Report: Thinkers' Club Session 35

Date: 24th May, 2015
Session # 35
Attended by: 10 participants
Report written by: Fatima Salman

This session started with a round of introduction as many of the members had come after a long time. Instead of the usual style of introduction, this time we had to introduce ourselves by telling about a mistake we made in our lives and we learnt something important from that mistake. Everyone had to think for a couple of minutes and then tell them. We all make many mistakes in our lives, and that is how we grow. We continuously make mistakes and then we realize our mistakes and improve them. For example, was our first attempt to say something perfect? Of course not! Each of us made mistakes in the beginning, and then learnt from the mistakes to eventually become perfect.
If we learn from our mistakes, then they are good for us, and if we don't, then they are a loss for us. We all make mistakes, and we should learn from them, otherwise, we will continue to make the same mistake again.

Then we were asked what we would like to talk about and if we have any questions. Some of the members wanted to talk about Dreams. We talked about dreams, and how they are often related to certain things in our life. 
The dreams we see are often some visuals which were stuck to our mind, and then we see the same visual in our dream. Sometimes, we see something in our dream which we have actually experienced in life. 
Dreams can also be our thoughts, or can be reflecting our thoughts. They can be of something we have been thinking a lot about, and we see or experience the same thing in our dream.
Dreams can also be of our imagination. What we see might not have happened, and might never even happen, but is something we are only imagining about. Dreams can also be fantasy.

Or, dreams may contain a message from God. Sometimes, Allah wants to tell us something prior to its happening, for some reason. We can see it in our dream. Usually, the people who see true dreams are very pious and good people.

We usually forget our dreams within a few minutes of waking up. The dreams we remember are usually our great fears, which we experience in our dreams, or great wishes which we experience in the dream. We also remember the dream we have talked about a lot, or narrated to many people.

We ended up talking about sleep. Sleep is an experience of death. We will talk on this topic in the next session. Meanwhile, if anyone wants to, they can do some research or make a presentation about Sleep and Dreams.

Thank you.

Report: Thinkers' Club Session 34

Date: 17th May, 2015
Session # 34
Attended by: 8 participants
Report written by: Fatima Salman

In this session we were joined by two new girls. First, we did a recap of the previous sessions, and then we told the new participants about what Thinkers' Club is. 

Then we recalled and listed the topics we have worked on, which include How our mind works, How animals think, Migratory Birds, Finding our way through Stars, Poetry,Poets, and many more. Then we were asked what topics we could do in future. Someone said that we could discuss and work on the topic 'Time', so we will probably talk about 'Time' in the next session.

We talked about 'Salam' in this session. The words 'Assalam o alaikum' are a greeting and dua we give to others, which means 'Peace be upon you'. The complete salam which is 'Assalam o alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu', which means that we are asking from Allah for that person three things; Salam, Rehmat, and Barkat. Salam means peace, Rehmat means mercy, and Barkat means blessings. So we are praying for the person's peace, his mercy and blessings from Allah.

Normally, salam is taken as a greeting, and we don't even think about it that we are actually praying for that person we are saying salam to. We also get rewarded when we say salam, so we have our own benefit in it as well. And when the person replies with 'Walaikum assalam', he is praying for peace for us as well, so we have our own benefit in it.

However, most of the time we say salam just because it is expected from us. Or even worse, sometimes the reason for saying salam is that if we don't say salam, it would look rude, or people would think we are ill mannered or arrogant just because we aren't saying salam to them. So the actual reason, that salam is actually a blessing and prayer for the person, is totally forgotten.

This was our main discussion in this session. 

One of the members, Muaviyah, has written some Facts about Salam which are on his blog. You can visit it to learn more facts about salam.

Thank you.

Needs and Wants, Article by Kenza (online member)

Our needs and our wants play important parts in our life. Our needs consist of things we need to live and our wants consist of things we want in life. Without our needs, we most likely wouldn’t live very long. Without our wants, some of us wouldn’t be very happy, or in another case, we might not even achieve the goal we want in life.  
We need the substances we use every day to survive. These substances commonly include water, food, clothing, shelter, sanitation and more. 
Our wants can be necessary or unimportant. Necessary wants may include equipment such as, stationery, books, bags and containers, phones/mobiles, computers, transportation, and so on. Unimportant wants, however (even though we still want/have some of these) may include jewellery, video games, music, magazines, and so on. 
Anyhow, just because our wants are classified into necessary and unimportant, doesn’t mean we should or shouldn’t have them. It just means we can live without them (even if we struggle without our necessary ones). 
The important thing is to appreciate what you have, be thankful, and not waste anything. Some people are so used to using their everyday equipment that they forget it all plays an important part in their life. Just imagine what it would be like if you didn’t have the cutlery in the kitchen anymore or that toothbrush you use to brush your teeth twice a day: any of those essential needs. Or even a glass of water! Life would be hard, wouldn’t it? 

Needs and Wants

Below is an article about needs and wants written by Zainab Salman, based on the points discussed in Session 33.

We rarely think about them, but Needs and Wants are an important part of our lives. Lots of things in our lives like shopping and buying things depend upon it. Our needs and wants gradually become part of our thinking.

Needs are very important things that are necessary to have in order for us to survive. Wants can be anything-anything that we want for ourselves. Often, we forget and buy stuff without thinking whether they are our needs or wants.

Needs and Wants are divided into these categories so that they are easier to understand:

Primary Needs:

Basic: Like clothes to wear.

Functional: Things that are necessary for the Need to work-like the clothes to be stitched -so that the need can be functional.

Secondary Needs:

Things that we consider as our needs but are not our basic needs, as we can survive without those. Examples include toothbrushes, furniture, and things that are a part of our home without any apparent reason

Wants: Things that we want- can be anything, wants have no criteria for being a want

There are five basic things that we should be thankful to God for, or more specifically, that we need to be thankful for. These five things are mentioned below:

He has given us our basic needs in abundance

Avoid Wasting and share with others!

He has given us more than our needs

Don’t make them your needs!!! 

He supplied us everything without being asked for them

Don’t consider them as your rights!

We can never thank him enough

Continue to be thankful, feel obliged to him!

He has given us lots of things which we have not worked for/earned

Believe in your lord, he will continue to give!

Lots of things are part of our lives and we sometimes forget to thank God for them. Needs and Wants are such small things that we sometimes forget and learning how to differentiate between them is a great skill.

Report: Thinkers' Club Session 33

Date: 3rd May, 2015
Session # 33
Report written by: Fatima Salman

In this session, we continued the discussion of needs and wants. We did a recap of the previous session and then further discussed our wants and needs. We talked about how we deal with our needs and wants. 

We discussed many things about them. All the important points and ideas we discussed in the session will be compiled in an article, which will be shared on the blog soon.

Thank you.