I was interviewed last by a reporter from the Baltimore Sun newspaper about this weekend’s IlmFest conference hosted by AlMaghrib Institute in the Baltimore Convention Center. The article appeared on the front page of Saturday’s paper and inside on page 10.
Check it out here: Muslims gather for a weekend of learning about their faith
and also
Baltimore Sun: Using Islam to justify killing leads ‘to hellfire’
I saw the above statement on bumper sticker on a Toyota Prius, the other day, as I was heading to school.
See if you can find it on this car:
Picture courtesy of San Francisco Citizen
If you live in the Maryland, I know Dar us Salaam and the Islamic Society of Baltimore are accepting online zakat ul fitr payments of $10 per person.
From the Storehouse:
Pay Zakat al-Fitr Now (amazing, I wrote this three years ago, and the title shows such youthful exuberance, I was new to blogging, and had just taken AlMaghrib’s Rizq Mangement class, the impertinence, almost like shouting in the title makes me feel shy)
The best talk I’ve heard this year was delivered by Nouman Ali Khan at Ilm Summit as an evening wild card session. Here it is:
I took his words to heart as a call to action with my family and the wider Muslim community and reflected on it in my Ilm Summit Reflections #4 post.
Alhamdulillah we are pleased to announce the launch of this year’s ILMFEST in Qabeelat Nurayn! Two full days celebrating knowledge with some of our best instructors and highly-esteemed speakers.
Join the celebration with Shaykh Yasir Qadhi, Shaykh Yaser Birjas, Shaykh Waleed Basyouni, Dalia Mogahed and Baba Ali from Ummah Films among many others.
What is AlMaghrib Institute’s IlmFest coming to the Baltimore Convention Center on the weekend of October 3-4? Let Shaykh Yasir Qadhi describe his vision for IlmFest and for Muslims in America:
Register Now: IlmFest.com
The Prophet sal Allahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said:
“The believer is not a person who hurts others with words, or curses, or swears, or is foul-mouthed.” [Bukhari]
And:
“Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let his speak good or remain silent.” [Bukhari]
If Imam Bukhari knew a narrator of hadeeth was a liar or untrustworthy, he would be shy and never say so-and-so is a liar but rather he would simply say, “Don’t write his hadeeth or do not narrate anything from him.” However, some other scholars might say of the same person that Bukhari mentioned that “this person is the greatest liar from mankind.”
The son of Imam Ahmed asked his father, why he did not use stronger language against the innovators in his time and he replied:
“O my son, have your ever heard your father say anything bad about anyone?”
Such a beautiful methodology and manner that is lost in our time, where the louder, brasher, more vulgar and obscene is praised and wins the argument as we can see from the shameful displays at the current healthcare reform townhall meetings and in the coarsening of our public discourse.
From the Storehouse: Is Respect Too Much to Ask?
In 2006, I posted a link to a New York Times article about a historic bank building that was purchased by former NBA basketball player Hakeem Olajuwon and converted into a masjid. A couple of weeks ago, during Ilm Summit, we had the opportunity to visit, have lunch, and offer the Friday prayers in this masjid in downtown Houston.
We had lunch downstairs in the multi-purpose room before listening to a powerful khutbah by our own Shaykh Yasir Qadhi about the importance of dua. We were reminded that we should never despair and think that our duas will not be answered when Allah azza wa jal even answered the dua of Iblees, after he disobeyed him.
- View from balcony
One awkward moment was just as we were about to head back upstairs for the khutbah, a brother, not one of our Ilm Summit brothers, but just someone from the community, began filming and taking pictures of the sisters that were not paying attention, relaxing, chatting, preparing to make wudu, etc. So I began to approach him and ask him why he was taking filming and taking pictures but just as I was about to reach him he turned and ran up the stairs and disappeared into the brothers’ section.
After the khutbah, we went upstairs to the balcony, where there was an exhibit on Muslim achievements and accomplishments throughout history in various areas such mathematics, science, travel, and medicine.
Two of the old bank vault doors have been preserved and one leads to a library/display area and another leads to a women’s bathroom. read more…
Of course, we are spoiled.
AlMaghrib spoils us by having the instructors travel to us, in order to teach us so that we may benefit when rather it should us students traveling to them. In sha Allah, one day we will have an Islamic university here in North America, where we can travel and reside for a number of years and learn and benefit from our instructors. Bayyinah Institute is working an Arabic immersion dream, Al Huda Institute is focused on Quran, Zaytuna has a dream like the one AlMaghrib has to teach a university-level curriculum leading to a degree in a single location.
Those of us who were fortunate to attend Ilm Summit, enjoyed four-star accommodation, three well-planned and solid meals with plenty of drinks, healthy snacks, and desserts each day, our classroom was within our hotel, and our schedule began with early morning fajr salaah and continued until 10-10:30 for isha and for many of us well into the night so that we could review and study the material.
During the last week, it was rare for me to sleep before 3am and of course I was back up by 5:30-6am to start the day. Alhamdulillah, our lunch breaks were from 1pm-3:30pm so I could catch a few zzzs to feel refreshed for the rest of the day. But the schedule was too intense for some of our companions and some skipped the 6am after-fajr tajweed class and other classes and breakfast in order to sleep.
Many of us who were awake, ate our breakfast quickly so that we could stake out and reserve our seats in the front rows closest to the instructor for the day. I was almost always in the front row, I like to be close to the instructor, to learn from his manners and to focus by minimizing distractions from the people behind me. Shaykh Yaser Birjas (hafidhullah) told us that when he was a student in Madinah, he and other students would gather in the Masjid an Nabawee with all of their books and papers from Asr time until after the taraweeh just so they could be close to Ibn Uthaymeen (rahimullah) for his post-taraweeh talks and question and answer session, which makes our gathering 45 minutes to an hour before the start of the morning session look meager.
Shaykh Yaser Birjas (hafidhullah) reflected upon his summers spent in Unayzah with Ibn Uthaymeen (rahimullah). He said, in his first year in Madinah, he asked some of the older students if he should accompany Ibn Uthaymeen to his summer retreat in Unayzah and they dissuaded him and until today, more than 15 years later, he still regrets heeding their advice. He made sure to go his second year and every year after that until he graduated from Madinah university.
The first year, Shaykh Yaser traveled light and went with a group believing that they would be well-cared for within the dormitory that housed other students but when they arrived the shaykh in charge told them that they would have to sleep in the masjid although they would be allowed to eat and shower in the dormitory. The students were not prepared for that reality nor the extreme heat of the summer nor the numerous bugs that feasted on their flesh while they slept in the masjid.
This seems to have been a natural weeding out and selection process, students that were not focused and determined would have given up at this first major hurdle. read more…
As I’ve matured in Islam, my understanding and approach to the religion has also matured. This is something I have struggled with and continue to struggle with each day.
Some issues:
My name: Have blogged extensively about the name changing issue but essentially I have moved from knowing that having an Arabicized name was not obligatory but using one, mostly out of a desire for immediate recognition and to fit in to the Muslim community to a complete reversion to my birth name with affirmation that using such a name makes it a Muslim name and that it may be preferrable for many, particularly for those of us in the west and those of us with non-Muslim families to maintain our distinctive cultural names.
Holidays: I know I’ve said it at least once on this blog that I’m content with our two Eids, and I am, but I no longer share the view of those who say it is an innovation to celebrate or participate in any other celebrations. At some point in my teenage years, well before coming to Islam, my birthday, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, New Year’s Day, the Fourth of July and all the rest became rather insignificant to me and they still are for the most part so it wasn’t an issue for me to continue to marginalize them when I accepted Islam. Yet, now I feel this opinion is too harsh, I don’t celebrate Christmas or Easter but don’t have any issue joining my family on Thanksgiving Day and yes, even eating the turkey, I cannot count how many times I’ve discussed whether or not to eat the turkey with other Muslims. I don’t really celebrate the Fourth of July, per say, but do enjoy watching the fireworks.
Fitna-filled family gatherings: When my grandmother died a few years ago, I agreed to help my family set-up and bring supplies for the wake that was held in a church hall but declined to attend. There was of course the usual late-night until dawn mixing, music, dancing, drinking, Christian prayers, suspect food, video camera, etc that is common place at Ibo wakes. I thought that my helping to set-up and using my faith as a cover would be enough to satisfy my family, particularly my mother. But it was not enough, and of course some of my mother’s Muslim colleagues showed up, which never helps your case when making an argument on religious grounds with your non-Muslim relatives. The rest of my family went to Nigeria for my grandmother’s burial but my mother specifically mentioned that she did not want me to go because I most likely would not have attended some of the more problematic events. And for some time afterward, whenever my mother was upset with me, she would say, “…and she didn’t even come to my mother’s wake,” ahhh, talk about a dagger in the heart, it still pains me each time I reflect on that but alhamdulillah she hasn’t said that recently. read more…
Br. Nouman Ali Khan from Bayyinah Institute, just gave the evening wild card session reminding us that there are three main groups of Muslim youth in our communities, us, the so-called “religious” ones that have the outer accoutrements of Islam and attend seminars to learn more about our religion. Often, we are the outcasts and weirdos amongst our own families and amongst our friends, classmates, and co-workers. How quickly we forget that just yesterday, we were not that religious and how quickly we become self-righteous, full of arrogance and condescension toward those who we judge or believe are below us in religious knowledge and practice. On the other extreme are the really messed up youth and in between the two groups are those in the middle, the ones that waver between the extremes.
In all the classes I take to benefit from this knowledge, realizing the religion is so vast and so beautiful and amazing that it increases my emaan (faith), encourages me to return and increase in my good deeds and purification of my soul, I’ve struggled to implement what I have learned in benefitting others. I haphazardly volunteer my time for various projects, engage in occasional dawah to Muslims and non-Muslims and try to excel in my personal life. I’d like to make my goals less selfish, less focused solely on my inner mental stimulation and purification.
Amongst my goals for this year is a goal of making my preferred masjid more community friendly and I’ve taken some steps in that direction and to encourage and develop enriching community activities that are inclusive of the diversity of Muslims in the community, all ages, backgrounds, and levels of their Islam.
