From a small reading to a Student Jury.
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Surprising but not unexpected, this heckling was an orchestrated element of the Rumble in Westminster, an innovative event put together by Campusalam in collaboration with the Young Muslim Leaders.
The Rumble put four student debaters from around the country -- Hayder Al Khoei, Nafeesa Amanat, Ahmed Butt, and Mira Hammad -- in the limelight in front of a mostly university student audience of more than 150. The audience included a diverse panel of four expert communicators in difficult situations: comedian Jeff Mirza, debater Adam Deen, Sayed Ammar Nakshawani and Professor Tariq Ramadan.
Offering more than a traditional debate format, the Rumble simulated a challenging communication environment. After the audience chose the evening’s debate topic – “Obama: A New Beginning for US foreign policy towards Muslims?” – student debaters had 10 minutes to prepare an argument and bravely delivered it through a torrent of emotional hijacking and verbal aggression from Campusalam-trained hecklers embedded within the audience. The four debaters did an impressive job of sticking to their points and refusing to be rattled by the pressure. Afterwards the expert communicators gave feedback to the debaters on how well they maintained composure and delivered their argument with clarity, and they shared humourous and revealing experiences in their lives where they had to deal with heckling. The audience voted Hayder Al-Khoei as the Best Communicator under Pressure in a very close competition.
The real winners were the audience at the Rumble, who picked up some valuable tips on how to keep their cool and hold their own in difficult situations.
When and where will the next Rumble commence? You decide…
Were you at the Rumble? Write comments here about your experience of the night. You can also join the discussion on the three debate topics by checking out the Related Contributions on the menu to the right.
Comment received by email: Congratulations for this innovative idea! As Tariq Ramadan said, this is what the Muslim Community should be doing. We have all the ideas, talents, tools and means at our disposal Alhamdullillah. Please carry on! I was really happy to attend although, because of the interesting debate, I found the event TOO SHORT!!!!!!!!