An announcement by Atif Aslam - Atif Aslam's fans go M.A.D

"This particular post is one of the most important messages I have ever conveyed to the Aadeez. I hope that all of you will read it and respond positively, I expect you to!

When you are part of a community, it is your responsibility to look out for the less fortunate and make time for people that can always use your help in any shape or form. Not only is it important to help the needy yourself, it is also equally essential to encourage others to do the same. However, it needs to be done in a way that doesn't necessarily sound preachy or forced. A person needs to feel good about making a difference in someone's life. The gesture might be as small as spending time with an orphan or as large as donating food, clothing or money to the less fortunate, the fact that an effort was made to bring a smile on someone's face is really what counts!

In this post, I wanted to focus on the initiative rather than talk about myself. The initiative presents a unique opportunity for Aadeez around the globe to interact with me directly! I have come up with the idea myself and I hope that with the support of my team it will not only create a continuous chain of interaction, it can serve a meaningful purpose at the same time!

Here's the concept and the guidelines:

1) Whether you are in Pakistan or the Philippines, India or Mauritius, the reality of life is that every country of the world has residents that are less fortunate. Whether it’s a handicap, financial woes or personal challenges, every country has such individuals that we normally don't think about! Handicapped people, the poor, orphans etc, all these individuals need special attention and care so that they also consider themselves effective members of the community! The initiative encourages Aadeez in every country to help the needy! It can be anything from spending a day with the poor to donating food or clothing. It can be as simple as providing one poor hungry child a meal.

2) However, it’s not that simple either. This initiative is not about going to an orphanage for 5 minutes, taking a picture with an orphan while giving him a shirt or a meal and leaving. It’s not about that at all! It is not entirely based on the material goods; the time you spend with that person needs to bring about a change in his or her life. He/she needs to feel that they have made a new friend, a new companion, someone who cares about him/her. The reaction of the person will validate your effort and his/her happiness will be the only measuring stick. So you cannot just send a meal somewhere, obviously you can do that as well, it is a noble deed. But this particular initiative requires you to interact with the person such that you truly make him/her happy and bring some joy in his/her life.

3) That's what you need to do! But why? What's the reward? Well, first of all, deeds that are so noble will be rewarded in the afterlife. Allah will also shower His blessings upon such people in this lifetime. So the Aadeez need to keep that in mind first and foremost while doing such deeds! Having said that, I have also come up with an idea that can reward such Aadeez! As a reward for any of the deeds mentioned above, I will personally meet selective members & congratulate them on a job well done! I will basically make time for such members during my gigs/tours and dine with such Aadeez! It means that if I am in London for a gig & my team has selected such an Aadeez member randomly, I will try my best to have lunch or dinner with that person! We will select at least two such members for each meeting.

4) This is the initiative that I have thought of! I feel that since Allah has blessed me enough that people have the desire to meet me, these interactions need to turn into something meaningful, something that brings a positive change in someone else’s life! Someone who needs it genuinely! As a reward, I will help that person who helped others in something that every Aadeez genuinely needs, a chance to meet me! Hence, everyone's a winner & hopefully there will be a lot more children in this world who will sleep happily with decent clothing & their hunger satisfied! It is not just about donations or making a difference in one country, this initiative will basically create a network of such people who will help others in different parts of the globe. So even If I don’t live in a country or don’t know about such issues in that particular region, I will know in my heart that my Aadeez members in that part of the globe are doing their bit to bring about a positive change!

5) Now how do we choose such members? Well, if you’ve done such a deed, you need to take pictures, make a video and also post a review of the entire experience on my official forum. Ideally, we will need all three. I know that such deeds should not be captured or advertised but my team will need these pictures, videos & reviews to validate your efforts so that no one tries to abuse this pure cause! You can send your pictures directly to the management of Atif Aslam via email. In case of the videos, you can upload them on Youtube & provide my team with the links! We will choose some of the best videos & compile them to be uploaded on the official Facebook page of Atif Aslam! If you want to post your videos anonymously, you can get in touch with the management via my official forum and share private videos with them. If you have any confusion about it, you can get in touch with the team of the official forum. Members can also decide whether they want their videos to be a part of the compilation that will be uploaded on the official Facebook page or they want to keep them anonymous.

6) The selection of the members who will get a chance to meet me will be made randomly or case wise! The kind of effort made by the member will also be taken into consideration! However, meeting me for a lunch or dinner depends entirely on my schedule & location! But I can assure you that I will try my best to meet such members as this whole initiative is my brain child to begin with!

This entire initiative has been conceptualized under the flagship project of Atif Aslam called "YOUTH UNITED" that encourages the youth of the Aadeez Universe to have a positive influence in the society & make a difference!

We have come up with a title, a very funny yet meaningful title for this initiative. We are going to call it "Atif Aslam's fans go M.A.D". Yes, that's right, I said M.A.D, but here's the catch, M.A.D stands for "Make a Difference". Hence, the initiative is called "Atif Aslam's fans go make a difference". Its funny, different, in many ways close to reality :P hehe, but most importantly, it conveys the message across without sounding preachy. For me, it serves the purpose perfectly! So Aadeez, get ready and go M.A.D in your community, you know what I mean! Not only the initiative will be titled as M.A.D, we will also celebrate the M.A.D day every year on 9th March. On this day, we will celebrate our efforts by acknowledging the new friends that we have made in that year. We will recognize the people whose lives we have changed in some way. The celebrations can also mean that we go back to our friends, the people whom we met in that year and bring them together on this special day! The day is simply a way to keep us motivated towards the cause and celebrate the fact that we are continuously making a difference!"

- Atif Aslam