The collaboration between Dr Amr Khaled, the renowned celebrity Egyptian preacher, and IMSGP had led to the publication of the book Lives of Those Who Remember Allah: Your Guide to Purify the Mind and Soul in April 2022. Following the success of the first book project, and with a formal agreement, a second edition of the book was published with the title Remembering Allah: Your Guide to Purifying the Mind and Soul. The second edition was targeted at Dr Amr Khaled followers, which reached 1 million subscribers on his social media platforms from around the world.
Understandably, Dr Amr had expressed his desire to view the physical copy of the book to decide the best way to launch it on his online platforms. As sending the books through the postal service had proven to be unreliable (the previous delivery didn’t go through), it was decided that I should travel to Cairo to hand over the books to Dr Amr personally and to use the meeting to discuss other matters pertaining to the collaboration between Dr Amr and IMSGP. Following the decision, I contacted Dr Amr to arrange my visit and meeting. As it turned out, Dr Amr informed me that he would be in Greece during the proposed dates to lead the Al-Ehsan Retreat that he regularly organises. To my surprise, he also invited me to join the retreat!
The invitation to meet him in Greece was unexpected and not without trepidation. I was anxious at the idea of participating in a retreat with foreigners from various Arabic countries. Furthermore, my conversational skills with native Arabic speakers have not been put to good use for some years now.
However, given that fixing another meeting with Dr Amr would be near impossible given his busy schedule and my commitments, I decided to accept the invitation and made the necessary preparation to travel to Athens. Over the days that followed, I developed some degree of confidence and got myself mentally prepared to experience this much acclaimed spiritual retreat.
The Spiritual Retreat: Al-Ehsan Programme
Al-Ehsan is an annual spiritual programme organised by Dr Amr Khaled, who has been known as an activist and preacher. The New York Times magazine featured him as “the world’s most famous and influential Muslim television preacher” in their 2006 issue, in acknowledgement of his popularity in English-speaking countries. Dr Amr was also listed by Time Magazine as among the World’s 100 Most Influential People in 2007.
Participants of the Al-Ehsan programme usually come from the Middle East or Arab countries and those living in the West. Participants hail from a variety of backgrounds and professions. The concept of ehsan, derived from the second hadith in Imam Nawawi’s collection of 40 ahadith, asserts that we worship Allah as though we could see him. Ehsan is not only limited to the daily acts of worship, but we are encouraged to live a life of ehsan in all that we do and in our service to others. The programme is in its fourth year of running since it first started and, as the name suggests, aims to promote having ehsan in Muslims across different contexts and domains in life through projects carried out by Ehsan Ambassadors.
The retreat is a gathering of participants who had initiated projects following their participation in the Al-Ehsan programme. These projects are run mostly by volunteers in their own locality or neighbourhoods. Collectively named as Ehsan Ambassadors, they seek to advocate, motivate and empower others to live a life of ehsan wherever they may be.
The Ehsan Projects
These projects are run by both Dr Amr Khaled’s (DAK) team and Ehsan Ambassadors. Some of these impressive programmes that the ambassadors run include:
- Education and Schools
- School programmes and workshops for primary and secondary schools in Egypt
- Teacher training
- Programmes for orphans and orphanages
- Early childhood programmes in kindergartens
- Media
- DAK’s online programmes which include his talks and videos
- DAK’s YouTube channel which are updated regularly
- Continuous social media posts
- A radio channel
- Translation projects
- Apps
- Ehsan Kids App
- Ehsan Academy for online learning of Ehsan programmes
- Paid Programmes
- Environmental initiatives
- Youth camps
- Startup projects
- Other Programmes
- Feeding the poor (currently only in Egypt)
- Feeding the poor (currently only in Egypt)
- Religious Intellectual Projects
a. DAK’s books on ehsan
b. Ehsan modules at Al-Azhar University (coming soon)
c. Ehsan Encyclopedia
d. School of Tasawwuf
e. Books written by Ehsan Ambassadors
The Retreat
Unlike your traditional retreat where organisers bear all expenses and costs, the Ehsan Ambassadors have to pay 350 Euros each to attend the retreat. This reminded me of the verse in the Quran that mentioned how the sahabah would go to jihad with both their lives and wealth. This highlights not only their dedication to improve their spiritual lives but also the sacrifices they were willing to make as those who call people to Islam.
Indeed, the money was well-spent, affording us a resort stay in Tolo, a village located about two hours away from Athens, surrounded by beautiful beaches and mountains. The retreat started with a round of introductions followed by a moment of reflection to contemplate our intentions offor attending the retreat. Some of us were also given the opportunity to share our intentions for participating in the retreat.
The next day and the days to come…
Every morning during the retreat, we performed Fajr (dawn) prayers in congregation before observing the morning azhkar (remembrance) together, led by Dr Amr himself. It wasn’t a typical azhkar sessions; as we recited the azhkar, Dr Amr would pause to remind us to muster the conviction that our sins will be forgiven as we recited the istighfar (seeking forgiveness from God), to embrace the phrase Laa ilaahailAllah (there is no God other than Allah) with hearts full of love for Allah, to be appreciative of the sea and mountains surrounding us as we recited Subhanallah (glory be to Allah) and to be mindful of the gifts and blessings that Allah has bestowed upon us as we chanted Alhamdulillah (praise be to Allah).
I have attended a dzikr event when I was a child but this, to me, was an exceptionally humbling experience. When we first published Dr Amr’s book, I remembered reading the steps that Dr Amr had lined out for readers to have a spiritual experience in earnestly doing dzikr. However, to be sitting with Dr Amr and experiencing it with the author, coupled with a breathtaking view sprawled before us, was extraordinary. We would then end the morning azhkar with prayers for everyone and a briefing of the itinerary for the day.
Dr Amr was a no-nonsense man with regards to timing and managing the whole retreat, and most of the time he spearheaded the discussions and presentations. He would also be the one who regularly reminded the group of the next event in the itinerary, punctuating these reminders with a blow of his whistle to summon everyone to gather.
Half of the day was occupied with presentations by each project representative to share updates on their respective projects before we spent time brainstorming ideas during the workshops. The second half of the day was spent on recreational activities at the beach, playing football and hiking on mountains. After Maghrib (dusk prayer), we would recite the evening azhkar together just as we did in the morning. After dinner, we would end the day with a short talk by Dr Amr.
On the last day, we travelled to Nafplion, a city about 30 minutes away from Tolo. This is one of the cities in Greece where you can still find Islamic historical relics. We were treated to a nice seafood spread by Dr Amr for our last dinner in Greece. Even when traveling, Dr Amr made it a point to ensure protected time for our evening azkhar and we found ourselves perched on the rocks by the sea reciting the verses just before dinner.
Postscript
The commitment of the Ehsan Ambassadors was extremely inspirational and exemplary. I am truly in awe of how they are committed to the programmes and their involvement in the Ehsan projects, despite their high-flying careers and busy schedules. The azhkar recitations were conducted in such an impactful and profound manner. Unlike the usual and ordinary reading of dzikr, the azhkar practiced during the retreat was facilitated by reminders to effect the thought and feeling. These injections of inspiration and awareness encouraged mindfulness and made dzikr truly a spiritual experience that can greatly impact and purify the mind and soul.
Article was written by Mariyam Bee and co-written by Hanisah Ghazali. Edited by Dr Albakri Ahmad
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in the articles on The Ocean’s Ink are the authors’ own, written in their personal capacity. They may not reflect the view of The Ocean’s Ink or IMSGP as an organisation