The Kowloon Masjid Dawah Committee organized an “Elementary Course on Islam” from 7 March 30 May 2009 on every Saturday afternoon from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m..

Advertisements were placed on Mingpao, one of the most popular Chinese newspapers. Emphasis was made on “suitable for Liberal Studies Teachers”. Banners were also prepared and hanged on the fence of the Kowloon Masjid.

There were all together 10 sessions. Two sessions conducted by Dr. Ayub Ding, Director of Islamic Research Institute of Lanzhou University, were open to all. Participants were encouraged to bring their friends to these sessions. For details, please refer to Appendix 2.

In order to ensure participants’ commitment to the course, a nominal fees of HK$100 was charged. Fees were waived for those who enrolled in the promotion period during the Open day on 15 Feb 2009.

The response of the applicants was very encouraging. A total of 82 applicants were received. 72 paid their fees. People coming from different parts of Hong Kong enrolled in the course. The total no. of people working in educational or social service field consisted of 27% of the total number.

In general, each session consists of about 50-minutes lecture followed by a short Questions & Answers session. It was then followed by group discussion. Volunteers from Muslim brothers and sisters were requested to serve as group leaders to help participants clarify their queries.

A separate group of English speaking participants was also run in parallel in the conference room. About an average of 5-10 persons attended.

Teaching materials, including PowerPoint and lecture notes, were put on-line after each session at http://www.islam.org.hk/ECOI_2009/ . Further reading materials were also provided for those who want to make further study on the subject.

Questionnaires were set to collect feedback of each session for reference of the speakers. 

In spite of the spread of swine flu during the same period, the attendance rate was quite satisfactory. An average attendance of 48.9 was recorded. The attendance of the two open sessions was very encouraging. One was about 80 and the other was over 100.  45 copies of Certificates of Attendance were granted to those with over 70% attendance. There were 10 participants with 100% attendance.

A closing ceremony was held in the last session. The guest of honor attended included Br. Hameed Jalal, Capt. Salem, Mufti Arshad, Imam Noohu, Br. Matin Farooqi, Br. Qamar Minhas and Br. Sultan. Capt. Salam, Chairman of Dawah Committee of Kowloon Masjid made a short remark to encourage the participants and thank the efforts of the organizers. Certificates of attendance were presented by the guest of honor. Some of the participants were also requested to make their feedback on the course. A tea reception was organized after the ceremony.

On the request of the participants, an “Intermediate Course on Islam” would be organized as a follow up.

The organizers would like to thank all the speakers and helpers for the course. Special thanks to Br. Sultan, Manager of Kowloon Masjid, and his team of workers who worked very hard in setting tables and chairs and provided a clean and comfortable environment for the smooth running of the course. Without their untiring support, the smooth running of the course will not be possible. Special thanks go to the Kowloon Masjid Management and the Trustees for their support. The generous donation of Br. Qamar Minhas for installing the large screen and LCD projector in the community hall made the presentations convenient and impressive.