"prisoners" at ICR

Yesterday a jama'ah of about 20 madrasah students came to ICR for the month's khuruj. Among them were a couple of adults, including an uztaz teaching at the madrasah and a mufti from New York City. It's become part of the policy for madrasahs with da'wah that the students should spend one day in khuruj every month. Regular students like us are encouraged to spend one and a half days, whereas the general adults should spend complete 3 days a month. We did jaulah with them after 'Asar. Two groups went out; Wae took one group to the Yamanese masjid, and I took the other smaller group to visit the Malaysians. I love being in the company of madrasah students and I'd be delighted every time I get to go in khuruj with them. I've always envied those bright faces, thinking how blessed they are and how blessed their parents are that their kids are enrolled in the path of preserving the knowledge Deen. I see these kids as profitable investments of the parents for their akhirah. Now I wonder if I've had any significant investment for mine. I undertand, with the correct intention, striving to get a degree is also a rewardable good deed, but still when I look at those faces long enough I wouldn't realize when my eyes started welling up with tears. Yes, every now and then I would hear this consoling remark, "If you go to college with the right intention to please Allah you'll be rewarded for that.." But I can't quite confirm if all this while my intention has always been to please Allah. Anyway, later after Maghrib we listened to a bayan by the mufti. Among the point I can remember was that it doesn't matter if you're not doing a lot of solah or making enough dzikir..when you go out and see the real condition of the ummah, your heart will cry, and then you'll get the concern and appreciation for this Deen, from which the practice will follow. Otherwise, if we stay at home we'll see that everything is fine and nothing wrong is going on, and slowly we'll stop making effort on this Deen altogether. Also glad to hear from the mufti that even Al-Azhar now have started sending jama'ahs out and the grand masyaikh are stepping into this effort of da'wah. Yet another door is opened by Him. ALHAMDULILLAH. ^^