atfal Schools I would therefore offer this personal a(count "Each year we were organized into groups according Khuddam ojjc·nng salat at the 1979 annual 111emo. (Photo by Ab<lus Sanll KhaltqJ 34 - Centenary Souvenir to level of knowledge and age. In the earlier Summer Schools we were apprehensive about meeting the new boys but by the end of the week we had always become close friends. particularly with the Tills in our own group. The classes were excellent, starting us on the basics of Islam at an early age and teaching us the deeper mean- ings as we grew The sports competitions in the evenings were intense and inv1gorat1ng. A sense of healthy com- petition as well as spirituality existed we played hard and prayed hard, learned an immeasurable amount, formed lifetime friendships and loved every minute of 1t These summer schools formed lnsha-Allah, the future Khuddam members who will work well together as friends and be trained and educated in Ahmadiyyat. " There were three National ljtemas from 1977 to 1979 as well as about 20 regional ijtemas held For the National ljtemas two properties were used which were named Camp Rabwah and Camp Qadian The former was pur- chased by Dr. Majid Ali and was located in New Jersey, the latter in Ohio and donated by Dr Basharat Munir The ijtemas were held outside in tents with a full day of sports. and various religious competitions. including talawat, prepared and impromptu speeches, collective salaat and plenty of time for brothers to get to know each other. The model of the Rabwah 11temas was used with