My 15-year-old cousin Umair who moved to Chennai (Madras), India last year called me up a week ago ecstatic. “Dude, I saw Yasir Qadhi! It was awesome. He gave the opening speech at the Peace Convention. It was amazing, everyone loved it. Dude!”

Whoa, slow down turbo! I got the rest of the info from him and it turns out there was a 10-day convention in Chennai called “Peace: Vision of Islam” featuring many western speakers like Yasir Qadhi, Tawfique Chawdry, Dr. Waleed Basyouni, Dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips, Yusuf Estes, and of course, Dr. Zakir Naik. There were also speakers for Tamil, Urdu, and Malyalam sessions. Pretty sweet.

This video is a clip of Satish Babu, one of the audience members of the convention, accepting Islam during a Q&A session after the opening speech entitled “Invite To The Way of Paradise” given by Yasir Qadhi. The way Satish asks his question and the simplicity of it is beautiful. It’s like a tale from the olden days, where Bedouins would come to Medinah and ask simple purely fitrah-based questions like, “when is the (last) hour?” or “how do I get into Paradise?” It really shows the direction of Dawah for some segments of Muslims in India.

The Indian Muslim population, particularly the IT working crowd, is getting very educated both in their career and especially in regards to their religion. They’re reading more, listening to lectures, attending conferences such as these, and making an effort to do Dawah at a grassroots level in India.

That’s why I enjoyed this video so much. It really hit home, as Chennai/Madras is a lot like Bangalore, the city my parents came from. I really want to go back to visit Bangalore and see what Islam is like there now for both the IT working class, as well as for the village areas. I hope a convention like this can one day come to Bangalore, inshaAllah.

May Allah (SWT) strengthen our duaat all over the world. Enjoy the video! Some of it is kinda funny, particularly at 6:38 where one uncle/brother is tilting his head Desi-style, showing that he is agreeing with what YQ says in his dua for Satish. Hehe.