Living Islam 2005: Report
By Usayd
Living Islam? Yep, that’s the name of the Bi-Annual Camp organised by the Islamic Society of Britain for Muslims not only from the UK but also across the world. Living Islam 2005 is the successor of the initial Living Islam 2003 camp which hosted over 3000 Muslims in the Lincolnshire Showground. This extremely successful event promised the return of many of the visitors for the next event two years later. After being there a day it felt as though the last camp had just been the day before. Please click show more to read the rest of my report which includes nice pictures and emoticions - really I recommend you read it!
Early Arrivals
Young Muslims, the youth wing of the ISB, promised a strong team to build and secure the 300+ tents that needed to be put up, as well as other tasks including Security and Audio/Visual etc. The Birmingham Lot (brummies) arrived on the Sunday before the camp (the 24th July) and started with the tents. 4 of us came from Manchester on the same day, including me and Usayd Networks Reporter Hamza Izzidien (yep I dragged him along).
We arrived and yep, the Brummies had already made an odd 50 tents inside the prayer hall/barn. They all seemed foreign apart from a few friends from Birmingham including Usayd Networks Reporter - Qasim FitzGibbon’s BROTHERS! I was very disappointed to find that Qasim himself had not come early (is he asking for a demotion?!)
Tent Building
Me on the Far Left!
Gibran sleeping on the job!!
Yep - That’s what we did for 4 days flat. Well - from Sunday till Thursday morning to be precise. After the first few tents we became pretty associated with the concept behind it and we all pretty much caught on. Of course our team (me, Omar, Ozair, Farhan and Khalil) were the best (officially reported by Dr.Munir!!!). The 300 odd tents were assigned into position by some guy on a bike (yep we made fun of the strange bike and yes Shuaib did nearly break it!). So what benefit did we get from coming early - getting no sleep and building tents? Well here’s a list:
- Most importantly - Inshallah, reward from Allah
(SWT). - Seeing the campsite before the other 4000 people! Getting to know our way’s around etc.
- Being part of the camp, being able to say that yes I did something to contribute to this work for Allah .
- Raising you in the ranks of YM/ISB.
I don’t know if anyone did it for that!! - If we helped before the camp we were also more likely to help during the camp and therefore even more Ajar for us!!
The camp
Well tent building itself seemed like a camp on its own, in fact you could say that it was seeing as we spent just as much time doing that as attending the camp!
The camp was publicised this year to host around 4000 people, and indeed there were 3700 people booked in before the gates were opened, as well as the many booking on the door and coming later on in the camp. There were a few jobs we were assigned to help with the camp:
- Registration - On the door early helping invite people into the campsite, handing out the booklet etc. This was important because it gave a first impression to the people coming in. Apparently there was a queue which sounded very interesting!
- Food - Yep, and there was allot of it (shame there wasn’t before the camp actually started!!!)
. Anyways the advantage to the food team was that they didn’t have too many hours and they could attend the programme, but more importantly - they got a relatively large amount of free food! After seeing the prices of the food I wonder if I should’ve stayed on that team! (I’ll explain in a sec!). - Security - Another highlight of this event was the intense security increase. Of course after all the events over the UK there was a small worry that something or other could happen. We therefore had a better security system in place - headed by the man himself - Bouncer Naeem Raza! Yep the big man had it all sorted out. Apparently you had to be 18 to do security; well anyways I did a bit of that here and there whenever I had a bit of spare time. Funny story here, there were a bunch of kinds (name no names) who were really keen on doing security because a) They thought they were hard and b) they wanted to walk around with a headpiece
. Yep as exciting as it was, they all seemed to disappear after the ‘monsoon’ like weather that we experienced on the first day of the camp! That isn’t a joke, we (me and Hamza) found that really amusing, and we ended up helping out quite a bit on our ‘5 second breaks’ and in the evening. - Cleaning - People might have laughed at these people, but Inshallah they will receive the most reward for doing the hardest job, which involved some slightly unpleasant experiences I’m sure. I and Hamza got to know the other Hamza in charge of the cleaning team, and we also had a very very amusing experience with him and crushing. (You really had to be there)
. Anyways two of our tent members, Ahmed and Gibran were also on the cleaning team, and I have to say I was impressed as to how much effort they put into their jobs. - Sanitation - Ok cleaning rubbish is one thing, cleaning toilets is another. If anyone deserves reward it would be these brave brothers and sisters. We saw them in their masks and their aprons cleaning out the toilets in the early hours - and as Dr. Munir said - It melted our hearts. These are the important things that need to be considered by those who are complaining about this and that.
Ok that is generally the list of what the tent teams and other participants helped in, but you may ask - where was I? Well I and Hamza were assigned to the food team along with some of our friends, and we were okay with that. Then on the night before the camp’s initiation, Br Sakib who knows me from YM Manchester advised Dr. Ibrahim in charge of Audio/Visual in the big top and generally everywhere that I was apparently good at that kind of thing (no comment
). Doc spoke to me about what was required and I said that would be fine. I was quite excited to be doing something special (yes I did not know that it would take up 110% of the camp time including missing the football!!!). Basically what happened is that I was supposed to write a few simple PowerPoint slides for the Doc. Well I told Hamza and he came with me to see what we had to do. We had a meeting at 1PM for the food team. We started helping the guy who was working in the isle behind Doc, whom we later came to know as Papa Tariq (aka Papa/Papa Roach 
). Anyways we (me and Hamza) being as kind as we are started helping him with carrying some equipment, and before we knew it, we were sucked into the audio recording and CD production team - or a team of 3. Yep - Papa was supposed to have some other guys helping him and they never turned up. He saw our expertise (or at least mine 
) on the computers and he said no way is Doc having you. So our shifts turned from a few hours a day and the rest to ourselves - to a few hours of day sleep and the rest working our heads off! Well it was really a good experience and I have to say I learnt allot. We had a feed in the big top to record all the audio through the sound system set up by the audio workers. We had two duplication machines - these basically had 7 CD-R/DVD-RW drives which copied simultaneously. Ok sounds simple? We had to split up and go to certain separate marquees - hook up our recorders (I had the Jukebox 20gb HDD and they had the MD recorders) to the sound systems in the separate marquees and attend the whole talk to record them and later edit and produce the CD’s - All within 2 hours of the talk time!!
Yep I still wonder how we managed to use approximately 10 reels of 100 CD’s and totally run out of labels to the extent that by the end we were giving them freshly written CD’s with no cases and they were still selling out!! We ended up getting a little help (yep they deserve a bit of credit) from Baraa and Omar, both slightly experienced in computers, but still we worked fulltime for the whole duration of the camp.
Tierd? Well yep a few people did ask me if I had any sleep and yes I did answer with not much. Still it was really great fun and Alhamdullilah I felt I learnt quite allott about the systems in place.
The camp!
Okay I’ve just rambled about what me and Hamza did at the camp, what exactly was the camp’s subject and what was there going on? Well okay the first day there was a monsoon in essence a very strong rain. It was a nice start if you wanted to have a shower with your clothes on 10 times. 
The Camp consisted of a Bazaar which when we arrived was just an empty hall - but had miraculously turned into a buzzing bazaar selling all sorts of stuff from CD’s to light sticks and of course the ISB Stall which we were providing for!
The Big Top was a major highlight for the 2003 camp as the main studio for the lectures, videos and entertainment we received. I personally don’t think we used it enough for the major speakers as there were a large number in marquees which turned out pretty useless as there were people even outside whist the big top was playing a DVD which no one was watching anyway (administration to address!). Anyways the big top had some great talks which we produced on CD from speakers local, national and international! These included Imam Shuaib Webb from the US, his great talk titled Seize the day was in high demand, and even more in demand as well as totally selling out was Tariq Ramadan’s "to be a European Muslim", which received many applauses throughout. The Question time panel received quite a response as a heated discussion towards ’suicide bombings’ took place. Unfortunately I feel that this didn’t extend for long enough as there were surely more questions floating around.
Brothers entertainment
Entertainment included a great array of artists including Mesut Kurtis on the first night and a very nice song from his album (yes Hamza thinks he knows him personally ‘wow’). Then we had two nice entertainment evenings from the artists which also included Native Deen aka MYNA Raps, Dawud Wharnsby Ali and the Fletcher valve drummers and some others like ISB’s Abid Baig much loved I’m sure. How could I forget - FireWorks!!
Other things we had were some great presentations as well as the really impressive video by Dr. Amr at the end of the camp just showing how much we could achieve by the end of the camp!
Conclusion
Yep it was hard work, yes we lost a bit of sleep and so on, but let’s face it. Living Islam was another success and Alhamdullilah it was really worth it. I enjoyed every minute of the camp, even when we were there in the pouring rain hammering in pegs into the early evening. There were many little enjoyments too, like the football we got to play in the non-carpeted prayer hall before the camp, and the cricket and other fun things we learnt. The best thing was - yet again, we were Living Islam. It’s a thrill we try to establish in our everyday lives, but we somehow never manage to meet. Inshallah we will all reach our goals, and I’d like to thank the organisers for their hard work, as well as everyone else who attended the camp - already I can’t wait for the next event of the year!
Usayd Younis, YM Manchester
Links to Living Islam stuff:
YMUK Gallery (need submissions please email news@yse-uk.com)
A YM brother from B’ham’s review and pics.
Please please comment on this article and I will try my best to add your things to the website as well as your links and please also trackback to this article (simply use a link the the actual article).
Jazakallah
August 2nd, 2005 at 1:27 pm
salaam
good article, it was great, i guess the rain made it more memorable!
and lol at the bbc article, i nearly had a heart attack wen i saw the picture, i’m in it!!! i have no idea when they took it or how..grrrr!
August 2nd, 2005 at 1:51 pm
lol thanks 4 the comment, the rain was ehum an interesting feature to the camp i guess! The BBC article is a bit rubbish but at least they accepted the comments from people who went to the camp
August 2nd, 2005 at 4:54 pm
salaam usayd,
nice thorough (if thts how u spell it :S) review of the event!
i didnt think he weather was too bad either… its all part of the experience i guess lol…mashallah it was great fun, look forward to seeing u @ LI 2007 inshallah!
August 2nd, 2005 at 8:09 pm
well if i wasent building tents or “acting as security then i was in the big top recording the lectures, so the weater dident affect me too much.
well anyway dose anyone have an acctuall figure of how much money was lost, nah it was for a good cause so i wouldent worry too much
P.S YO QASIM ARE YOU NOT GOING TO COMMENT
August 2nd, 2005 at 10:37 pm
What an experience- from rain soaked socks to blistering hands from making the 300+ tents- excellent team work in my team- umar, ozair, usayd (was that farhaan guy in ours?). The lectures were interesting and the sweets were a life saver from the curry which made a quick exit-ahem.
See wat the next camp holds for us if the weather is good (insha’Allah
)
P.S. Call Usayds hotline for special tent building!
August 2nd, 2005 at 10:44 pm
yeah man we really gotta get a differnt cook next time (joke)
i don’t think i’ll ever forget the GEE!!. Lol anyways it was good and the more you suffer the more you’ll be rewarded inshallah!
Yeah farhan was on our team but he kinda dissapeard like 90% of the time!
BTW the hotline is currently closed
August 3rd, 2005 at 2:18 am
wow! what an activities you made there!
salut!
salaam..
August 3rd, 2005 at 11:02 am
Salam!
Wow, Subhannallah seems like you were on the go from begining to end!! May Allah
reward you and all the other bros who organised and helped out, so the rest of us could go through the 4 days with ease.
Its suprising i didnt meet any of you, seeing as i was up and awake for 4 days straight, zombified, with no one else but the moths to keep me company..*sob*
It was one of the geratest events i have experienced, Alhamdulilah.
Jazaks for that acount -a fun read and memory…:)
August 3rd, 2005 at 12:36 pm
Wasalaam thanks for the comment
What were you doing for 4 days and moths? Are you sure you came to the same camp? 
I’m guessing you were doing night security or somthing??
Inshallah the next camp will be even better and I think i’ll definately be going early again!
August 3rd, 2005 at 7:19 pm
so usayd were you the breakdancing bro?
August 3rd, 2005 at 11:21 pm
Breakdancing?!?!
hehe se possible!
August 4th, 2005 at 5:55 pm
HIM break dance hes more likeley to break a leg
btw who is the anonymous guy Probbalbbaly papa Tariq
August 4th, 2005 at 6:00 pm
lol no i reckon its one of the sisters
August 4th, 2005 at 6:55 pm
Salaams Bro,
Mashallah on the blog/article, the link shall be sent on! I was on the night security team (the perks of knowing Glasgow bros, I think not!). Got there on Fri after hard week at work an straight onto an ‘allnighter’ (only less fun
which turned into a 2 dayer! And I didnt get the tent I booked either 2 recuperate during the day, which one of u should I blame for that?! 2k7 i’m helping the ‘Scouts’, they get all the cool activities anyway! Luckily missed the monsoon, suckers!!! Best quote of the camp was from a group of London bros (15 yrs old… there was time I was 1ce there, da memories!): ‘Yo bruv, wats wit u Northern manz ya can’t chat propa, ya all sound batty!’…ah, I should know that Jamaican Patois is the true language of England! Silly me 
August 4th, 2005 at 8:11 pm
First of all, I’d like to say the reason for me not posting was because the day aftér the camp, I attended another camp:razz: which was wicked, but now I’m even more tired… OK, an analysis…
In short, I had a wonderful time. I made sure this time to make space in my ‘all-around helper + YMB Group Leader’ schedule to attend most of the talks, and two of the workshops, which were so good. Imam Suhaib Webb and Tariq Ramadan were my favourites, very inspiring talks.
I was able to escape any major duties, the reason being not coming a week early to collect them, due to after-wedding duties….aww what a shame…:grin:
I also managed to take part in the footy tournament, putting together a very patchy youngster Brummie team, which didn’t fare too well…
One thing I didn’t enjoy too much was the nasheed extravaganzas in the evenings. I think the concept is getting slightly old and boring now, evn though new songs were heard…
August 4th, 2005 at 8:11 pm
Hehe we only built the tents we didn’t allocate them. hahah we got ours free thats probably why you never got one!!!. Anyways sounds like you had your own story to tell!! Believe me it wasn’t easy putting up with a load of brummies for a week but in the end they were actually prettey safe. (or am i just becoming one)
Anywys none of us got any sleep either though partly down to us before the camp - during the camp we work working all day man…! Night security didn’t do nothing (apart from that annoying guy who drove round in the car and stopped me for wearing a bib even though i was allocated a damn bib and he got on my nerves but yeah he was in the car so….) 
LOL and as for the batty comment i dont know wot 2 say - the guys from solihull actually sounded like they were doing it on purpose 
Qasim you said it all - I really wanted to take part in the footy torunament but before i knew it - it was gone!! Im not surprised the team were rubbish at football
August 4th, 2005 at 8:43 pm
Err, excuse me but I heard that the Brum brothers beat the Mancunian lot consecutively three times each night before the camp started (in the prayer hall) and that in the end you lot just went back to your tents frustrated with your ball!
???
August 4th, 2005 at 9:26 pm
WHOA BIG LIE
:!: 
no seriously lol we did use manchester’s ball but we didn’t even play manchester v birmingham so i dunno who told u that lol!!!
August 4th, 2005 at 9:35 pm
great article, enjoyed reading it!
I was actually loving the rain lol it was soooooo cooool, although some people didn’t like it but thats the whole point of camping, and i had a lot of fun!
the lectures were good especially with suhaib webb and tariq ramadan.
also mashallah alot of kids were enjoying it and looking at the smiles on their face was priceless!
August 4th, 2005 at 10:22 pm
Firstly gotta hand it to Usayd for making such a sick website (yes I read it all), well done! As for the camp, i was disappointed it wasn’t as good as 2003, mainly due to the weather, however had a good time in helping put put the tents and meeting brothers i didn’t know. The lectures were really good, espeically that of Imam Shuaib Webb. I don’t know what it was about the last camp that made it so good…u no what they say, sequals are never as good as the first one, nothing can ever beat L.I 2003. Inshallah i hope that the next camp in 2007 will be better then this years. Jazakallah to all the brothers for helping out in the various departments, despite the critisisms shown by ignorant species on the living islam website lol! Mashallah again it was an experience not to be missed. Hoping for a better camp in 2007 inshallah.
August 4th, 2005 at 10:59 pm
good article usayd!!luckily i got there on thurs just as it had stopped raining!! but it was a wiked camp and well done to all the ppl that helped out, from security to the cleaners!!
but 1 thing that annoyed me was (selfish) ppl leaving their rubbish on the tables after they had eaten instead of bothering 2 put it in the bin that was next 2 them!!
August 4th, 2005 at 11:01 pm
gd site and article usayd… except.. you could actually be bothered to write it :o|
well done anyhow..
August 5th, 2005 at 3:54 pm
Salaams,
Had a great time at living islam. I was there in 2003, I had more fun this time cause in 2003 we missed our flight so we didn’t make it to the camp ti’ll saturday morning. Basically we spent 24hrs at the camp, Never spent the night because right after entertainment we had to get a ride to heathrow. Honestly I wish we had something that great in America. We have a big convention of like 40K muslims but it dosent feel like living islam. There is a real warm feeling there, even in the rain.
This year we got there on Friday and road up with jamal badawi. Had a great time meeting the speakers and stuff. Made some new friends and met some old ones who made our stay very comfortable. I’ve heard good and bad reviews about the camp which is normal. But any muslim event that has speakers like jamal badawi, suhaib webb, tariq ramadan, Peter Sanders, Dawud Wharnsby and a PROFESSIONAL fire works display is a winner in my book. Oh and thanks for making a warm welcome for me and the boys of Native Deen, glad you haven’t forgotten about us. See ya next time if you’ll have us. OH one more thing, MUCH LOVE to the people who kept the bathrooms and grounds clean as they could. It ain’t easy. And to all the other volunteers as well. Next time I’m gonna stay in the tents to really be ‘LIVING ISLAM!’ BIG UPS TO GLASGOW and the IRNBRU CREW!!!!
August 5th, 2005 at 9:56 pm
Salaam Br. Naeem! Jazakallah for your comment - Aswell as thanking the people who helped organise the event etc, i think that the artists should also be thanked too - after all what is an Islamic event without Islamic entertainment!?
I think that Living Islam should not only be a regular event - it should also influence Muslims across the globe to follow suit and for them to try their best to help bring Muslims back to Islam!
Even further then that I think that Living Islam should be taken into people’s daily lives. It doesn’t just mean going to a camp for 3 days - it means going and taking something back with you!
Jazakallah
August 6th, 2005 at 5:16 pm
Salaam, just like 2 thank usayd for taking his time out 2 produce this website. The camp overall was a great success, especially from the food department, we worked as a team and mashallah did not encounter any major problems. The weather was poor but that did not affect the turnout however, for that we should be greatful to Allah
. The tent building was boring, but the teams sure enough turned it into fun. The last nite was memorable for me, when i and hamza did breakdancing. It did get spoiled howeva but i’m sure it woz memorable and worthwhile. Inshallah 2007 shall be just as fun and memorable!
August 6th, 2005 at 6:57 pm
BTW everyone he dosent mean me, he means his brother called hamza
August 8th, 2005 at 10:32 pm
salaam,
may Allah
reward u Usayd for ur efforts
a good account of LI05, an event that truly shows that Muslims r peaceful people
v important for us all to give a true example of Islam
ws
August 13th, 2005 at 1:42 pm
i got to give credit to usayd for making such a brilliant website and giving a detail account of the camp! respect
So i want to thank all the volunteers from the security, toilet cleaners, tent pitchers all the way to the litter pickers. Native deen were brillinat and hopefully theyll come to the next LI. Cu at LI2007 inshallah!!
LI05 was brilliant, even though it rained on the first day. I never knew how much work goes into organising a camp until i volunteered to clean the toilets (stupid??).It wasnt that bad, i mean we did get to wear nice yellow rubber gloves
btw i saw the breakdance (well last second of it) but unfortunately it was broken up by security….i reckon next time make a feature of it in the big top???
August 13th, 2005 at 11:36 pm
[...] Usayd Networks is proud to say that three of our reporters (Usayd, Hamza and Qasim) are going a week early to help at the Living Islam 2005! This means that as of today till next sunday, we will be at the Linconshire Showground enjoying the great atmosphere that we experienced 2 years ago at the original Livign Islam 2003 camp. I hope to take some pictures which I will add to the site or the YMUK gallery. Its down to Tibault to find some interesting news to fill out the week. Update 13th August - Read my Report on the event here: http://yse-uk.com/wordpress/?p=484 [...]
August 16th, 2005 at 11:31 pm
salam bros a good account enjoyed reading your experiences of the camp.
had a great tyme regardless of the weather that couldnt be helped.
we were in the food tent on saturday sitting by your stall in the only seat available in the food tent there where 5 of us n we joked about u giving up your seats and the cheek of you lot u didnt give em up!then we got moved 2minutes lata anyway lol!
sooo it woz u lot dat we saw breakdancing on the last nite!at lyke 2am u jokas u gota get a slot in da big top in 2007! lol it woz soo funny i’m sure u remember us!
u forgt those poor souls helping at scouts
salamz
August 17th, 2005 at 7:41 pm
excellent site, i had a good time and hope to see you all at LI07
August 17th, 2005 at 9:35 pm
Jazakallah for all the comments they are all very interesting and there are some very interesting suggestions (breakdancing sounds like a bit hit maybe i’ll ask the organisers!). I hope that there is something sumwhat revolutionary at Living Islam 2007 so that it has a greater effect rather then the same or slightly less. The worst thing can be is if they just continue to do the same thing over and over and totally kill it - instead they should try to do a variety of different things to keep the feeling new and interesting.
August 27th, 2005 at 11:25 pm
just wanna its an exellent site really really gud and may Allah
swt reward all of u 4 doin a gr8 job
August 29th, 2005 at 12:15 am
sallam
i had a realy gud tyme i enjoyed myself i helped out in da scouts n it was fun cant wait till lI07
September 3rd, 2005 at 9:09 pm
excellent site … excellent organization … well-chosen speakers, singers and drummers … … … subhanallah wot else can i say I CANT WAIT TILL L.I.0.7!!!
October 3rd, 2007 at 6:22 pm
December 16th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
was a great event i have to say…but a big shame about the toilets, were absolutely drenched, smelly and poor cleaning! honeslty im not lying, i wasnt happy about that, but like i said apart from that… it was one of the best events i had been to. However, it could be the best in the world, if next time i go, the toilets are poorly maintained, im sorry i wouldnt go again, hygiene is essential and living conditions should be adequate. I mean sleeping conditions were wet wet wet, because of the rainfall and because the organisors had not planned what to do if it had rained. but thats understandable…people learn from mistakes, and may Allah
help them to be better and better each year…..toilets not being clean and dry….there’s no excuse.
December 18th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Well I would like to see you volunteering to clean the toilets next time for actions speak louder than words