boys day out

Shish invited us over to a end-of-the-quarter BBQ at Rustic Village public park near his house this afternoon. We had a great time, thanks to the nice and warm and windy weather. It's nice to be able to have some outdoor activities again after having remained dormant throughout the cold half of Rochester. Those who came were college students from Rochester area, mostly from University of Rochester (UofR). Well..I don't want to type the whole thing out, I guess the pictures can speak for themselves.

Putting teams together for a game. At some point I was worried I was gonna get squeezed between these muscle-bound fellas. ^^"

Me shooting hoops again after a long long while. I ran out of gas just after the first 5 minutes, no kidding.

The earth has been made clean for us to prostrate on..so no excuse not to pray, wherever you are!

This was awesomely delicious! But it would go better with some gravy. :D

I don't know what this is..it's some sort of dessert we had last before we left.

Flocking around for food..Err, I'll pass for now.

Husain Bawani, a doctor to be, an eloquent speaker.

The broiler, and volunteer waiters. Great job keeping the flame burning guys!

Later in the evening, we met this American guy who, I believe, were just stopping by at Islamic Center of Rochester (ICR) from a Lilac Festival that was going on nearby. He wanted to find out about Islam. He said he found the concept of Trinity confusing and that there are so many things in the Bible that don't seem to click. So we had like a small discussion with some other brothers to help clear his confusion. He seemed very interested in knowing the truth about both Islam and Christianity. May Allah lead him to the truth, for He always responds to those who are sincere in their intentions. Ameen. ^^

multiple tongues?

Our student gathering last Sunday went well though we had less attendance than we'd expected. As a matter of fact, we almost canceled the program. A brother's wife passed away a day before and they were having the funeral and some Quranic recitation for the deceased in the same day. We thought we would cancel our program to give way to theirs, but the brothers at ICR encouraged us the otherwise since we had planned the gathering way ahead of time. Besides the recitation would due later in the afternoon, so we made some changes to our program so we could finish before they started. Afterward, we joined them in the recitation.

Over the food, I sat at the same table with Br. Intikhab and some other Malaysians. At one point in our conversation, we were talking about how easy it is for a child to pick up multiple languages, due to the fact that their minds are still pure of "contamination" and irrelevant thoughts we grown-ups tend to have. Br. Intikhab gave the example of his sons. His youngest son is not even in school yet, but his English is already as good as any other native kids'. He learned English so quickly just by being around his older brothers and watching English programs on TV; you can see the environmental influence there. For those who started learning a foreign language later in life (like me), try as hard as you may, it will always be your second language; it's hard to make it nearly as good as your first language. As we grow old our tongues harden, which makes learning a new language even tougher (bitter truth). So I was saying that it's good to teach your children more than one languages, because for kids, picking up multiple languages is not a burden. They are in a stage where they can readily absorb anything at all you throw at them. Likewise, this is also a delicate time when you should teach as much Islamic basics as possible to them so this may be retained throughout their entire life. "Kids never forget." This is what I came to learn through my occasional observations on my little brother, Akim. Trust me, kids nowadays are far smarter than we were as kids. This holds true at least in my case. Throw them a laptop, an iPhone, or a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, they'll have it all figured out before you know it. But just before you do that, be ready to face the risk that you might not get it back until they fall asleep.

Iklan: Meet my new baby, Encik Samsung. ^^

I believe knowing multiple languages will come in handy later in a child's life, a favorable addition perhaps to his future career as a Dai'e Illallah. The more people they can communicate with, the bigger their "business network" is insyaAllah. Okay, coming to a more important point; the best way to work on these pure minds is to nourish them with the verses of Allah: teach them Quran. Make them huffaz if possible, or ulama', or both.. then you may mold them into someone else: a doctor, a lawyer, or a biotechnologist (though I wouldn't prefer this last option). As I said, "Kids never forget." So you wanna make sure that those things they won't forget, that they are bringing along with them throughout their life, are the things that not only will help them here, but also hereafter. And they might as well be of help to you on the Day of Judgment; after all, children are the best investment for the parents. Wallahua'lam.

P/s: So, what third languages you want your kids/future kids to learn? :D

paranoia

I. killed. an. innocent. soul. today. It. was. awful. I don't want to have to do it again. I kept imagining that it will come and get me for what I did to it. -__-"

I'm sorry, little mouse.

ijtima' akhirat

At last, I managed to find an opening in my (konon2nya) tight schedule to write this post. So minggu lepas, seperti yg dah dimaklumkan, kami keluar ke sebuah masjid majoriti orang Yaman di Lackawanna. We started out with 7 people from Rochester: Br. Intikhab, Br. Kamran, Ibrahim, Ammar, Zakaria, Wae, & me. Semua sumbat dalam minivan Br. Intikhab, merangkap driver & 'amir jemaah. Kitorang x pergi masjid Lackawanna terus, tapi singgah markaz Buffalo dulu utk solat Maghrib & Isya'. Masuk2 markaz seronok nampak Maulana Abdul Muqeet. Maulana baru balik dari Bangladesh..dgr citer lepas dari ijtima'a Tongi (21-24 Januari lepas) maulana sempat keluar sebelum balik lagi ke Buffalo ni. Lepas Maghrib lagi tambah seronok sebab maulana yang bagi bayan. Aku memang dengar dgn khusyuk & tawaduk..biasa la, bayan maulana ni 'aura' dia lain sikit daripada bayan2 biasa kan. Tapi kalau dengar bayan Syeikh Hasan daripada Jordan kat ijtima' Boston haritu..subhanallah, memang cair. Allah swt kurniakan syeikh dengan 'ilmu malah kepetahan kata2 untuk sampaikan 'ilmu sebaiknya.

Ni antara gambar2 dari Ijtima' Tongi 2010 yg sempat di copy & paste (boleh klik utk besarkan);

Ijtima' Tongi Gazipur, Bangladesh
(21-24 Januari 2010)
courtesy of freepicturebuzz

Tengok berapa ramai umat Muhammad yang berkumpul kat situ..dgr citer mencecah jutaan orang yang hadir. Hm..ni baru ijtima' kat dunia kan..kalau ijtima' akhirat yang kat Mahsyar esok wallahua'lam mcm mana sesak & ramainya. Time tu bukan setakat seluruh umat Muhammad saw, semua umat dari Nabi Adam as sampai lah kita yang last ni akan membanjiri Mahsyar.

Lepas makan malam kitorang terus gerak ke destinasi khuruj. Beberapa students join jemaah ni dari markaz Buffalo. Jemaah ni boleh kira besar jugak..at one point tu ada sampai 18 orang dalam jemaah kitorang yang semuanya students (kecuali Br. Kamran & Br. Intikhab lah). Kali ni ahli2 jemaah datang dari berbagai nationalities...

Malaysia
Pakistan
Turki
Yaman
Kenya
Bangladesh
Somalia
Burma

tanda umat Muhammad saw itu adalah satu! =) Subhanallah..betapa hebatnya Allah swt. Kami yang datang dari bebeza benua dan negara, yang tak pernah terfikir pun nak jumpa sebelum ni, dipertemukan Allah ditempat yang paling mulia di muka bumi ni..Kerana apa? Semata2 kerana agama-Nya insyaAllah..kerana usaha atas iman kami disatukan, bukan sebab keperluan atau kepentingan dunia. Kami dalam jemaah seolah2 adik-beradik yang dah terpisah lama dan bertemu kembali..despite of diferences in appearance, we all have common 'denominator' (bak kata Br. Kamran) iaitu Lailahaillallah Muhammadurrasulullah...ikatan sesama Muslim yang akan kekal sampai akhirat kelak insyaAllah. Hanya dengan kembali kepada kalimah inilah umat Islam dapat disatukan seluruhnya. Hari ini pelbagai cara, ikhtiar, plan, idea dikerah utk menyatukan umat Islam..tapi tidak juga menampakkan hasil. Kenapa agaknya? Mungkin kerana kita bermula dgn perbezaan, bukan dengan persamaan..sedangkan kita tahu kita umat Islam ada satu persamaan yg x mungkin dpt dinafikan oleh sesiapa pun..iaitu kalimah di atas.

إِنَّ اللهَ تَعَالَى يَقُولُ: يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ أَيْنَ الْمُتَحَابُّونَ بِجَلاَلِ الْيَوْمَ أُظِلُّهُمْ فِي ظِلِّي يَوْمَ لاَ ظِلَّ إِلاَّ ظِلِّي؟

Maka Sesungguhnya kelak pada Hari Kiamat Allah akan berfirman, "Di mana orang-orang yang saling mencintai kerana keagunganKu? Pada hari ini Aku akan memberikan naungan kepadanya dalam naunganKu di saat tidak ada naungan kecuali naunganKu" (Riwayat Imam Muslim dari Abu Hurairah)

Semoga Allah swt masukkan kita semua dalam golongan tersebut..ameen. Kesimpulannya khuruj kali ni mmg best (semua khuruj pn best!) sbb dapat kenal brother2 dari Kenya. Walaupun mereka tinggal sebagai pelarian kat sini, diorang memang kelakar & sentiasa ceria, sekaligus membuatkan jemaah kitorang pun happy. Looking forward to spending time with other brothers from more other nationalities..lets experience the colors of this ummah. =)

eidul adha @ rochester

Wah..byk juga muslimah di belakang tu rupernye..
(I didn't get to sneak a look)

Imam Syafiq - designated imam at ICR

Chak!

Wae and his acquaintance

Mael listening to the khutbah with full attention

Oops..who's that? The one in red..=)

Pictures courtesy of DemocratandChronicle.com

angels of the medina street?

The plan for today (Friday) is to bring two of the juniors to Buffalo markaz for sabghuzari program (or malam markaz as we call it in Malaysia.) But here comes the problem; The car broke down. (Someone let the engine on overnight.) At this point, it seemed very unlikely for us to go on with the plan. Karkun 2 was a little disappointed with this since it would otherwise be a golden chance to bring new brothers to markaz, & get them in contact with the environment of iman. Plus, we're getting rewards for bringing people to the house of Allah, insyaallah. But it turned out that the car fixed itself just in time and the trip went on as planned. Alhamdulillah! To Buffalo: Karkun 2 was driving with me sitting next to him. The two juniors sat in the back.

FAST FORWARD>>

Few minutes to reaching markaz, as we entered the housing area my eyes caught a pleasantly rare sight: Groups of niqabi walking down the street.

They were heading for their classes at the madrasah I guess. So I could deduce that they are future hafizah or 'alimah. Involuntarily, my head was turning towards them. The fact that they were wearing niqab made me want to sneak a look even more. (Ish2!) I hate to say this but it is an incorrigible nature of mine to be curious about the hidden. They are a comfort to the eyes really. After weeks and months of continuous torture, my eyes had finally found a relief. Looking at the way they dress, people are prompted to give them their due respect without their having to ask for it. Their dresses speak for them. Isn't that cool? The real beauty of a muslima lies in her modesty; for it is this that affects the hearts the most. Everything else added to this is a bonus from her Rabb of course (a bonus to the husband!) From what I heard, the dwellers of Jannah will go visit Allah swt at certain times, but conversely for the niqabi, Allah swt himself will go visit them. So they must be really special to get such an honor from the Rabbul'alamin. Being a little personal, I would loove to have a niqabi as someone close to me. (well, who wouldn't?) But knowing where I stand, this dream, if not a mere fantasy, would be a special gift for me. Sometimes I even go as far as 'alimah and hafizah in daydreaming. I think I really need to get back on Earth ASAP before I run out of Oxygen up here. Come to think of it, it is kinda ironic that I used to feel somewhat uncomfortable seeing the niqabi around, might have been due to the fact that they stand out in the crowd. So I used to somewhat keep my distance from them. Well, that was me then. My apology to niqabi sisters. You deserve my highest respect for holding on to the sunnah in this edge of fasad & munkar: the time when people are compromising the Deen for general norms.

SPEECHLESS INTERVAL...

All of a sudden, a familiar voice pulled me out of my daydream, "Oit, jangan tengok lama-lama sangat..." It was Karkun 2! He kinda figured out what I (if not we) was having in mind. Cis! He just happened to come to his senses earlier than I did. Now I'm voluntarily shifting my sight to the male madrasah students..

There is a madrasah here alright, but I don't know much about it. What I do know is when dakwah is established in a locality, the environment will change. Madrasah will mushroom. Hafiz and hafizah, 'alim and 'alimah will be born from muslim houses. Love and care will spread throughout the community. You can see the proof here at this locality in Buffalo and any other places in which dakwah is established. Just for the record, some of the streets' names here have even been changed to Islamic names. For example, from "something not Islamic" to "Medina Street." This is the powerful effect of dakwah.

LONG STORY CUT SHORT>>

• We grabbed some pizzas from a halal pizza store there.
• We prayed different prayers at different masjid (macam rancangan masjid ke masjid kat tv3): 'Asr at Masjid Zakaria, Maghrib at Buffalo Markaz, Isya' at Masjid Taqwa (across the street from Ramli's apartment)
• We met with Syeikh Yahya & Maulana Abdul Muqeet..and Br. Sajjat as well.
• The two juniors seemed really surprised (seeing how a place in the US can be more Islamic than an Islamic country itself) and happy (being in the company of great brothers at markaz.)

Wallahua'lam