hamna

Just got back from Syracuse. Feeling rejuvenated after a little dose of afternoon nap just now. This time around Adem, a US-born Turkish, went with us to Syracuse. He just finished at University at Buffalo, and is applying to a medical school for his Master's. He should be back in college by next Fall. I'm very glad that two other Malaysians, Syafiq and Izani, were with us this time. Syafiq left with us from here to Syracuse on Friday, while Izani who is currently doing his co-op in Syracuse joined us when we got there. Alhamdulillah. We had a great time and a lot of fun I guess especially for the kids in our jama'ah.

That weekend was a busy and important weekend to the community. They had a barbeque the day after we came. I can say that everybody was present for the event and that we came on the right weekend after all. Imam was very welcoming, receptive, and supportive of us. One time when addressing all of us at the masjid, he mentioned that he was happy and impressed to see many youngsters in our jama'ah who are involved in da'wah. I think they've got a beautiful and strong community of Muslims there. The whole time the masjid was full with kids and they seemed to be very comfortable being in the masjid. The way they instill affection for the masjid in their kids is something we should follow everywhere else. Sadly, in many places, kids are somewhat restricted from the masjid, for the reason that they would cause distractions. Of course something needs to be done to cut down on the distractions, but restricting them from the masjid altogether is never a good idea to me. Believe me, if our your kids didn't get to love the masjid in their childhood, it's even tougher for them to love the masjid when they get older owing to the negative influences that lurk around in today's environment.

at lunchtime: some members of our jama'ah sitting with an American revert

During jaulah Br. Nasir, Br. Irfan, Adem and I visited a Turkish Cultural Center somewhere downtown of Syracuse city. It was the first time we went there. We found out about it from a brother at the masjid. Our coming was welcomed. Br. Nasir gave some da'wah to us all before we offered maghrib together with the local Turkish brothers. Adem was telling me the whole time how he would love to re-polish his unpolished Turkish, and right there and then he got the chance to speak Turkish. I could see the excitement on his face the whole time he was doing that. He said his Turkish was 7/10, but from what I heard he pretty much still had it in him. (Or it was just me not being able to distinguish between bad Turkish and good Turkish..haha).

Izany was not with us all the time. As for Syafiq, I believe he really enjoyed the time we spent over there, judging from his expressions. No one can describe that enjoyment we're getting in khuruj until they experience it themselves. I may describe what I feel from A to Z to a brother, but he won't grasp what I meant for him to know until he himself step into it; in da'wah, there's more to feel than to describe. And apparently Syafiq has got that first-hand experience for himself. He is a better brother than I am. I pray that Allah will accept his sacrifice and reveal the truth of this effort to him. He made an intention to come with us again next month insyaAllah. Unfortunately, next khuruj would very likely be my last khuruj here in the US..huhu. It's our weakness that we have not done much effort to leave behind a legacy of Malaysian students for this effort. May Allah forgive us.

the wrapper

Anyway, I didn't come back here empty-handed! Hehehe. Remember that "independent little lady" from "Souvenir from Syracuse"? I met her again this time. She barely recognized me, but that didn't stop her from being annoyed by me (in a sweet way..haha). She's grown up a lot since last time. I just love the way she carries herself around in the midst of the community members. You would find her to be quite an impressive talker. One time I was just sitting in  a corner when she came up to me bringing a chocolate. Her: "Do you like chocolate?" Me: "No..not really?" Her: "Do you want this chocolate?" Me: (shaking my head) Her: "Here, you take the wrapper." Me: (took the wrapper with a confused expression). Then she left. There sure was a lot of kids to pick on at the masjid, but she really stood out amongst them. Somewhat she reminds me a lot of my little brother future daughter..haha (okay, quit dreaming already!) Someone told me that I'm a big dreamer, and I'm afraid I can't totally deny that..hurrmm. And to top everything, I got her name this time; her name is HAMNA. =)

the wrapper giver 

P/s: I accidentally crushed the wrapper in my jubah's pocket. Err..would it be creepy for me to keep the wrapper? ^^"

Niagara Falls

Okay, I've seen enough words already up here (I know you have too!) So now let's give a break to your eyes. These are a few pictures from our recent 3-day khuruj to Niagara Falls. The masjid was just a few minutes away from the falls, so before we left for Rochester our 'amir, Br. Ifan, was kind enough to treat the kids to a chilly nice morning stroll over there. So pictures, it's time you do the rest of the talking.

Uthban, a hafiz in the making

Shish and the Somalis

at breakfast

the falls

the brotherhood

P/s: No matter how different we look, under the kalimah Lailahaillallah Muhammadurrasulullah, we are brothers. May our meeting and parting be solely for the sake of Allah swt..ameen.

under the shade

Last weekend, we went to Masjid Taqwa, Buffalo for the month’s khuruj. Actually, we were supposed to go to Syracuse Masjid, since that’s where we’ve been assigned to by the Buffalo Syura. It turned out that no one else was there at ICR when it was time to leave but the three of us Malaysians. So we made a mesyuarah with Br. Naseer there and came up with the decision that we should go to the (Bufalo) markaz instead. Three people is not really a good number to travel that far a distance. Besides it’s just a weekend’s outing..so we thought that it wouldn't be quite worth it. So off we go to Buffalo.

We reached markaz well at Isya’ time, when brothers were preparing for solah. We met a couple of Malaysian UB students there. Ramli was there too. We listened to a bayan by a mufti from a Toronto 40-day jama’ah. It was awesome. Only two of the Toronto jama’ah were here at this point: the mufti and another brother. The other five people of their jama’ah were being held up at the border for some security reasons. The brothers were requested to make du’a so Allah will make things easy for them. We have not heard from them since we left markaz. I hope they made it through past the border.

The syura decided that the three of us merge with markaz’s fourth weekend’s jama’ah. Syeikh Yahya was in the jama’ah too. Remember him? The Somalian ‘alim I featured in a previous post who speaks 5 different languages. Not just speak, but converse. Now I heard from his son, Muhammad that he can speak even more languages. Subhanallah. I’m struggling even with my English now. So the jama’ah was complete! We had about 7-9 people in the jama’ah, and the Syeikh was our ‘amir. The number varied because a couple brothers had to work during the day and come back as soon as they got off work.

Well..we had a wonderful time together..a lot of learning too since the Syeikh was with us. Br. Kamal, or ‘Caca’ (as nicknamed by Br. Anjum) from our last two-week khuruj was with us too. Subhanallah. He was finishing the last 3 days of his first 40 days with us. So he had been out in the path of Allah since we left the jama’ah last time. He was originally tasykil-ed for 3 days but then, due to his sheer desire to learn, Allah chose him to extend his khuruj to 40 days. May Allah accept his sacrifice..he’s a very nice brother at heart. ^^

During jaulah, we split into two groups. Syeikh Yahya’s group went to Masjid Noor. Majid Noor used to allow jama'ahs to stay but lately they have restricted jama'ahs from staying at the masjid. So the Syeikh wanted to go there to find out what actually was going on, and to try to open the masjid back for da'wah effort. Three of us were invited to come for a tahlil and yaseen program at a Malay students’ house no far from there. I met Bobby there! I haven’t seen him for ages since we left Intec. He’s put on weight now..hehe. *I wish I could gain weight that easily* Done with the program, we had some makan-makan before we went back to the masjid for Isya’. Days couldn’t be shorter when you are enjoying your time in khuruj.

When you're in a gathering of people whose sole motive is to please Allah, you’ll feel the kind of love and peace of heart in the jama’ah that you know you’ll keep coming back for. Only in the dzikir (remembrance) of Allah will the heart find peace. Narrated in a hadith, more or less the meaning; a group of people will come on the Day of Judgement and their faces will be shining with brilliant nur. They are not among the anbiya’ nor syuhada’ to deserve such special marks on them. The people will envy them and ask the Prophet saw as to who they really are. And the Prophet’s saw answer would be; “These are those people in the world who used to gather from different places, tribes and backgrounds just for the sake of Allah.” In another hadith it says, one of those people who will be under the shade of the Throne (‘Arasy) in the Mahsyar will be the two people who meet and part solely for the sake of Allah. It makes me smile whenever this pops in my mind and pray that Allah will make us among this group of people.

p/s: The next Buffalo halaqah syura is due this weekend on Saturday at Lackawanna masjid.

"buddy muddy"

WARNING! This entry is awfully lengthy. Think twice before you even start. Once you have started, you MUST finish it.

Alhamdulillah..home from khuruj in one piece! We had tons and tons of fun and learning from it. Every jama'ah that we went in was never the same; each had its own unique lessons to ponder over, memories to reminisce about, trials to overcome, bitterness to swallow, awkwardness and anomalies to frown at, and keepsakes to smile about. And this one was no exception. It has become my tradition to write a full-length account on my winter-break khuruj. But the thing is, I always had trouble figuring out where to start..and when I did start, I didn't know when to stop..hoho. *See..even the pre-intro has taken up a complete paragraph there* As much as I want to immortalize every single detail of my khuruj on this humble blog of mine, I realize it is as impractical as wading through the snow barefooted. Anyway, I'll try to be as concise and compact as possible this time *cliche huh?*

(12.16.11) Buffalo Markaz Masjid, 105 Woltz Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14212

On Friday evening, Br. Intikhab and Br. Irfan dropped us off at Buffalo Markaz. We spent the week before ijtima' around Buffalo area, starting out with eight people in the jama'ah: Br. Ibrahim from Guyana (amir), Br. Kamran and Br. Anjum from Pakistan, Br. Muhammad from Uzbekistan, Br. Raqeeb from Bangladesh, and the three of us from Malaysia. Only the first three brothers were spending 40 days, while the rest were spending two weeks or less. Saturday morning, our jama'ah left to Masjid Al Huda, Lackawanna.

Masjid Al Huda, 158 Wilkesbarre St Lackawanna, NY 14218

Here, we witnessed an Arabic-speaking, former US airman taking Syahadah. We all waited in line to give him a hug after the Syahadah. Later, he told us all about his conversion story. He was a translator for the US air force. So his job required him to be in close contact with Muslims, which ultimately led him towards embracing Islam. He said his accepting Islam was inspired by a Muslim woman named Huda, who portrayed to him what a true Muslim really is, through her iman and character. He was telling the story both in English and Arabic, since most of the Yamanese brothers there don't understand English well. My jaw just dropped when I heard how fluent his Arabic was. An American speaking Arabic..impressive huh? May Allah make him a means to spread more of His guidance. We also met the community's newly appointed imam from Egypt. The new imam introduced himself to the people in the masjid. Subhanallah..his recitation of quran was beautiful. Once at bedtime, we had a conference-like muzakarah, and we were doing muzakarah on marriage..hoho. Ok, that's always a topic of interest. We also had a proper ta'aruf session before to make sure that all of us know each other well. These people in my jama'ah..they were just hilarious..especially our amir. He is just an expert at cracking jokes.

Masjid At Taqwa, 1754 Amherst Street, Buffalo, NY

We met Ramli, Azizi and some other Malaysians from University at Buffalo (UB). We didn't get to tasykil any Malaysians though since many of them were attending some other programs. It was sort of a clash. But alhamdulillah, some of them who came to the masjid did sit in our programs. On Thursday afternoon, our jama'ah left for Ijtima', while Muhammad, Raqeeb, and Br. Kamran stayed behind. Muhammad and Rafiq could not proceed with us since they got work to do. As for Br. Kamran, he left a day later and took some students with him who later joined our jama'ah at the ijtima'.

Masjid Zakariyya, 182 Sobieski Street, Buffalo, NY 14212

We picked up Br. Mas'ood, an elder, on the way. We met Br. Sajjat, a Malay-speaking Pakistani there too. He was in Malaysia for about 30 years, and was living in Sabah. He speaks excellent Malay, although it is in Sabahan accent. His first wife was Sabahan if I'm not mistaken..and I don't recall who his second wife is..it must be Pakistani though. On the way, we stopped by Rochester at Isyak time to pick up two students, Junaid and Hader, for the ijtima'. We thought that we would cook some Malaysian cooking later on, so we took some spices from our house. Too bad we never got to use it. -_-")

(12.23.11-12.25.11) Boston Ijtima' at Worcester Islamic Center,
248 E Mountain St Worcester, MA 01606

At the ijtima', we met Jahir Rafiq and Ishaq Ma Ming, exchange students from UK & China respectively. They were sleeping next to us in the masjid. I had a lot of fun chats with them over the ijtima', and I got to show off some of my Chinese too..hoho. Actually, that was all I got. ^^" I first saw Ishaq on the very next morning of our arrival. He was serving breakfast with the other khidmat brothers. Among those hundreds of typical faces, his really caught my eye. Seriously, that was the first time I spoke to a Chinese Muslim. Even back home, I never met a Chinese Muslim..and besides, Ishaq is from the mainland. He lives in Beijing. His grandfather travels to Malaysia every now and then for business. As for Jahir, he is originally from Bangladesh. Both of them are staying in the US for six months. Also, we met Abg Halim, a Malay post-doc student studying at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He's in early 30's (I think) and is newly married. He is by himself for now, but his family is coming over soon. I didn't get to dig much about him..but I bet my other two friends must know more about this guy. We did exchange contacts though. Then, we met Abdul Rafeeq, a Malay-speaking Burmese. About this brother..we happened to meet him at mealtime. He was speaking fluent Malay and I was much impressed with that. He was expressing his delight for meeting us there. He lived in Malaysia for about ten years before coming here..and is currently staying with some relatives in Utica, NY. He's planning to live permanently in the US, and has already applied for his green card. Br. Amin Shah was there too, a Penang-born who can't really speak Malay no more. I first met him at Masjid Noor (Boston Markaz) last year when we were spending time from the same ijtma'. I don't know..somehow..I'm quite upset about his forgetting Malay. I strongly think he should get his mother-tongue back, don't you think? We listened to series of great bayans by great ulama' over the three days, which opened our minds towards understanding this effort. Guess what..we saw a Nik Aziz look-a-like at the ijtima'..haha. I even shook hands with him. Upon leaving from ijtima', we recruited new members in the jama'ah: Hafiz Anas, Asyraf, Uzair, Abdullah (Somali), Br. Kamal, Br. Munawar. Well, we lost two members but got seven back. Br. Munawar was with us only for three days, until we got to his home in Utica, NY. He is..subhanallah..a very elderly elder in this dakwah effort. He's 85 years old now and yet is still steadfast in dakwah. May Allah bless him and accept his years of sacrifice for this Deen.

Islamic Center of New England, 470 South Street, Quincy, MA 02169-8722

Here, we prepared a three-day student jama'ah made up of Iraqi and Afghani youths. These students made intention to spend three days in khuruj. We left them to the local brothers, since our jama'ah was already too big to accommodate them. We already had like 13 people at this point. This community here is blessed with a very good imam, who is very sincere and truthful in his speech. Allah swt allowed us to benefit from his knowledge and wisdom during our stay. Later, we visited a Thai community for Jaulah. It was great..I got to meet some brothers from our neighbor, Thailand. Though I don't know how many Thai families were there exactly, I think they have a pretty much established community to hold on to.

The Muslim Comm. Assoc. of Mohawk Valley,
1631 Kemble Street, Utica, NY 13501

This was where we listened to a multilingual khutbah for the first time. The khutbah was given in Bosnian, English, and Burmese by three different persons. And then there was a fourth person for leading the solat. Near downtown, we discovered the Bosnian Islamic Association of Utica. This is a huge, gigantic masjid belonging to the Bosnian community in Utica. But unfortunately, it's function as a masjid has been overshadowed by cultural practices rather than religious practices. I was thinking, if this building was made into a center of dakwah, thousands would benefit from it. May Allah turn it into a markaz one day..ameen. Br. Kamran, Br. Anjum, and myself once went to pray Fajr at the masjid, and we met the imam, while the rest of our jama'ah had gone there earlier for Jumu'ah prayer. The imam was a little different from the entire community; he had some concern for dakwah effort. But he by himself is too much outnumbered by the entire community. We took the address..insyaAllah, more jama'ahs will be sent here from time to time to work on this masjid. We visited a Burmese Musolla some walking distance away. Amir sab, Br. Anjum, and myself went here for jaulah one day. This musolla was opened about two years ago. It was basically a two-floor apartment, where the first floor is allocated for the musolla. This was where I met again with Br. Rafeeq. I can't really explain it..but it feels really good to know a foreign person who speaks your language. There is this inexplicable closeness between you and him. Ok..forget it if you don't get it. -_-") Now..we had a hafiz of Quran in our jama'ah. Guess who? It's Anas. Anas and Asyraf..these two are close buddies. Anas finished his madrasah not long ago, and now he goes to the same regular high school as Asyraf does. Anas was telling us about his anxiety that he may be forgetting his memorization for not being in the right environment now. Hmm..somehow I think he should continue on with his 'alim course. Amir sab was always trying to separate these two from each other..because when there were together, they would go..untraceable. Whenever we were collecting people for an 'amal, they would always disappear into thin air. Hmm..after all, they are still youngsters. Wait, I was talking about Anas. Ok..he once led the Isyak solat there, and subhnallah..I think he got good qiraat and a beautiful voice. In fact, when we went back to ICR upon finishing the khuruj, Br. Rauf Bawani interviewed him to see if he can lead Tarawih at ICR for Ramadhan this year. Just one thing..this kid speaks really fast..like a rocket. Only pure American ears could fairly keep up with him..huhu. I think many huffaz tend to speak fast?

Bosnian Islamic Assoc. of Utica, 306 Court Street, Utica, NY 13502-4203

Syracuse Masjid, 925 Comstock Avenue Syracuse, NY 13210

This masjid is..I would say..our playground..haha. We've been coming here (Mael, Wae, and me) like so many many times. So, I won't elaborate much on it. We stopped by another Burmese Musolla before we actually went to this masjid for our stay. Amir sab decided half of us to do jaulah at the Burmese musolla, while the rest would do it at the masjid. Our jama'ah then rejoined after Isyak. This other Burmese musolla was located in the attic of an apartment. I could tell they really put a lot of effort into establishing this musolla, despite being poor. And from this musolla they are establishing all the five 'amal of Masjidil Nabawi. Well, these Burmese people may be poor in material wealth, but they are very rich in love and ikram. Me may not understand what they have gone through, living as refugees in a land foreign to them. May Allah elevate them in their status..ameen.

Now, it's time we parted. On Sunday morning (01.01.12), all the kids (Asyraf, Anas, Abdullah, Uzair) and the three of us Malays left for Rochester, while the other five brothers continued on with their khuruj. The night before, we had a long mesyuarah on whether they should let these kids (including us three) drive home by ourselves, for the fear that something "funny" might happen on the way when kids are by themselves without adult supervision (am I not an adult?). As decided, Asyraf was driving Br. Anjum's truck, Wae was made amir for the journey aka co-driver. Me? I was sitting comfortably in the back, enjoying the view along the way. It was an all-youngsters trip home. We reached Islamic Center of Rochester (ICR) at noon, where we dropped off the kids, and then went home, where we dropped off the truck. Uzair's dad came shortly before we left from the masjid to take those kids to Buffalo.

Islamic Center of Rochester (ICR), 727 West Fall Road,

Rochester, NY 14620

In our jama'ah, Br. Anjum was the comedian..aka my "buddy muddy". Don't ask me where the term came from. He was always making fun of our small beards though (unlike us Malaysians, Pakistanis have big full beards). One time after Wae finished his Fajr bayan, he said "Ridzuan, when you were doing bayan, I was counting the hair in your beard..you have 125 hairs altogether." And we were like..*pffft* I was looking at my beard in the mirror..he was passing by. Seeing me he said "What are you looking at man? There's hardly anything there." Again, I was like *pffft* It's OK, I did get my revenge on him sometimes..hoho. Honestly speaking..I think he could use some "speech filter" as his remarks could be irritating sometimes. But anyway, everybody liked him the way he is. In fact, it would've been boring without him around. In this jama'ah we always "forgive and forget"..that's what amir sab always reminded us about. The most important thing to keep in a jama'ah is unity. You can spend time with all ulama' you want, but if you can't keep the unity in the jama'ah, you won't benefit anything from it. Everybody has their own faults and shortcomings..and some are apparent than the others. A successful jama'ah is always the one that goes and comes back united. Think..if we can't keep the unity between 10-12 people, how are we going to bring unity in the entire ummah? Wallahua'lam. THE END. =)

p/s: I'd love to include more pictures, but I didn't really get to take any. Well, this was no regular outing where you get to take pictures all the time. I did have most of the bayans recorded though..and insyaAllah I'll post them up in the next entry for us all to benefit from. Jazakallah khair.

khuruj lagi dan lagi

"Katakanlah (wahai Muhammad): "Jika bapa-bapa kamu, dan anak-anak kamu, dan saudara-saudara kamu, dan isteri-isteri (atau suami-suami) kamu, dan kaum keluarga kamu, dan harta benda yang kamu usahakan, dan perniagaan yang kamu bimbang akan merosot, dan rumah-rumah tempat tinggal yang kamu sukai, - (jika semuanya itu) menjadi perkara-perkara yang kamu cintai lebih daripada Allah dan RasulNya dan (daripada) berjihad untuk ugamaNya, maka tunggulah sehingga Allah mendatangkan keputusanNya (azab seksaNya); kerana Allah tidak akan memberi petunjuk kepada orang-orang yang fasik (derhaka)." (At-Taubah:24)

Keluar di jalan Allah..belajar korbankan diri, harta, dan masa untuk agama Allah tercinta. Merasa cebisan2 khazanah yang ditinggalkan Rasulullah dan para sahabat ajma'in. Menghidupkan kembali sunnah2 yang telah lama ditinggali. Jalan ini mengajar kita penat untuk agama, berpeluh dan sakit untuk agama, resah gelisah untuk agama, juga menangis untuk agama. Bukankah sesuatu yang diperoleh dengan susah payah itu selalunya lebih dihargai? Dan tentunya tiada yang lebih berharga berbanding nikmat Iman dan Islam. Agar dengan susah payah yang sedikit ini, dapat kami rasai nikmatnya sujud di hadapan-Mu..yang sekian hari semakin menjauh. Supaya dapat kami rasa pedih di hati ini bila agama-Mu tidak lagi dipeduli. Kami keluar dengan niat belajar. Kami lemah, kami takut, kami jahil..tapi tetap perlu kami teruskan perjuangan ini, selagi adanya izin dari-Mu. Kerana inilah harta yang ditinggalkan Rasul tercinta untuk kami memperbetul dan memperbaiki iman kami. Kurniakanlah kami kekuatan, keberanian, dan ilmu dari khazanah-Mu yang maha luas..agar cukup bekalan kami untuk terus berada di jalan ini.

p/s: Akan keluar 2 minggu mulai esok insyaAllah..seminggu sebelum dan selepas ijtima'

Boston. Minta doa dari semua ye..=)

halaqah mesyuarah @ ICR

Here is a little karkuzari (account) of our recent khuruj to Syracuse. I know there is nothing much to be told actually from just a weekend's outing. But since this is my last year here in the US, I thought it would be great to capture as much memories as I can for me to look back on in the future. We had a good number of brothers this time, mostly high school students. Alhamdulillah..the management and the community there are growing more and more supportive of this effort. In fact, the Imam himself was exclusively addressing the importance of da'wah in his lectures throughout our stay, as a sign of support to our coming I believe. In one of his lectures he mentioned that by striving in da'wah, Allah swt will give us the correct understanding of our 'ilm (knowledge) and that He will correct our 'amal. By calling people towards good and forbid them from evil, we are actually encouraging ourselves to practice on our knowledge of Deen. In da'wah, we benefit ourselves before we benefit others..and even if we don't benefit others, we'll still get the benefits for ourselves.

During jaulah (visitation) on Saturday, we went out in two groups to see the local brothers around the area. Br. Tabreez, Ahmed, and I went to a Bosnian community about five minutes drive from the masjid. The other group, led by 'amir sab (Br. Intikhab) visited a Somalian community also not far from there. Br. Tabreez is a Bangladeshi brother who just moved to Syracuse from Los Angeles due to a change in workplace. He can speak a little Malay and knows a lot of places in Malaysia. He used to live in Brunei for a long time, and once went for 40 days in Malaysia. He said that his daughter used to be very good in Malay, so much so that she was getting better grades in Bahasa Melayu than the Malay kids in her class. And the people could not even tell her apart from the other Malay kids because of her flawless Malay. Wow..that is really something, isn't it? But unfortunately, she has forgotten everything about Malay now. Too bad..I was just thinking if I could..oops, never mind. ^^ But seriously, what a waste, kan?

Okay..as we were talking about how we were going to find any Muslims in the area, a passer-by greeted, "Assalamu'alaikum." We looked at each other in surprise. Subhanallah, problem solved! So we talked to the brother for a few minutes, and then went over to a group of Bosnian kids who were playing soccer there. They stopped playing and listened to us attentively. They are good kids. May Allah give hidayah to them, their parents, and the entire community there..ameen. I remember coming here for the first time about one and a half years ago, that's when I saw a Muslim brother drinking alcohol right before my eyes, despite realizing that it's haram. I can still remember his words; "Sorry brother, it's not the right time..I'm drinking alcohol here." It really affected me back then to see such a condition with my own eyes. That was only one case that I got to see, there are definitely more other Muslims out there who are on the verge of losing their iman, and we are not even aware of it. Towards the end of our stay, 'Amir sab briefed some local youngsters on how to start ta'alim in the masjid, and told them how important it is to go meet the other Muslim brothers and invite them to the masjid.

Syish, a Bangladeshi student who also goes to RIT went with us this time. Now, there's something interesting about this guy. He used to live in Malaysia for more than 10 years, and went to school there. I believe his dad was teaching at some college at that time. It's kinda hard to believe that, throughout the 10 years, he did not learn any Malay at all, except for "Apa khabar," "Nasi Lemak," "Tom Yam," and a couple more words associated with food. It's because he actually went to an international school in which no Malay was spoken. Subhanallah..if he would've gone to a public school back then, I would be talking Malay with him right now. I told him how much I was disappointed with him. The next time you come to Malaysia, *perhaps for my wedding* I'm gonna make you learn Malay in 10 days. He was telling me his experience of travelling around Malaysia as a kid; now I was listening to his stories as though I was a foreign tourist who wanted to find out more about Malaysia. He actually knows more than I do, about my own country?! *oh, I so wanna go travel around Malaysia right now*

Alhamdulillah..we had a lot of fun, as we always do. The kids made intention to spend 10 days in this coming winter break. It is likely that we are going to Chicago again this time, considering that we received a special invitation from Br. Kamran. Mael and Wae have been to Chicago twice already..hoho..they must be looking forward to going somewhere else this time around. *Sorry guys, you'll have to go with what 'amir sab decides* The last thing..there is going to be a halaqah mesyuarah on this December 4th at Islamic Center of Rochester (ICR), from Zuhr till Isya', in which brothers from the different cities within Buffalo halaqah get together to present the karkuzaris of da'wah from their respective areas. This is the very first time that ICR is hosting the event; all this while it's always been done at Buffalo markaz (center) masjid. Hopefully everything will go in a smooth flow. And..Br. Irfan is back from India. We'll see him tonight insyaAllah. ^^

p/s: We RITans are on a one-week break now. Happy holidays people!

souvenir from Syracuse

An independent little lady who is not afraid of anyone. She's quite an entertainer..and sweetly talkative. Too bad I didn't get her name.

The way she mixes up her Urdu and English is just so cute. I still can't get over this little girl. I have a hunch that she's gonna become some great muslima in the future..insyaAllah. =) By the way..we didn't find her, she found us.

khabar dari Syracuse

Baru balik dari khuruj ke Syracuse. Risau jugak sebab dah lama sangat menyejuk kat Malaysia kan. Tapi alhamdulillah Allah masih sudi gunakan hamba-Nya yang lemah ini untuk agama-Nya yang mulia. Sedikit karkuzari daripada Syracuse. Imam Yassir dari Mesir dan pihak pengurusan rata2 mengalu2kan kedatangan jemaah. Ada seorang karkun lama yang baru pindah dari LA. Selain tu, kami jumpa Br. Hisyam, bekas pelajar RIT sekarang tinggal di Syracuse. Dia ada niat untuk keluar kalau ada peluang. InsyaAllah ini petanda baik bahawa usaha dakwah di masjid Syracuse akan berkembang. Mana tau kan..mungkin tak lama lagi ICR akan terima jemaah dari sana.

Masjid Syracuse, NY

Dua pelajar Somalia tempatan bawa Br. Nasir, saya, dan Ahmed jaulah ke kawasan perumahan Somalia tak jauh dari masjid. Alhamdulillah..kami dapat jumpa budak2 muda dalam lingkungan umur 17-20 tahun. Kalau dilihat keadaan mereka, sepatutnya kita rasa sedih. Mereka telah hilang identiti sebagai muslim..sudah terikut2 dengan gaya hidup barat yang merosakkan. Subhanallah..mereka ada nama2 yang bagus seperti "Ahmad." "Husin." "Ali.." tapi mereka hampir tidak boleh lagi mengucapkan kalimah. Br. Nasir ajar diorang mengucap kalimah semula..dan lepas tu kami mengucap bersama-sama beberapa kali. Kalau anda berada di situ, mungkin hati2 anda akan cukup tersentuh untuk menangis. Bila ditanya pula "Siapa nabi kita?" dengan tidak yakin mereka menjawab "Muhammad ke?" Jauh di sudut hati mereka masih ada sinar Iman..walaupun malap. Ini hanyalah salah satu contoh betapa saudara2 seIslam kita memerlukan kita. Siapa tahu berapa ramai lagi di luar sana, di ceruk2 dunia yang api keimanan mereka sudah semakin malap, hanya menunggu padam. Siapa lagi yang mereka boleh harapkan untuk datang membantu selain dari saudara2 seIslam mereka? Saya tidak mahu bercerita panjang..tepuk dada tanyalah iman. "Tidak sempurna iman seorang muslim sehingga dia suka untuk diri saudaranya apa yang disukai untuk dirinya." Wallahua'lam.

caught red-handed

Well..I mentioned before that we were going to Lackawanna, but we actually ended up going to Syracuse. There was a sudden change of plan, since some brother in Syracuse was already expecting our coming. He even took a day off work to spend time with us, so we thought it would be inappropriate to turn him down. Khair insyaAllah (as Br. Kamran always says). We left after 'Asr on the 2-hour journey. On our way, we stopped by an R&R and prayed Maghrib at the parking lot there. This is a usual thing in jama'ah since we don't have masjid or surau every 500 meters here like we have back home. We even pray in the snow if we have to. Below are some of the moments captured with my new iPhone phone.

the current look of Syracuse Masjid

The next morning, the other rooms were all occupied for the day's event, so our ta'alim had to be done in a conference room, in the round-table style. We thought our ta'alim was upgraded since we were sitting on the chairs now instead of the floor. But then 'amir sab told us that it has actually been downgraded since it is not similar to the way prophet Muhammad saw did it. But never mind, khair insyaAllah..=)

Sunday school's graduation & prize giving ceremony

This was the event, held to celebrate the kids graduating from the Sunday school here. 'Amir sab decided to stop our ta'alim midway through and join the gathering, upon request from the local brothers. At the end of the event, the kids were all delighted to get their prizes from the teachers. The prizes given were different achievement-wise; the better students got the bigger prizes. One of them was lucky enough to get a remote control car as the grand prize winner (jeles2). Later after the event, we had food with the kids. When I was talking with the kids, I was quite surprised by how bright and sharp-minded they were. If I hadn't been careful enough I would have been made fun of by them..huhu. I've always loved being with kids. This reminds me of my 6-year-old little brother back home. I'm always amused by how he hates talking to me on the phone, just because he cannot see me. I never get to talk much to him before he passes the phone to my mom. How dare he hang up on me, I'll teach him a lesson when I get home.

For jaulah, a local brother took us to several corner stores, where we met some Yamanese and Somali brothers. We also stopped by a Bosnian neighborhood on the way back to the masjid. Some of the kids from above ended up spending the night with our jama'ah. Imam was a little worried about this but then we assured him that everything was gonna be fine..and it really did turn out fine.

kids enjoying late-night supper, aka early breakfast

They had been really helpful in finishing all the food. This is the lower floor of the masjid, which functions as an "indoor court" for the kids. They wouldn't be sitting still down here.

cai (teh), a must-have when Pakistani brothers are around

a muslim cemetery across the street from the masjid

An awkward incident happened to me. I was on khidmah (serving) with 'amir sab. Unfortunately the sink in the kitchen was clogged and had been out of use. So we had to do all the washing in the washroom. One time, the men's washroom was pretty much occupied, so 'amir sab asked me to use the ladies' washroom instead. Since it was late in the afternoon and I was pretty certain no ladies would be coming, I went on with the idea. But then, when I was in the middle of washing at the sink, the door was opened and a girl came in. I was like..hm..and I hurried out right away leaving the pinggan mangkuk behind. I never even looked at her. Later when 'amir sab asked me; "Are you done with the dishes?" I replied; "There is a girl in the washroom." Looking at me, he said half-laughing; "Well, you got caught red-handed huh?" I said; "Yeah..(thanks for the idea)" Luckily he didn't say "khair insyaAllah" this time.

Leaving the masjid, we paid a quick visit to a muslim cemetery just across the street. We made du'a for the muslim brothers and sisters who had left ahead of us. May their temporary dwellings be gardens from the gardens of paradise insyaAllah. Sooner or later, we too, will be joining you brothers. We all had fun..the kids even wished that we could have stayed longer.

Related post:
Youngsters at Syracuse

it's Lackawanna again

Assalamu'alaikum!

This will be just a very short post insyaAllah since I'm leaving for Lackawanna in an hour for this month's khuruj. There is one jama'ah going out next week as well to accommodate the brothers who can't go this week. Alhamdulillah..I'm done for the quarter. Quite a long break I have ahead and as always, I know I'm gonna have a hard time figuring out what to do. The atmosphere here is getting exciting (for certain people) since many have left or are leaving for our beloved home country, Malaysia. And to my friends, Mael and Wae, whose flight is due this Sunday, may you guys have a sound journey home. Hm..it seems like I'll be coming back to their absence..I don't even get to send them fly..huhu. Nevermind, my turn will be up soon..=) By the way, I was talking about how I was gonna fill my holidays..well, I think finishing this novel would be a good start to that;

one dollar bill as a bookmark, how cool is that?

This is a novel by Dr. Laurence B. Brown, a famous Muslim revert who used to be in the US military. He's got an amazing story of discovering Islam, which I find very inspiring and moving. I like reading novels, especially those with investigative genre..I just love the thrill. During my preparation years in INTEC UiTM, I would spend some time in the library browsing novels by Agatha Cristie, a legend in the writing of investigative stories. By far I've read almost a dozen of her collections, and are looking forward to enjoying more of them. This "The Eighth Scroll" is my very first novel that I bought here in the US. I'm just a couple of pages through actually, but it's caught enough of my attention to read it all the way through. It is a piece of writing dedicated to Him swt, so it says in the book. Well you see..sometimes hearing those stories about how people finally found their ways to Islam does help you in your iman. It also makes you realize how a great thing it is to have been born as a Muslim..so, lets do our best to appreciate this treasure we have. I guess that's it for now. Insyaallah I'll write about the karkuzari from my coming khuruj. Till then..Assalam..

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. =)

Trinidad and Tobago

Bestnya hujung minggu ni keluar ke Lackawanna..tempat masjid orang Yaman tu. Ni kali kedua aku akan keluar kat sana..first time khuruj ke sana dalam bulan 10 thn lepas. Memandangkan sekarang ni pun tgh cuti sekolah bagi kebanyakan high school, dengar ceritanya memang ramai budak-budak yang akan join jemaah ni. Bagus2..the more the merrier kan. Dengar cerita lagi Syeikh Yahya, 'alim dari Somalia yang pernah muncul dalam entry sebelum ni pun akan luangkan masa untuk mudzakarah dgn student2 ni suma..hm..masa yg bagus utk menimba 'ilmu! Aku mmg sgt excited kalau ada 'alim yg keluar sekali dalam jemaah..always learn a lot from them. Ulama' ul haq pewaris para Nabi..siapa itu ulama' ul haq? Mereka itu lah ulama' yg amalkan sunnah dan perjuangkan apa yang Rasulullah perjuangkan. Tapi sekarang ulama' semakin menghilang (berkurang)..golongan lain pulak yg semakin bertambah..salah satu petanda kiamat dah dekat tu..hingga satu tahap kejahilan akan berleluasa; Dua orang akan berbalah & berhujah tentang perkara agama sedangkan dua2 pun takde 'ilmu tentang perkara tu. Menakutkan? So do make your children an 'alim ok..bagi yg dah ada lah..=)

Apa lagi update ye..ha..Satu jemaah 40 hari akan keluar ke Trinidad and Tobago pada 1 hb Mei ni insyaAllah. Kalau nak tau kat mana tempat tu boleh lah tanya Mr. Google Map sbb aku pn xberapa nak tau..tapi somewhere dekat2 dgn Caribbean Sea la. Alhamdulillah kami di Rochester ni ada wakil yang akan turut serta iaitu Br. Intikhab. Jadi kami di sini minta doa dari semua agar segalanya berjalan lancar bagi jemaah ni. Semoga dengan pengorbanan mereka hidayah tersebar di penjuru-penjuru dunia. InsyaAllah semoga Allah pilih aku dan kawan2 utk keluar jauh2 seluruh dunia.."Belajar agama, faham agama, sebar agama.." [Pak Su, 2009]

Sekarang ni kebanyakan dekat sini semua tgh bertungkus lumus prepare utk Malaysian Night hujung minggu ni, sebuah yearly event utk promote Malaysian cultures. Memang terasa agak kekok sebab tak dapat nak membantu..bukan kami di sini taknak membantu tapi kami ada prinsip yg dipegang..dan selagi terdaya akan kami pertahankan. Mungkin orang akan kata kitorang ni kolot or anything but it's fine..kami hanya buat yg termampu utk diri kami. Aku sendiri takkan mampu utk bertahan sendiri..byk kekurangan & kelemahan, but thanks to my sahabat2 who are always here for me to take example from..I do learn a lot from them. Anyway I wish them all the best in the event and may something good turn out from it..=) Wallahua'lam...

p/s: Actually next week Monday ada exam..tapi nak keluar jugak! Kena start belajar awal skit lah nampaknya..hm..taknak lose khuruj lagi mcm haritu because of my poor planning.

youngsters @ Syracuse

Alhamdulillah. We got home in one peace from spending the weekend at Syracuse Masjid. This was one of the longest weekends I've ever had. Never before I felt the time is running really slow like what I felt when I was there.

Sami' na wa ata' na

So last Friday, those who were going sat in mesyuwarah after Maghrib. Br. Kamran was taking over as a temporary 'amir since our current 'amir, Br. Intikhab was out in masthurat jama'ah for the weekend. It turned out that Br. Tanwir was the only elder brother who was going with the jama'ah, while the rest were all youngsters. As for Br. Kamran, he already did his three days last week. Now the thing I feared the most happened; I was made the 'amir for the going jama'ah. When Br. Kamran was making up his mind, I was praying in my heart so he wouldn't choose me (I believe the others were doing the same too), but Allah wanted the otherwise. The moment he tapped my lap, I felt like a giant rock had just crash-landed on my head. Seconds later, loads of worry and anxiety came surging into my veins, accompanying my newly acquired responsibility. No one among us wants to be made 'amir really, but once decided in mesyuwarah you'll have to do your best to live up to the trust. For any responsibility you take, you'll be held accountable for it on the day of judgement. But nowadays the situation is reversed, people are competing to gain responsibilities. If only they knew...

The Burmese

Four Burmese, three Malaysians, one Indian, and one Pakistani American made up our jama'ah at this point. Among the Burmese, only Akbar and Zakaria speak English while the other two, Hassan and Saleem don't. Unlike Akbar and Zakaria who have been here for four years, the later two just arrived from Burma a few weeks ago. The military dictatorship in Burma is forcing more and more people to migrate out as refugees. As a result, these people have no choice but to live apart from their beloved homeland.

Our jama'ah left with a poor preparation and somewhat in a hurry. As told by Br. Kamran, we needed to get there by Isya' prayer or else the masjid would be closed for the night. We left in two cars. The Malaysians, Akbar, and Hassan filled up one car while Br. Tanwir, Farouq, Zakaria, and Salim were in the other. I sat through the journey feeling all worked up about what's gonna happen over there. The fact that this masjid we're going has somewhat restrictive rules to coming jama'ahs made me even more restless. I was thinking I might end up getting the jama'ah into a mess. But then I reminded myself that sooner or later, if Allah keeps me in this effort, I will have to shoulder this responsibility of being an 'amir anyway. So I tried my best to be pleased with what He had decided for me, reassuring myself that there must be a blessing behind this. There was this kitchen issue during the stay of some other jama'ah that has made the kitchen not accessible to any jama'ahs now. Jama'ahs can stay but they cannot use the kitchen. Since cooking was out of the question, we had to bring our own home-cooked food, hoping that it would suffice for the entire khuruj. Br. Kamran suggested us to bring a microwave so we could heat up the food, but we forgot to put it in the car before leaving. -_-")

Imam & Son

We made it in time. There was a class going on by the Imam upon our arrival. After the lecture, I talked to the Imam (in the best way possible), consulting him on the dos and don's of the masjid along with introducing our jama'ah. The Imam's name was Yassir, and he's from Egypt. He was very receptive and welcoming. And guess what, he even left the kitchen opened for our use. More surprising, he let his son, Ammar stay with our jama'ah for the khuruj. Most of the time there were a lot of kids playing around in the masjid especially when events were taking place. They have Saturday and Sunday schools (comparable to "sekolah agama" back home) every week in this masjid. So if the schools are on, we are advised to do our 'amal in a separate room so we don't interfere with the school activities and stuff. But last weekend the classes were canceled and we got to do our programs without a hitch. Yet another favor from Him, I came to know that the president who set the no-kitchen rule was not around..I was pretty much relieved I didn't have to face him. Alhamdulillah, from this point on everything was made easy for us.

More Burmese

We started out with nine people in our jama'ah from Rochester but then ended up with fifteen. Ammar made the tenth, and four more local Burmese joined us the next morning. This was quite a big number to handle, especially when not all of 'em speak English.

Newborn Sumaiyyah

During jaulah time after 'Asr, Hafiz Ali invited us over to his place for some food, in celebrating the birth of his new baby girl. He named her Sumaiyyah, after the name of the first sahabiah who was martyred in Islam. After he did azan and iqamah on the baby, he requested me to do tahniq on her. Now Mael held Sumaiyyah in his arms while I put honey in her mouth. She looked so little and delicate. Had I been the one who held her I would've squeezed her flat..hehe. From Mael's face, I could read what's on his mind at that time: "I wish this were my daughter." ;D

I left Syracuse feeling bad that I could not spend more time with the local Burmese and that I did not fulfill the rights of this effort. This was pretty much an all-play jama'ah I brought. However we didn't come back empty handed. We did learn something throughout the khuruj and had new relationships established as well. May Allah accept our khuruj and choose us again to come out in His path next time..ameen.

P/S: When you wanna go out on khuruj, syaitan will make it seem very hard to your mind. He will try his best to put all kinds of feelings in your heart so you would feel reluctant to leave your home. But once you've made it out, things will become a lot easier than they were. Over time I've realized that no matter how reluctant I was to go out on khuruj, I always came back with a smile of satisfaction and contentment. =)

mementos from His path

I've met a lot of great people up to this point in my life, and all these great people have a share in making me who I am now. As much as I can, I'm trying not to forget about them..and one way to realize this is to write special accounts on them here in this blog. These are some that I could think of for now;

Br. Pilot
Have you met a pilot in person? Unless one of your relatives is a pilot, meeting one in person sure is a big deal, isn't it? Not only did I meet one, I even spent some precious time with this guy. (and this is a Malay pilot I'm talking about!) OK. This happened when I was spending time with a jama'ah whose 'amir was a Singaporean. Mael, Wae, Ramli and a couple more students from INTEC were in this jama'ah too. I joined them a bit late though, thanks to my poor planning. This pilot guy..well, he was tall and sturdy, bright-skinned, and good-looking too. It was his home village we were spending time at if I'm not mistaken. When it comes to sharing experiences, he was not stingy at all. He said in all his years of being a pilot, he has faced all kinds of evil temptations (wah..evil tu..) And trying to stand up against them, many of his friends have fallen face-down. He was very grateful that Allah swt was keeping him in the right path. One thing about him that impressed me was that every time he listened or read about stories of the sahabah, he would weep a lot. His heart was really affected by how these great people were willing to sacrifice everything in the cause of Allah and His Rasul, especially the parts when they had to deal with so much opposition from the musyrikin. Indeed, these are the stories we should be reading to our wives and children (bagi yang dah ade lah). We only had a few days together before we had to split up upon going to the next masjid. (p/s: To whom it may concern, you guys may add to the story or even correct it..this was a long time back that I've forgotten much about it).

Ubai, Fauzan and Ehsan: The Huffaz Trio
This took place in Negeri Sembilan. These three young men are among those many fortunate youth who have been honored as the people of Quran. They were 16, 17 and 18 years old respectively. Being huffaz, they have the entire Quran sealed inside their chests. Having them in the jama'ah was a blessing really. Thanks to them, I had much of my tajweed checked and corrected. But those three can be quite a handful on occasion. Well, being 'grounded' in the madrasah with all these tight routines, going out on khuruj was sure an opportunity to kick back and relax. To them khuruj was a means to freedom. On the other hand, khuruj to me is my madrasah, mobilized madrasah. =) Anyway..that wasn't a big deal though..after all, they were still kids. But no matter how much relaxed they might seem, they never left their Qurans aside. They always kept these small Qurans with them and would refresh their memorization whenever possible. Throughout the 40 days, I must admit that the traces of their routine did get into me somehow. Apart from the prescribed 'amal that we were supposed to observe, we did a lot of fun-but-legal stuff together as well: from taking a dip in the river to being out in the bushes looking for durians...but the best part of all was we being like brothers to each other. They all had intention of going on to their 'alim courses soon. Ubai was mentioning Pakistan, Fauzan and Ehsan were weighing up Indonesia and the UK. I send my best du'as for them. Hope they won't forget about me when they all have become great 'aalim in the future. Looking forward to seeing them all as full-fledged 'aalim. At least I can brag a thing or two about having spent some time with them..haha takdelah..

p/s: May Allah swt reunite us back in the best of ways..ameen

permata akhir zaman

Everyone else was fast asleep. I was about to join them when my cellphone rang. It's from Malaysia. "This must be mom." I chose a corner by the stairs to pick up the call.

***************

(Tut..tut..)

"Assalamualaikum."

"Waalaikumsalam"

"Mak ni. Sihat ke?"

"Ha..sihat je."

"Ni kat mane ni?"

"Skang orang kat satu masjid ni kat Utica NY."

"O..tgh keluar lagi ke?"

"A'ah..tp dah nak habis dah pun, esok balik Rochester dah."

"Kamu keluar tu tempatnye jauh ke?"

"Takde la jauh sgt, dlm 6-7 jam nek kete."

"Ish..jauh la tu. Pegi dgn sape?"

"O..camtu jauh ek. Ade dgn sorg pakcik ni, die yg drive. Die dah bese dah drive jauh. Yang lain budak-budak."

"Orang Pakistan ke?"

"Ha'ah. Nape?"

"Eh, kamu hati-hati sikit ye. Baru-baru ni mak dgr kat TV tu ade berita pasal kumpulan ajaran sesat."

"Ajaran sesat? Dari mane tu?"

"Dari Iran kot."

"Oh..jgn risaulah, tu Iran..ni Pakistan."

"Yela..dekat-dekat la tu."

"Ok..don't worry..orang pandai jaga diri insyaallah."

.................................................

"K..Mak doakan orang ek."

"Hari-hari mak doakan."

"K, krm salam sume. Assalamualaikum."

"Waalaikumsalam."

(Tut..tut..)

***************

"Ajaran sesat?" My lips curved a smile. No surprise. I get that a lot. I can't blame my mom for being cautious. It's natural for parents to be protective of their kids, especially when it comes to religious matters. Of course I can't deny the fact that these "ajaran sesat" groups are still existing, and active around us. We are at the end of time after all, things couldn't be more twisted could they? But chill out mom, this is the one thing your handsome little boy won't dare to mess with. (peace! haha) I may not be that knowledgeable about Islam, in many respects...but I am educated enough to distinguish the right from the wrong, haq from batil. And I can tell, without the slightest doubt, this effort is haq. Because...Allah swt will not bring His servant close to Him through a corrupt way. Nothing can bring closeness to Allah except those that come from Allah and His Rasul saw. As for myself, I'd never been so clear about my purpose of life as I have since I took up this effort. And I've never been so excited about being a Muslim as I am now!

So what's with the mentality? It is because in this edge, the effort of dakwah has become so unfamiliar that people regard it as "inappropriate" or "impractical." Some people keep a safe distance from it due to the fear of falling into heresy. Well, can't blame them for that. Playing it safe always appears to be the right choice. The irony is, these "ajaran sesat", heresies, and all other widespread diseases are prevailing simply because dakwah is abandoned. Make sense? This effort is indeed a gift from Allah swt to counteract the invasive fitna of this edge. If it wasn't for this effort, I would have drowned in this materialistic world long ago. The temptations are just too great, especially for the youth..and especially here in the US. Hmm..it is so much much easier to go with the flow than to go against it, isn't it? But, the majority is not always right. Plus, striving against your nafs is a big thing in the eyes of Allah swt. So lets put it this way; dakwah is a "shield" against those temptations. And how well you handle this shield determines how well shielded you are. If you ask me what this effort has to offer, I'd say "security and contentment."

p/s: Get protected. Go dakwah! =)

speaking of beauty

Back in Worcester, when I was on jaulah with Br. Intikhab & Bai Yazid, we met the imam of Masjid Alhamdulillah. I don't recall his name though (my apology!) When he saw me, he started a kind of one-way conversation. This was more or less how it went;

Imam: "...subhanallah..you're still young. How old are you?"
Me: "21"
Imam: "What's your name?"
Me: "Adam"
Imam: "Adam? So where's Hawa? Have you found Hawa yet? You didn't bring her with you?"
Me: (what?) (speechless)
Imam: "...you're being with the right people...I pray so that your Hawa is more beautiful than the first Hawa."

Oh imam, how is that even possible? Hawa was created by Allah swt as the most beautiful woman on Earth. No women surpass her in beauty, either from those who have existed or from those to come. Even the wife of Prophet Ibrahim as, Sarah, who was known for her remarkable beauty, comes second on the list. Hearing about the stories of Sarah's beauty, I must say that our Hawa's beauty must have been off the charts! I expected no less from the mother of all mankind.

P/S: I think what he meant was my Hawa will be the most beautiful in my eyes. Exactly! (say ameen!) =)

say ameen!

Rochester>Albany>Worcester>Springfield>Utica>Rochester

Reaching Worcester

1) Worcester, Boston MA

Worcester Islamic Center MA

(image courtesy of Google maps)

This is where the 3-day ijtima' was held, with an estimated attendance of 900 people. For an indoor ijtima' this is not bad at all. Our jama'ah consisted of Br. Intikhab ('Amir), Br. Kamran, Br. Rauf, Husain Rauf, Br. Talhah RIT, Ammar, Ismail Gungor, Wae, Mael, Farooq, two other brothers, and me of course. We traveled in two vans and one car for about 7 hours. We left ICR at 10 pm and reached here well before Fajr. May Allah reward you persistent drivers! On the way, we picked up Malaysian Azhari in Troy, Albany. Malaysian Talhah joined us later in the ijtima'. Only Br. Intikhab, Farooq and us 5 Malaysians stayed back for 10 days while the rest left for Rochester as soon as the ijtima' was over.

Snapshots

On the same day of our arrival, we got to see an American guy taking his shahadah from Syeikh Abdul Badi', the appointed 'amir for the entire ijtima'. This Syeikh Abdul Badi' is a charismatic guy. The way he handled things affirmed how experienced and wise he was at his job. We listened to lots and lots of great bayans over the 3 days, and the most prominent of all was the one by Syeikh Hasan from Jordan. He talked about the sacrifice of Prophet Ibrahim a.s. in great detail, to clarify the point that "jannah requires sacrifice." I can't find the right words to describe his bayan: "moving"? The way he embroidered his talk with brilliant jokes was just remarkable. You would think twice to blink, let alone doze off. Afterwards when tashkil was done, everyone just couldn't wait to stand up and give their names. The words of an Arab 'alim really count a lot in this effort. Maulana Abdul Muqeet of Bangladesh was saying, "...if we can get them to just support us, (let alone join us) that really is something."


Upon mesyuwarah, our jama'ah was assigned to Masjid Noor (the current Boston markaz) and then to some masjid in Rhodes Island. At this point we had 7 people in our jama'ah. Too bad Ramli went with another jama'ah, I tought he was coming with us.

2) Masjid Noor, Boston MA

It may be a markaz, but Masjid Noor is just a small apartment renovated into a masjid. But anyway a masjid is still a masjid, no matter how small it is, it is the dearest place to Allah on the surface of the Earth. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard we will be working with Syeikh Abdul Badi's jama'ah as one joined jama'ah. My whispering was made true. So now we had a total 16 people in our joined jama'ah. This was sure a challenge to the khidmah brothers. We did jaulahs to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Masjid Alhamdulillah, and several other places. I met Penang-born Br. Amin Shah who's been here for more than 20 years now. He does 'cupping' (bekam) as a living and has his own company for that. Too bad he can't really speak Malay any more.

Now I want to talk about Syeikh Abdul Badi' who was the 'amir of our joined jama'ah. He is the most inspiring person I've ever met all my life. He is swift on his feet. And all the steps he takes are confident ones. This effort of dakwah is so common to him, so much so that it has become part of his flesh and blood. He reverted to Islam in 1960's and has been striving in dakwah ever since. He's been all around the world and has become the means of hidayah for countless of people in the process.

One time after Fajr, somewhere in his talk Syeikh Abdul Badi' said "...say subhanallah!" and spontaneously we responded "subhanallah!" Then he said; "...For one subhanallah one tree is planted in jannah, whose shade even the fastest horse takes 500 years to cover. And in the path of Allah this is multiplied up to 700 000 times. I get all the rewards of your saying subhanallah plus my own. I did business..Hah!?" I saw Syeikh Yahya nodding in smile. So much reward for just inviting people to ONE subhanallah. How about inviting others to solah, to zakah, to hajj, to sunnah, to COMPLETE DEEN? Just how much blessed is someone, because of whom, those people who were not praying have started praying...because of whom, those people who were running towards jahannam have started running towards Allah's pleasure. How much pleasure would Allah have for him then? This is the tijarah, the BUSINESS without any losses..dakwah illallah, inviting people towards Allah. This is what I, YOU, THEY, WE, need to understand.

Sneakshots

Syeikh Yahya (sleeping), Syeikh Abdul Badi' (leaning), Mael, Br. Bilal

Wae, Talhah, Azhari

Ahmad, Ibrahim (Syeikh Yahya's son), Yazir

Just look at how much snow there was

Masjid Noor's backyard views

Three days ended in a blink of eyes, and now it's time for us to separate. We did our 3 days here and are now moving to Utica NY (instead of Rhodes Island) as decided in mesyuwarah. I really enjoyed being with them. We had so much love in the jama'ah, the love I'm willing to die to protect. They are AWESOME people. Being in their company, I felt so LITTLE yet so INSPIRED. And I was just starting to get along with Br. Fuwad. But we had to leave anyway. Br. Intikhab said this to Br. Abdul Badi'; "Make us your arrows, wherever you send us we'll go. Like the sahabah." Amir Sab has decided us to go, so we go. The same way Rasulullah saw ordered the sahabah to spread all over the world, with pain in hearts they left the company of their beloved prophet. Their hearts wrenched, crumbled...but they understood lailahaillallah muhammadurrasullullah had to be spread, so mankind would know who their Rabb is and who their Rasul is. Upon leaving, we changed contacts and hugs. Deep in heart I made a vow, if we can't meet each other again in this world we'll meet each other again in Jannah. Say ameen!

blizzard's aftermath

going back from jaulah at MIT

3) Springfield, Boston MA

We picked up Ramli at Islamic Center of New England and he became part of our jama'ah from here on. Ramli got pretty cool people in his jama'ah. I remember these two Bangladeshi twins with bright-skinned beautiful faces, even more beautiful than the girls I've seen..?

Islamic Center of New England, Quincy MA

(image courtesy of Google image)

4) Utica NY

This was our last masjid of the khuruj. This masjid is administered by the Bosnian community in this area. I listened to Bosnian khutbah for the first time in my life. Now that Ramli is with us, our jama'ah has become a little more cheerful. Farooq had no problem at all being around 6 Malaysians, despite his being the only American (well, Pakistani American) in the group. He blended in just fine. By Allah's will, we met with Br. Omar, an American revert who took his syahadah in Malaysia in April 10. He was doing some teaching at UIAM when he found Islam. He was so glad that he met us. He was even wearing Baju Melayu! What a destiny. Say Subhanallah! The night before we left for Rochester, a Burmese jama'ah came for their 3 days here. So the morning after Fajr Amir Sab requested an 'alim from their jama'ah to give us wapsi talk. We dropped Talhah and Azhari at the bus station and headed to Rochester. We had lunch at Br. Intikhab's place, as our last ijtima'i 'amal of the khuruj.

Quickshots

I wonder where on earth did they find this

Br. Intikhab and his "nephews"

Mudzakarah on the story of Jinn

Packing up

Future hafizs and 'alims (Br. Intikhab's boys)

P/S: Fuh..what an entry. I keep my word on the more pics but not on the less words. We had so much fun and learning too. Say Alhamdulillah. This is the most colorful jama'ah I've ever been with. We got Somalians, Africans, Malaysians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Burmese...Muslims are not Malaysians or Arabs, Muslims are ONE ummah. Say ameen! =)