my love at first sight

Alhamdulillah. Things are getting more reasonable over here..with only one exam and one lab report left, I can finally catch a deep breath. As promised, I'm going to write a special post on the Northeastern States Ijtima' I attended in Reading Pennsylvania from 17th to 19th of June, 2011. You see..when I write, I always tend to write too much. I don't know if I can keep it short this time, but I'll try to keep it sweet. Bear with me OK. =)  

Specifically speaking, the ijtima' was held at Greater Reading Expo Center, 12th Street Reading, PA. It is a HUGE indoor facility that can fit thousands of people at one time. I was surprised myself to see how gigantic this place was - for such a scale of gathering, I thought it was gonna be in an open field or something, like we have back home. The halaqahs that participated in the event include Buffalo, Boston, Connecticut, Manhattan & Bronx, Li, Queens, Brooklyn, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Springfield, and Raleigh. Our city Rochester falls under the Buffalo halaqah. Five groups came from Rochester, excluding the Burmies who had their own arrangements. I was in the first group that left after Fajr on Friday. The other groups joined us later in the ijtima'. The journey there from Islamic Center of Rochester (ICR) took about 5-6 hours of driving.

The purpose of attending an ijtima' is (correct me if I'm wrong) to listen to the bayans and to send out jama'ahs. Alhamdulillah from this blessed gathering, about 30 jama'ahs were sent out all around the place, including the Malaysian masturat jama'ah that was sent to Rochester. For the convenience of the event, the attendees were requested to sit in their respective halaqahs. There were signs pasted at different spots, designating the different halaqahs. Apart from the typical bayans that we listened to throughout the ijtima', there were also:

a gathering for the ulama'

a gathering for old workers

(brothers who have spent 4 months, or regular 40 days) 

a gathering for the youth 

an Arabic ta'alimi halaqah

I met all those I'd wanted to meet here in this ijtima', among whom were Syeikh Hassan of the last Boston Ijtima', Syeikh Abdul Badi' and Br. Fuwad of Boston, Br. Amin Shah of Penang, and the Malaysian masturat jama'ah that came to Rochester recently. I even had lunch once with the Malaysian jama'ah in the foreign jama'ahs room. Speaking of foreign jama'ahs, there were also jama'ahs from England and Pakistan that were stopping by at the ijtima'. On top of that, I talked to a lot of great brothers throughout the two days. I met two Moroccan brothers who really look up to us from Malaysia, and this American revert who just came back from spending 4 months. There were times when I would just stand in the midst of the crowd and started looking around from one far end to the other, just to see if I cold find familiar faces among those thousands of people. All kinds of people were there, and from their expressions I could tell they all were as happy as I was. I remember one brother was saying. "This is the kind of gathering where you meet the best of people.." I couldn't agree more.

My moments in the ijtima' got into full swing on the last day when our halaqah, Buffalo, was put on khidmat (serving) along with the other halaqahs that had not done it. We were divided into several groups, each of which was put in charge of one serving lane. And for each group there was an 'amir. Lets see, if I can remember it right I think I was in group 15. Though it was my first time serving at a huge ijtima' like this, I had so much fun with it. We were even kinda competing with each other to give the best serving. Then, I saw Maulana Abdul Muqeet. He was on khidmat too since he is from Buffalo. I was thinking..he has the status of an 'alim, yet he is serving the other brothers. And most of the people there don't even know him. Apart from the ulama' in this world who live in comfort, he is among those who strive in the path of sacrifice..like most of the ulama' in this effort do. I remember someone was saying..in this effort, we all have our own sacrifice to give..and for the ulama', they have to give their honor by meeting the people, instead of waiting for the people to come to them. Likewise, the speakers who gave the bayans, people don't even know their names - no titles, no achievements, and no recognitions are announced prior to a speech. They speak and they go, just like that. Here, you may be sitting next to a doctor, a lawyer, a millionaire, or a minister even..without you realizing it. They all sit shoulder to shoulder, eat the same food, use the same washrooms, and sleep in the same place. As Br. Kamran was saying, "If you can't find ikhlas in this effort, then you won't find it anywhere else."

"my love at first sight"
courtesy of tvtube777 (more videos on YouTube)

At the end of the day, all who attended this gathering went back to their cities with their own unique experiences to keep. As for myself, no worldly words can describe what I felt inside every second I was there. As Br. Kamran was saying, "you can hear all kind of stories about an ijtima', but it is never the same as your own first-hand experience." I was happy to see a lot of youngsters in the program. May Allah open this effort to those who came for the first time, the way He opened it to me not long ago. I fell in love with the 'simplicity' of this effort, and it's closeness to the effort of Prophet Muhammad saw. Lastly..I'd like to leave you with this saying from Br. Nasiruddin to ponder over; "This (effort) is not an organization, with a president and board of directors..no registrations, no membership fees, no fund raising..this is just an 'amal." Wallahua'lam. May Allah keep us all in His blessing..always.

*halaqah - a designation for an area that is manageable to a markaz (center) masjid

p/s: Hurm..It seems I've been falling in love a lot lately..=)

I'm so happy I could die

Not literally...

The Malaysian masturat jama'ah had just left for the next stop in their routing. I really enjoyed these two days with them. I learned so much from Hj. Anuar ('amir sab), Br. Nasiruddin, and Br. Suhaidi (hopefully I got the names right) though in a short while - we spent quality time together!

First day of their coming, I met them at ICR at 'Asr time. We had jaulah that afternoon at Br. Intikhab's place. That was when I listened to bayan masturat for the very first time in my life. 'Amir sab was giving the bayan in Malay, which was interpreted in English by Br. Nasiruddin. After Maghrib at ICR, we had an awesome bayan by Br. Nasiruddin. I could see how much the local brothers were enjoying his speech - all their eyes were locked on him. I myself was impressed by such an enlightening yet casual bayan he gave. The youngsters too fell very much in love with his speech I guess. They even personally came up to Br. Nasiruddin afterward to greet him. He has the quality of a cool big brother in him that has caught the youngsters by their hearts. These are the qualities seen in someone who has sacrificed a lot for the deen. Br. Nasiruddin and Br. Suhaidi used to be students here. The former even got his Master's from here. Those days, they used to be really active in this effort - they would form their own student jama'ah for khuruj, consisting of students from different nationalities including the Arabs. Subhanallah, listening to their stories I felt like I've come nowhere close to even doing this effort, let alone progressing.

Ok Bahasa Melayu pulak. Hari kedua, alhamdulillah, saya dapat bagi masa bersama jemaah sehari suntuk. Malam tu jemaah plan nak buat makan-makan sikit untuk student2 Malaysia nih, so petang lepas Jumaat kitorang pegi shopping kat Price Rite cari barang-barang suma. Lepas tu singgah rumah amik periuk belanga bawak ke masjid nak masak. Maka aktiviti masak-memasak pun bermula. 'Amir sab sorang je yang masak pun..haha..kitorang yang lain jadi tukang rase kat dapur (Ade jugak la tolong potong2 cili tu kan). Huh..semangat 'amir sab masak. Dengar pulak student Malaysia yang perempuan nak datang program masturat kan..sayang betul 'amir sab kat masturat ni suma..hehe. Hm..puas diorang usik saya sehari ni, yelah, orang bujang nusrah (assist) jemaah masturat, memang cari nahas lah kan..huhu. So, lepas 'Asar terus bergegas ke tempat kejadian..eh, ke tempat bayan masturat yaitu rumah Br. Intikhab. Sekaligus, buat kali keduanya saya mendengar bayan masturat, kali ni daripada Br. Nasiruddin yang di interpretasikan dalam Urdu oleh Br. Kamran. Malam, seperti yang dijanjikan..lepas Maghrib ade ta'alim sikit, pastu instead of bayan, jemaah buat mudzakarah tentang 5 'amal Masjid Nabawi, yang perlu dihidupkan di setiap masjid seluruh alam, sekali lagi oleh Br. Nasiruddin. Seronok betul dengar dia cakap..ringkas, padat, dan cool.

Lepas mudzakarah, aktiviti makan-makan pulak berlangsung. Alhamdulillah ada dalam 10 orang student lelaki yang datang. Sambil makan sambil sembang2. Siap ada sesi ta'aruf lagi tu. Br. Nasiruddin bukak cerita dia time study kat Washington DC dulu..dengan pergi memburu, menembak, naik kapal suma. Macam2 benda lah dia dah buat kat US nih. Dia buat Master's pun kat sini jugak..so lebih kurang 6 tahun belajar sini. Budak2 ni pun seronok je dengar. Tapi dalam banyak2 pengalaman waktu dia student tu dia cakap, takde yang dapat banding dengan pengalaman keluar di jalan Allah. Pastu dia bagi nasihat dan tips kat kitorang sebagai students, camner nak manage masa suma tu. Satu benefit keluar di jalan Allah time student nih yang aku sangat2 setuju, Br. Nasiruddin cakap, English korang akan improve dengan cepat. Yelah, hari2 dok ta'alim, mesyuarat dgn orang tempatan yang pelbagai bangsa, nak taknak kena la speaking. Pastu khuruj lagi kan. Dengar dia bagi bayan English pun relax je, sangat cool lah bak kata orang muda. Lepas Isyak, sambil makan aiskrim (second round), Br. Nasiruddin clarify tentang usaha dakwah ni kat kitorang. Subhanallah. Punyalah cantik dia terangkan, sampai saya sendiri rasa macam saya tak tau pape tentang usaha ni sebelum ni. Dah macam clarification seorang uztaz pulak. Punya lama kitorang sembang sampai pukul 12 lebih. Sebagai penutup, Br. Nasiruddin bukak Q&A session untuk student2 ni..sape yang ade kemusykilan tentang "jemaah tabligh" ni boleh lah tanye. Dia jawab semua soalan dengan, again, cool je. Br. Nasiruddin ni antara orang2 yang dah bagi banyak masa di jalan Allah, sehingga Allah kurniakan such an understanding kepada dia. Allah letakkan hikmah dalam perkataan2 dia. Kalau saya kena soal camtu, memang tak terjawab rasanya..tak faham pun lagi usaha ni. Nak cerita apa yang disoaljawabkan panjang sangat rasanya, mungkin lain kali insyaAllah (ni pun dah panjang kan?).

The jama'ah will be leaving for Malaysia on 16th July, and by 18th July they will be at Masjid Seri Petaling insyaAllah. I'll be sure to go meet them over there and listen to their complete karkuzari if I have the chance. =)

p/s: Seronoknya dua hari ni dapat cakap dan dengar bahasa Melayu puas2..selalu banyak dengar Urdu je kan..hehe

Malaysian Masturat Jama'ah

The masturat jama'ah from Malaysia, consisting of 3 couples are finally coming to Rochester sometime tomorrow, between morning and noon insyaAllah. As for now, the jama'ah is still in Buffalo. They will be staying in Rochester until this Friday/Saturday before moving on to Albany. The ladies will be staying at one of the local brothers' house (specifically Br. Intikhab's house, our 'amir for the month) while the menfolk will be staying at the masjid as usual. From what I heard this jama'ah has spent about a month in the US and still has another month to finish. To be frank, I don't have much knowledge myself about this masturat effort since I'm the only one who is in this effort in my family. But with their presence here, though just for a short while, hopefully I can get a better idea on how the jama'ah works. I hope many can benefit from their coming here, and may Allah accept their sacrifice as a means of guidance for the whole ummah..ameen. The task given to me for now is to get as many Malaysian students from here as possible, guys and girls, to meet the jama'ah and attend at least some part of the programs. =)

langgar

I've got a secret to share. Just promise me not to let it out to other people OK? =) OK. This is how the story goes. I was running late for a lab the other day. So I rushed to my car from the apartment. Being in a hurry, it is natural for someone to be less observant of their surrounding right? Ahha..that's exactly what happened to me. Not looking around, I got into my car, started the engine, fixed my hair a little..and did everything else someone would do when they get into a car..except that I did them all in fast forward. With everything checked inside, I started backing my car out of the parking place. My mistake was I left the outside unchecked. Little that I knew there was a TimeWarnerCable car parked just to my left. I was backing up until I felt my car bumping against something. I turned around and realized that I just rubbed against the car. I made quite a scratch I guess. Luckily the driver was away. Well if he'd been there, he would have honked at me. The car was not parked in the designated parking place..in normal circumstances, I never would've expected the car to be there. No one saw what happened except for these two guys who were standing at some distance from there. I saw them looking towards me with suspicious looks. I didn't worry much about the scratch as I knew the insurance would cover for it. Besides the car belongs to the company, so it is very likely the company will take care of the damage. Yeah, the good thing here in the US is the insurance takes care of everything..the bad thing is they are quite expensive? I don't know. But I do feel bad for the guy. I wanted to stay but I got a lab to catch so I decided to drive off from there. I hope he didn't curse me too much..huhu.

I'm supposed to be going to Pennsylvania tomorrow with the other ICR brothers. The thing is I haven't been going to the masjid regularly now so I haven't been updated on the matter. But last time I told them I'm ready to leave after Fajr (Subuh). Lets see..I'll check with them at Maghrib time insyaAllah. Btw, the masturat jama'ah that is due to come to Rochester will be at the ijtima' too. They are planning to come as soon as the ijtima' is over. I hope I'll get to meet them over there. And I hope when they do come, I'll be able to give them appropriate nusrah (assistance). The ladies from the jama'ah would want to meet our Malaysian sisters here but at this point I still don't see how we are going to arrange for that. But if they do come, we'll work it out insyaAllah. May Allah make things easy for them. Now about school..I have done three labs so far..so just two more labs and I'll be as good as done for the quarter. The lecture part of this course doesn't bother me as much as the lab part does. Since I'll be off for the weekend I have to finish my lab reports in advance..alhamdulillah I'm doing it. As for the exam, I might need to bring some notes over. We'll see what He has lined up for me. Untill then..salam. =)

p/s: I would looove to give a complete karkuzari on the ijtima'..hope I can work it in!

inikah summer?

"musuh utama"

So the five week long Summer quarter has begun. By the looks of things, these five weeks to come are gonna be hectic and quick (I hope). I've got a LOT to do in a very limited amount of time. At first I really2 doubted if I could get myself in the "mood" to study this Summer..but for the sake of getting everything over with real quick, I went for it anyway. I think one of the things that really helps in keeping me going right now is the thought that I'll be going back to Malaysia in a few weeks..(haiz..) Lets see..two lab reports to be handed in next week..and there is Chem Sep Exam 1 to prepare for as well. Hm..the thing is, I barely understood what Dr. Craig taught in class today. Oh Chemistry! To be honest, I've never looked forward to taking another Chemistry lab since I took Organic Chemistry labs long long time ago. I like Biology labs way way better. Ya Allah, look at this servant of yours who won't quit complaining. Ok, enough of this luahan perasaan..it's time to get to work. Actually it's not that bad at all..it's just me being dramatic here. Ok lah..wishing all those that are stranded here in RIT a great & smooth-flowing Summer quarter..ameen. =)

p/s: Penat main tukar2 bateri iClicker kat belakang kelas tadi..huhu..

halaqah syura

As mentioned earlier, I went to Buffalo yesterday for the halaqah syura. At first Br. Kamran and I were planning to go in one car. Later we came to know that Br. Intikhab's jama'ah that just came back from Trinidad were also going to Buffalo in a van. So, we decided to tag along and went in their van instead.

The Halaqah Syura
Lets see if I can recall some important things from the syura, apart from my being sleepy all the time. Among the things that were discussed include the northeastern ijtima' in Pennsylvania this month, the halaqah ijtima' in July, two months masthurat, youth effort, takazar (needs/demands) from Nizammuddin markaz, and the routing for the next two months for the halaqah members (masjids). To start, we listened to the karkuzari from the 40-day jama'ah that went to Trinidad and Tobago. In essence, they were stressing on how much the brothers there are in need of support, that we have a huge takazar to fulfill. In certain areas in Trinidad, mixed (inter-faith) marriages are still prevalent between the Muslims and the other religions, especially the Hindus and the Christians. In one case, an imam was conducting a nikah for a couple, but then refused to proceed when he found out that the man and the woman were of different religions - the man was a Muslim whereas the woman was a Hindu. The confusion dragged on until some lady came up and said; "My husband is a Muslim and I am a Hindu, but we've been married for years now..so why can't these two get married?" Nauzubillah..see how critical the situation is for the Muslims over there. They are molding the religion around their own interests and desires out of ignorance. How would you have reacted to this? Another story, there was this one masjid that they went to whose imam only knows 3-4 surahs (forget about the tajweed and stuff) and that's the most qualified person they have to be the imam. It's not their fault, no one is there to teach them Islam. Also we heard cases in which the Muslims were converting into other religions through the efforts of the Hindu and Christian preachers there, whereas there's no established dakwah from the Muslims to counteract this. If this goes on nauzubillah, soon enough Islam will fade out from the life of the community. There's a lot more to the karkuzari but I'm just gonna stop here..I'm afraid it'd turn out into a research paper if I were to cover everything. For the routing, our masjid (ICR) has been assigned to Syracuse and Niagara Falls to work at for the next two months.

Malaysian Jama'ahs in Trinidad
To my surprise, the jama'ah met two Malaysian 4-month jama'ahs while they were in Trinidad and Tobago. From what I heard, the majority of the brothers in the Malaysian jama'ahs are senior workers, two of which are 84 and 75 years old even. The Malaysian jama'ahs personally requested the brothers to work on the Malaysian students here, so when they get back they would establish the work in their localities. Huhu..I wish I had been there to see them. But the opportunity is still on insyaAllah since one masthurat jama'ah from Malaysia just arrived in the US, and Br. Intikhab has volunteered to host them in his house here in Rochester. InsyaAllah if we were meant to meet, we'll definitely meet. =)

Madrassa Darul Uloom, Buffalo
In Buffalo, we stopped by a madrasah just close by to the markaz (center) masjid since Br. Intikhab needed to drop some food for his kids, Uthban and Tsauban. The unique thing about this madrasah is it used to be a prison..yup, a prison. You can tell just by looking..with tall walls surrounding the area..and those thorny, spiral strings lining the top. But of course, the students live in rooms, not cells..hehe. If I hadn't seen it for myself, I never would have believed a prison can turn into a madrasah. This is all by the mercy of Allah swt. I've always loved the peaceful and soothing atmosphere in a madrasah, that can hardly be found anywhere else. Seeing the kids reciting and memorizing quran is such a comfort in the eyes. Sometimes I do feel inferior even, thinking that they are spending their days learning the words of Allah while I'm spending my days mostly on the laptop. But still, we have to be grateful with what He has arranged for us..He has placed me here striving for a degree for a reason.

On our way to the madrasah..out of nowhere, this conversation took place;

Br. Intikhab: "What do you call the first night after nikah?"
Me: "Err..the first night of marriage you mean?"
Br. Intikhab: "Yeah." "In Urdu we call it (tak ingat!)" "You see..this is the time in your life when your heart will be really...
Me: "Pounding?" (Gulp..)
Br. Intikhab: "Yeah, pounding!" "When you see your beautiful someone before your eyes.." "Some people experience it once, some people twice..and trice. But in this effort subhanallah you'll experience it many2 times. Every time you come back from khuruj, you'll experience it."
Me: (Speechless) (O..mentang2 lah org tu baru balik 40 hari..ish2..ni kes nak menyakatlah nih)

Hm..is he encouraging me to be steadfast in this effort or is he encouraging me to get married soon? But either way I do agree..hehe

hujan

Northeastern United States

The 40 days is almost up! Br. Intikhab's 40-day jama'ah is back from Trinidad and Tobago and is now spending some time in New York. They are due to head back to Rochester by this weekend insyaAllah. Can't wait to hear fresh karkuzari from them! On another note, there will be an ijtima' from 17th to 19th of June in Erie Pennsylvania for the Northeastern states which include New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Rhode Island (as you can see in the map above). This ijtima' is gonna be huge..I heard thousands of people will be coming. Owh..if i'm lucky enough I might also bump into Syeikh Abdul Badi' and the others from Boston..they're always there in a tiny little corner of my mind. Now that I think about it, I'm really thrilled to go..hopefully I can meet some Malaysians over there as well (rindu nak dengar targheeb bahasa Melayu nih..huhu). In that regard, I'll be going to Buffalo tomorrow with Br. Kamran and the others for this month's halaqah mesyuwarah, which will mainly talk about matters regarding the ijtima'.

Hm..Summer classes are starting next week..huh, lets get them over with real quick and then go home to the company of Mom and Dad and Along and E'ah and Akim...and Ehem2. Come to think of it, time really crawls when you've got nothing to do you are longing for something, doesn't it? Well don't blame me..after all, home is where nasi lemak, char kuew tiow, mee rebusthe heart is. Haish..nothing beats the comfort and security you feel at home right? As the saying goes, "Hujan emas di negeri orang, hujan batu di negeri sendiri, lebih baik di negeri sendiri." It's quite a cliche I know..but you should hear a fresher version of this peribahasa from Br. Intikhab, which he says to me all the time..and I would just laugh every time he does so (Try translating it word to word into English, how would it sound to you?). July 12 is THE big day for me. Hopefully the time will start flying by when my classes kick off, and I'll reach there in no time. But first of all, I'll need to get my biological timing reset..since my days and nights have gotten pretty much swapped out at the moment. Btw, sorry for having too many interjections in the post, it can't be helped..those represent my excitement, manifested into writing. That's for now..Salam.

p/s: Kepada sape2 yg amik kelas summer tu..byk2 kan bersabar ye..=)