The start of the new term in September brought about numerous challenges for Majlis e Ilmi amid the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, during which restrictions on social gatherings were in place. Regardless, the members of this body organised an overhaul of the competition layout to ensure as many competitions as possible could go ahead with as little disruption as possible.
After much deliberation, it was decided to broadcast competitions over Zoom with the aid of OBS, a software used to streamline online streaming. Members of the team were briefed with the new format and assigned tasks accordingly.
Since the competitions were hosted over Zoom, students, as well as hosts and judges, participated in the competitions with ease. A link was provided to all, thus, maximising participation.
Certain competitions required more than one participant, such as quiz competitions. For these competitions, the team was reduced to two members. Zoom links were set up so that the participants and the moderators could communicate with ease.
To judge every competition, the judges were online and marked the competition using an online spreadsheet and communicated together by way of group texting. For the Nazm competition, certain external judges who were not part of the Jamia teaching faculty were invited to judge the competition through Zoom.
This pandemic when it began ushered in a period of uncertainty and doubt among many; however, it proved to be a test of resilience and perseverance for Allah’s guided Jama’at, and the way by which Majlis-e-Ilmi adapted and carried on with its work, whilst also reaching groundbreaking milestones, is a testament to the strength and character of the members of the Jama’at.
