Mafiq Foundation Presents:
Annual Essay Panel Competition
A Message from Past Participants
May this announcement find you good in health and strong in Imaan.
The time for this year’s Essay Panel Competition has arrived! We have selected the theme, settled the event date and venue, and we’re looking forward to your participation in our Annual EPC January 26th, 2019 at ADAMS Center in Sterling, VA; In shaa’ Allah.
EPC-2018-Schedule-of-event-draft_01202018 (Tentative) for the day of the competition.
This year’s theme is “Civility, Ethics, and Morality”.
Elementary School Topic:
Which moral values have I learned from my religion and how do I uphold these in my interaction with friends and family?
- Level 1 (^Grades 1 & 2):
Write a letter to your friend, explaining what you know about moral values in Islam. Tell him/her some of the things you do when you interact with your friends and family to uphold moral values.
- Level 2 (Grades 3 & 4):Identify something you learned about the moral values in Islam at your home and outside as a Muslim. What do you do to maintain your moral values when interacting with your friends and family members? What do you do to uphold your moral values? Is it difficult to keep up the moral values? How does your moral values help build your identity?
Middle School Topic:
Morality in Islam centers around the basic tenets of our Deen. Discuss what it means to have good moral character and how you have to deal with decisions of morality on a daily basis.
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Level 3 ( Grades 5 & 6); Level 4 (Grades 7 & 8)
It’s important to differentiate between the nature of morality in Islam and the morality without Islam – particularly in an age where good and evil are often looked at as relative concepts. Discuss what the morality in Islam means to you, what does it demand from you, why you should maintain it, and what is the consequence for not striving to attain moral values. Tell us about how you face the challenges in keeping up with your morality in your everyday interactions, and how you can confront immoral undertakings with your own words and actions as a Muslim.
High School Topic:
You see incidents of unethical, immoral, and uncivil behaviors around, manifested through hatred, racism, and intolerance. Instead of being negatively impacted by these, think about how you can use Islamic teachings in promoting common shared values of ethics, morality and civility in public sphere.
- Level 5 ( Grades 9 & 10); Level 6 (Grades 11 & +)
The Glorious Qur’an says:
“It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces Towards east or West; but it is righteousness- to believe in Allah and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer, and practice regular charity; to fulfil the contracts which ye have made; and to be firm and patient, in pain (or suffering) and adversity, and throughout all periods of stress. Such are the people of truth, the Allah-fearing.” [Al-Qur’an 2:177]
Declining moral standard tends to become the norm of the society we live in. Moral degradation has indiscriminately affected the society nationally and globally. Majority of Americans have a concern about declining moral behavior in our nation. We are living in a world where right and wrong are often looked at as relative concepts. Considering the dichotomy on what Islam teaches and what is being practiced by many Muslims in a majority of Muslim countries, we’re at a crossroad.
As a believing Muslim youth, you have the right to ponder on what is going on and what you can do to check the decline in moral values among the Muslim Ummah and the society at large. Using historical references and your own understanding of the problem space, articulate the contributing factors for such a decline of moral behavior across the globe, and discuss what is at stake if the declining trends in moral authority remain unabated. Keep in mind:
- How does moral degradation affect the Muslim Ummah?
- What would be your role to influence the moral values globally and locally?
- What actions can you take individually and collectively?
- What challenges would you face to implement your ideas and how would you overcome them?
^Grades refer to students full-time school grades. Please do not submit essays in levels based on Students Sunday School grades.
Register for EPC 2019 here.
As we do every year, we are in the process of scheduling workshops regarding various subjects, to assist our esteemed competitors in producing the best possible entries. We will keep you updated on our progress.
You may read about the submission guidelines and processes EPC Guidelines 2018.
The deadline for Essay, Poster, and Multimedia submissions is January 10, 2019!
Click to SUBMIT your EPC entry HERE.
Saturday, January 26, 2019 (UPDATE)
EPC 2019 has been scheduled on January 26th at the ADAMS Center, Sterling, VA 20164.