Report from Nigeria

You may recall SRF recently sent 2000 English translation Qurans for distribution in Nigeria. As it was a large quantity of Eng Qur'ans we asked our contact in Nigeria to produce a report on how the distribution took place.

Below is the report we received from our contact in Nigeria:

Assalaam alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakaatuh, Please find below a report on the Qur'an distribution

Assignment: 
To distribute, on behalf of Seeking Reward Foundation, 15 cartoons of Saheeh International English translation of the Qur'an. The label on the carton indicates that there were 128 copies of the Qur'an in each carton totalling 1920 copies. 

Challenge:
We live in a society where people are very sensitive about religion hence we have to distribute the Qur'an with caution. Hence, two criteria were developed to determine who receives the Qur'an: 
a)     Interest: Recipient should be interested in studying Islam, respect the Qur'an or at least be overtly tolerant.  
b)    Usefulness: There should be a good basis of assumption of the Qur'an's usefulness to the recipient. 
c)     Da'wah Tool: Reliance on the judgment of trusted du'ats who are active in da'wah field and who would act as agents of distribution. This gave us two advantages: Distribution at minimal financial cost and opportunity to reach as wide and diverse recipients as possible.    

Taking the above points into consideration plus convenience of distribution, the following places were chosen as locations of distribution:

Bonny Island: This is an Island in the Eastern part of Nigeria bounded by the Atlantic Ocean, populated by majority Christians and a small but growing population of Muslims. Different duats are quite active here and I have also visited this place a couple of times on da'wah trips. Two cartons (256 copies) were sent for distribution on this Island. (Total: 256) 

PortHarcourt: This is a major capital city in the Eastern part of Nigeria which is largely Christian populated. About 50 copies were distributed here. (Total: 50)        

Auchi: This is a town in Edo state in the East of Nigeria: Largely populated by Muslims many of whom have never read an English Qur'an or could not afford one. One of the students of knowledge is from here and he helped distributed some copies. About 120 copies were distributed in total. (Total: 120)

Ibadan: This is a town in the West of Nigeria. Brother Zakariyyah undertook the distribution of 128 copies (1 carton) of the Qur'an to the local population. (Total: 128)

Badagry: This is a border town between Nigeria and Republic of Benin. A number of Christians recently accepted Islam and we sent ten copies of the Qur'an to them. (Total: 10)

Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison: This is the foremost prison in Nigeria and there is large number of inmates of different religious leanings. Hitherto, the Christians have distributed free bibles to the inmates without a corresponding distribution of the Qur'an from any Muslim organisation. A carton (of 128 copies) was initially sent and on request, additional one carton was reserved to be distributed at the next scheduled da'wah trip to the prison which comes up in the next few days insha Allah. (Total: 256)

Knowledge Builder Course: This is a quarterly Islamic conference that brings together Muslims who are largely from the working class population. The average attendants at this conference are between 700 and 800 participants. The Idea is to give each participant a copy of the Qur'an with a task of giving it to a non-Muslim at their workplace. Through them we hope to reach a large section of literate non-Muslims who satisfy criteria A and B above. The next edition of the conference will be due in December and I have given the organisers 700 copies for this purpose. (Total: 700)

Schools and Personal Da'wah: I undertook the distribution of about 355 copies through personal da'wah efforts at schools and other occasions. I still have 45 copies which will be useful, insha Allah, in future da'wah efforts.