Coffee, Cake & True Islam Homaira Khandakar

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Ever Merciful Holy Qur’an Chapter 3, Verse 111 You are the best people raised for the good of mankind; you enjoin what is good and forbid evil and believe in Allah.

Four Main Questions How am I trying to get Coffee, Cake and True Islam implemented everywhere? What have been some of the challenges? What help can I provide? How has Coffee, Cake, and True Islam been successful in achieving its goals?

How is Coffee, Cake & True Islam being implemented? Challenges in Establishing Teams Recruitment Efforts While over 30+ Jamaats are active, still need to establish CCTI in 40+ Jamaats Difficult to find people used to doing one-on- one Tabligh Regional Tabligh Conferences Regional Sadrs Local Sadrs Personal Contacts

The Challenges We Face Our core team members must be purdah observing, praying five times daily, Chanda paying members with a direct relationship with Hazoor, who write to him Finding a good location to hold Coffee, Cake and True Islam meetups is difficult Progress is often slow in the beginning Training team members on how to do Tabligh one-on-one is essential

What kind of help can I provide? Resources for Guidance Orientation Praying regularly for our Tabligh efforts is essential for everyone I am always available via phone, email, and through the CCTI Ladies WhatsApp group as a resource for guidance We have arranged Facebook ad training with Brother Ahmad Khan (over 30+ ladies have been trained so far) I train and orient our team members on how CCTI works, and the administrative structure I inform our CCTI Ladies team members that they will get $75 a week for reimbursement from the Jamaat Tabligh Secretary – $25 for coffee and cake, $25 for Facebook ads, and $25 for the space rental We will arrange more Facebook Ad Training as needed (as more ladies join)

Success Stories We have activated a lot of our own members when CCTI ladies teams have been established in over 30+ Jamaats Our members have increased their level of religious knowledge in doing Tabligh through CCTI We have found that Tabligh is much more effective in a one-on-one, personal, intimate format We had about 100 new converts in the first year Coffee, Cake and True Islam was established alone, and each year, the success stories continue to grow exponentially, Alhumdullilah As you may know our CCTI is led by the owners of the Islamic place store. So there a young (20-21) African American couple, Naire and Raven came one day and were approached by Uncle Daood who is an aspiring Tablighi man. Raven says" I feel like I was at the right place at the right time." They were invited to CCTI on Tuesdayss at our masjid. About a month afterwards both converted to Ahmadiyyat. Alhumdollilah.  Sister Asya is a current African American who took her shahada about 5 months ago. She was incredibly sick and believed Islam saved her due to the prayers of a Muslim friend. She converted to Islam from agnostic faith. Now she is incredibly devout. She also came to Islamic place looking for classes to learn. Alhumdollilah she came to many of our Ramadhan iftari at our masjid. I just taught her Surah Fatiha last week. She is not Ahmadi yet but inshallah very soon. I showed her the book the 10 conditions of Baait and she came back with it all written up with her notes. I asked her if she would like to take Baait and she said, ”Sounds good to me.” A Korean American girl named Annie has come 3 times for 4-5 hours each time with questions that Kuraaat handled. Alhumdullilah.

Prayers of the Holy Prophetsaw “O Allah, I seek good from Thee out of Thy Knowledge and seek power from Thee out of Thy Power and beg of Thee out of Thy boundless Grace, for Thou hast Power and I have no power, Thou hast Knowledge and I have no knowledge, and Thy Knowledge encompasses all that is unseen.” (Bukhari, Kitabud Da’waat Babud-Dua indal Istakhara; Also Tirmidhi, Sharah Alsanat Vol. 4) “I go forth in the name of Allah, putting my full trust in Allah. There is no power to do good nor strength to resist evil save through Allah. O Lord, I seek Thy protection that I go not astray, nor cause any to go astray; that I stumble not, nor cause any to stumble; that I transgress not against any, nor any transgress against me; that I behave not ill toward any, nor any behave ill toward me.” (Istikhara prayer, from Bukhāri Chapters Tahajjud, Tauḥīd and Da‘wāt)

Jazakallah Please keep the success of our Tabligh efforts and the National Tabligh team in your prayers