Annual Collective I`tikaf

The third largest Collective I`tikaf, after Haramain Sharifain (Masjid Haram and Masjid Nabavi) began on Thursday. It has been inundated with more mutakifeen than previous years. Although preparations had been made to accommodate 25 % more people than last year anticipating a much larger number this year, the sheer amounts of people flocking in to participate in the annual events took organisers by surprise. As this became apparent to the organisers, an emergency arrangement to accommodate 2000 people was made during the first evening of the I`tikaf. Further arrangements are being made as morepeople continue to register in.

The I`tikaf is going on according to its schedule with two daily lectures of Shaykh-ul-Islam Prof. Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri taking place after Zuhr and Travih prayers, together with his spiritual sittings with the mutakifeen after Fajr daily prayers. The lecture series after Zuhr is from the book, �ash-Shifa bi-tareef haquq al-mustafa� by Qadhi Ayyad (RA). The evening lecture series will be on Taswwuf.

The mutakifeen are following a pre-planned spiritual training schedule which involves study circles, lectures, zikr circles, gatherings of praise to the Prophet (SAW) together with a set number of wazaif being given to them by Shaykh-ul-Islam to perform daily.

Alongside the unprecedented numbers of mutakifeen performing this annual Collective I`tikaf arranged by Minhaj-ul-Quran International (MQI) from within Pakistan, scores of people have also come from 24 different countries which are Britain, France, USA, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Italy, Greece, Japan, South Korea, China, West Indies, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Al-Ain, Dubai, Sharjah, Abhu Dhabi, Oman, India.

The I`tikaf is being shown live on a local television channel and can also be seen on www.deenislam.com.

More updates will be given together with photographs and lectures to be uploaded on this page during the I`tikaf.