halaqah mesyuarah in a nutshell

Alhamdulillah. I think it's safe to say that the halaqah mesyuarah was a success. Considering this was the first time we had such event over here at ICR, it was not bad at all. On starting the mesyuarah, we had up to 50 brothers..and later on that number was decreasing due to some people leaving early. But still, we had a good number throughout. I was on khidmat (serving) so I was not there all the time to participate in the mesyuarah. To be frank, we didn't really "participate" in the discussion since all we actually did was listen to it. Anyway..at least I got to learn how to conduct such a scale of mesyuarah. Ok. Here's the sum-up of the program;

Buffalo Halaqah Mesyuarah
Venue: Islamic Center of Rochester (ICR) NY
Time: after Zuhr - Isya'

Umoor (Matters discussed):

1) Karkuzari of da'wah effort from different masjids (in order)

• Masjid Al-Huda, Lackawanna >> Burmese Musolla (Syracuse, NY) >> Islamic Center of Syracuse, NY >> ICR, Rochester >> Burmese community in Rochester >> RIT *sincerely, not worth addressing* >> Buffalo markaz >> Jamek masjid (Buffalo) 

2) Masthurat (Ladies) effort *not relevant to bachelors -_-")*

• One jama'ah is spending 3 days in January

3) 10 days masthurat jama'ah is going on January 17, 2012

4) Effort on students

• Jords (gatherings) for students to be discussed in city mesyuarahs (respective to the different masjids)

5) 2 months tarteeb Nizamuddin where people come to Nizamuddin to listen to latest tarteeb (instructions) from the ulama' and elders

6) 3 days (monthly) jama'ahs routing (for the next 2 months)

• Syracuse (Burmese) going to Utica and Rochester;
• Lackawanna going to Masjid al-Rahman, Rochester on 4th weekends;
• Rochester (ICR) going to Syracuse and Masjid al-Iman (Buffalo) on 3rd and 4th weekends respectively;
• Buffalo markaz: student jama'ah going to Lackawanna; 3rd week weekdays jama'ah going to Syracuse Burmese; 3rd weekend jama'ah going to Jamestown and Ollien; 4th week weekdays jama'ah going to Forest; 4th weekend jama'ah going to Hyme Road

7) The next halaqah mesyuarah will be held at Lackawanna masjid on Saturday, Feb 4, 2012, after Zuhr.

8) Effort on "dry" areas (places where there are muslims living but no access to the masjid)

9) Effort among different language brothers

Boston Ijtima' will be held on 23, 24, and 25 Disember 2011, from which the routing for our 10 days jama'ah will be decided. *Hoyeah! Really2 can't wait lah!*

a sunnah to carry on

Buffalo Halaqah Mesyuarah is due tomorrow, from after Zuhr until Isha'. Ok..Let me refresh your memory on this. Halaqah mesyuarah is a program in which brothers from different masjids within the halaqah get together to discuss the accounts of da'wah effort in their respective localities. Buffalo halaqah includes ICR, Niagara Falls, James Town, Lackawanna, Syracuse, and some others I can't recall. Conducting a mesyuarah is the order of Allah, and the sunnah of the Prophet saw and the sahabah ajma'in. Allah swt and His Prophet saw do not need any consultation, but there is khair (betterment) in it for this ummah. Mesyuarah unites the hearts of muslims, provided all the etiquettes are observed carefully. When a decision is met through mesyuarah, Allah's help will be with it insyaAllah. Also, when we listen to the various (karkuzaris) accounts, we will be more encouraged to bring up the level of our local efforts. Alhamdulillah, so far, the preparations are coming along just fine. Hopefully everything will go without a hitch. A few houses were assigned to do the cooking, and other tasks as well. There's nothing much we can contribute from our side, perhaps we'll just help serve the lunch tomorrow. About 50 people are expected to come this time. Since this effort is still new to ICR, we need to be a little more conscious of the rules and regulations of the masjid. All this while, halaqah mesyuarah has always been done at Buffalo markaz. There's some renovation work going on in the main prayer hall. I heard they are expanding the room to accommodate the growing number of people coming for prayers, especially the Jumu'ah prayer. So it seems like we are going to have the mesyuarah in the other building. Please pray for the smoothness of this event. May Allah make things easy for us and make this effort grow in Rochester..ameen.

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!

dodge ball

My body is aching all over from last night's dodgeball games. This is what happens if you force your "sleeping" muscles to work. But it's sumwhat worth it though, considering that team yellow turned out to be the champion. *hoyeah!?* We started out a loser, but then turned the tables around in the later half of the games. Hm..it feels great to work up some sweat in sports. It helps keep you in shape too. I haven't been working out much lately. In fact, I was surprised to find myself gasping when I was climbing up the stairs to my writing class on the 3rd floor! How serious is that? OK. This picture of Hanis below doesn't have to do with this entry, but I insisted to put it up because..she's so cute!! *I thought it was a guilt not to "share" her ^^"*

Hanis Nabila is in hijab now.. ^^

OK. We were supposed to go to Syracuse for this month's khuruj. But since we were short on people amir sab decided to go next week instead. Br. Nasir was pumped up to give the Somalian kids a follow-up visit. See if they can say the syahadah right this time. But for next weekend (the 4th weekend of the month,) the last halaqah syura assigned us the new Yamanese masjid on 300 Bay Street, just near downtown Rochester. I believe this trend of working within one's own locality has been encouraged by all the syuras, in line with the aim to strengthen local efforts. I've been longing to spend longer times in khuruj. Here, one and a half days don't really give the effect you expect, especially when going out with a group of youngsters; lack of tawajjuh (concentration) that is. I do enjoy going out with these kids though, just that sometimes I need to learn from more experienced brothers too. Sometimes, you need to listen more than talk. I miss to be in a jama'ah where there are hafizs of quran, madrasah students, or an 'alim. There's no limit to what you can gain from a good company. InsyaAllah this coming winter break will meet my longing. ^^ Oh, another thing. Br. Irfan is leaving for his hometown in India next week for Eidul Adha holidays. May he have a sound journey home, (and don't forget to come back!)

P/s: The moment I get home, I'll go pinch her chubby cheeks!

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. =)

jalan mereka

Assalamu'alaikum...

It's week 9! I can't believe myself this distressing quarter is finally coming to an end. No more GE labs! No more staying back late past school hours. No more back pains, swollen eyes, deprived sleep hours etc...(at least for a couple months to come). Owh, I'm gonna miss coming in to GE lab now..I've spent so much time in there that I've thought of it as my second home..huhu. Never mind, like I won't get another chance to have myself tortured..kan? One more academic year to get over with..phew. I'm gonna need the strength of an elephant to ace this one. Hmm..after a stretched, long Winter, the overdue Spring is finally here! The sun finally gets the better of the cold. The weather is really tempting us here to go lepak2 outside.

my apartment's backyard view

Yesterday, we did jaulah after 'Asar with Br. Kamran, Br. Irfan, and Br. Tanwir. Now that the weather is nice and warm, we can do the real umumi jaulah by walking door to door. Otherwise, our umumi jaulah would always take form of a khususi jaulah due to the unfriendly weather. So only during this time do we get to walk from house to house meeting our Muslim brothers, which is the preferred old-fashion way. Subhanallah..what a great feeling to be walking outside in the sunshine. Besides it's been a while since I last had a nice long afternoon walk. The main difference I want to point out between the jaulah I do here and the one I do back home is that, here, we don't know which houses belong to a Muslim. The quickest way to find out is by looking at the name tags on the mailboxes. So when we come across names like "Muhammad", "Mahmood", "Abdullah", and many other Muslim-like names, we would ring the bell and wait for an answer. Oftentimes we don't get to meet many brothers, and there are times when we meet none at all. Sometimes we even knock on the wrong house; we ring a non-Muslim house instead.

Yesterday we left in two groups, to two different apartment complexes. My group went to the one across the street from Br. Kamran's. We've been here last week but couldn't cover all the houses. So yesterday we just picked up where we left off and covered all the remaining units. There were like 20 houses or so. We did meet a couple of Muslims last week from the digging. But yesterday unfortunately we didn't get to meet any more Muslims. We jotted down the numbers of the targeted houses whose residents were not home so we can get back to them later. From there we went to Br. Tanwir's neighborhood to visit an Afghani brother. The brother we intended to meet was not home, we met his brother instead. This brother we met, he is disabled..and his breathing is aided by a ventilator. He could do nothing but lay down in his bed. Br. Kamran did much of the talking..he gave some encouragement and later asked the brother to make do'a for us. After that, we went back to ICR right away to catch 'Asar. We had a short bayan after 'Asar by Mael to wrap up our jaulah. Oh ye..another thing, Br. Tanwir was appointed the 'amir for this month of May.

Alhamdulillah..we're meeting more and more new brothers since the last few months, though the progress is slow. But it doesn't matter how many brothers we meet, Allah swt is The Most Appreciative, He will not let any effort we do to please Him go to waste. It seems nothing is happening, but we never know, Allah swt may be giving hidayah in some other places in this world because of our little effort. Besides, the main target of this effort is ourselves and our own iman. By doing what Rasulullah saw and the Sahabah r.hum used to do, we would get a little idea or realization of how difficult it was for them to spread Lailahaillah Muhammadurrasulullah. This is their path to Allah's pleasure, and to reach the same destination as they did, we have no other choice but to walk down the same path. Only then will we realize how precious this Deen that we've taken for granted all this while. They had nothing, but still, Islam was spread to every corner of the world..and look at us now, we got everything..all the resources are in our favor, but we can't even get our friends to pray, to come to the masjid. Lahaulawalaquwwataillabillah. The same Islam, the same Quran, but different conviction in the heart.

P/S: Btw, here are the closest definitions I could come up with for these two terms..hope they're helpful..=)

umumi jaulah, in which we meet random Muslim brothers, usually going from house to house
khususi jaulah, in which we meet specific people, like the imam or the president of a masjid, etc

Masjid al-Rahman

We did jaulah yesterday with a joined jama'ah from Lackawanna and Buffalo. There were 5 people in the guest jama'ah, 3 of which were Yamanese brothers. After 'Asr, we sat in mesyuwarah (consultation) to decide what to do and where to go. To start, Br. Muhammad Muhsin gave us some targheeb on the importance of dakwah, to get us pumped up a bit. The targheeb went well, I expected no less from an Arab brother. I don't know if I'm overreacting, but it's always a great feeling to have the Arab brothers around..specifically speaking, I feel like more reassured and motivated in their presence..it is as though, nothing can go wrong with them on the team. This Br. Muhammad has spent much time in this effort, and his predecessors were known to have established many masjids in this effort of dakwah. There were around 10-12 people sitting in the mesyuwarah at that time. As decided, we split in two, one group staying in the masjid while the other (the one I was in) went to a newly opened Yamanese masjid, Masjid al-Rahman, downtown. Some brothers from the staying jama'ah were assigned to go to the Somali musolla, pray maghrib over there and get back to ICR before Isya'. Here is a picture of the masjid below;

Masjid al-Rahman, 300 Bay St. Rochester NY
(Courtesy of Mael)

As you might have noticed, this building doesn't portray the typical looks of a masjid on the outside..but it's a masjid alright. Before it was taken over by the Yamanese community here, this building used to be a church. I can't give you the exact statistics but believe me, lots of churches and other buildings are changing into masjids now..may it be here or in other places around the globe. Alhamdulillah..this is the sign of Allah's power and mercy. Biiznillah this will keep up until the Last Hour. The question on our side now is, whether or not we want to play a role in these changes..whether or not we want to be a means through which Allah's Mercy spreads.

On our way there, we stopped by a couple of muslim-owned corner stores for a quick ziarah. There was this one Yamanese store I went with Br. Muhammad that sells haram stuff in it. I couldn't believe myself being in a muslim store, with all those things around me. Since it was Yamanese brothers we're meeting, Br. Muhammad did the talking on our side. Well, thanks to my poor Arabic, I couldn't understand a thing of what they were talking about. But It seemed to me that Br. Muhammad was giving a direct reminder to the store owners..I could hear the words "beer" and "haram" being mentioned from his speech. La haula wala quwata illa billah..This is what happens when the effort of iman is neglected. Iman has no guarantee, may it be Arabs or non-Arabs..without a constant effort on our iman we're all susceptible to satanic deception. We should be sad for them..deep inside they do know they're doing the wrong thing, they do want to change and leave those haram businesses..but they are so much caught up in such an environment that they need their muslim brothers to come to the help. Now it's time we respond to their calls or they'll blame us in the hereafter for our selfishness.

As disappointing as it sounds, we didn't get to enter the masjid. The plan was to pray Maghrib over there and do some greetings with local brothers, but the door was locked and there was no one around. After waiting for almost half an hour, we headed back to ICR since Maghrib was apporaching. We'll have our chance next time insyaallah. The jama'ah left earlier than planned..one of the brothers had some health issues. We didn't get to listen to the bayan and the karkuzari (report) from the other jama'ah since we ourselves had to rush to RIT. Well, that's pretty much how our night wrapped up. May Allah accept these little things that we did.

Turkish Society Center

Alhamdulillah..masalah tiket balik Malaysia akhirnya selesai jugak. Terima kasih kepada kakak HSBC yang ramah dan berdedikasi. Nasib baik kali ni tak bergayut dekat setengah jam macam haritu. Memandangkan aku balik lambat sikit kali ni (kerana kerajinan untuk mengambil kelas di waktu Summer), harga tiketnya agak mahal kalau nak dibandingkan dengan yang tahun lepas. Tapi takpe, family tercinta punya pasal, sanggupkan jugak beli. Lagipun tahun depan dah tahun akhir aku kat sini, jadi kelas-kelas wajib tu kena setelkan secepat mungkinlah. Final year nanti boleh la rilek sikit kot.

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Satu jema'ah dari Lackawanna dan Buffalo sedang khuruj 3 hari di ICR. Ada 6 orang dalam jema'ah yang semuanya..masyaallah boleh dikatakan 'otai'. Tiga daripada mereka adalah orang Arab, daripada Yaman rasanya. Semalam lepas 'Asar..aku, Br. Kamran, Br. Gungor (Turkish brother), dan dua orang Arab brothers daripada jema'ah pergi ke Turkish Society Center yang terletak lebih kurang 15-20 minit daripada ICR seperti diputus mesyuarat. Dua orang Arab brothers tu datang dari Lackawanna, sebuah masjid majoriti orang Yaman dekat-dekat dengan Buffalo. Seorang daripadanya ialah president masjid Lackawana sendiri iaitu Br. 'Ali manakala yang seorang lagi tu bilal masjid kalau tak silap. Takde orang pun sewaktu kami sampai dan Imam sampai agak lewat untuk Maghrib. Tapi alhamdulillah beberapa local brothers menyusul tak lama lepas tu. Sementara kami di sini, satu jema'ah lagi di hantar jaulah ke tempat lain dari ICR.

Sejurus sebelum solat Maghrib..sementara tunggu imam tu, Br. 'Ali dan Br. Gungor diutus ke Coffee House (dalam bangunan yang sama) untuk ajak orang-orang kat situ solat Maghrib sekali. Menurut karkuzarinya, sewaktu diorang masuk ke Coffee House berkenaan orang-orang di dalam sibuk bermain kad sambil "minum." Ada lebih 20 Turkish brothers kat dalam. Br. 'Ali minta mereka masa untuk cakap 2-3 minit..subhanallah..mereka berhenti main kad dan sedia mendengar apa yang nak dicakapkan. Tapi tiba-tiba seorang daripada mereka bangun dan berkata, "Apa yang kamu nak cakapkan?" Br. 'Ali menjawab; "Apa yang Rasulullah saw telah sampaikan kepada kita." Br. 'Ali mengajak mereka untuk solat Maghrib bersama. Lelaki itu membalas; "Sini bukan tempat keagamaan. Takde ceramah-ceramah. Sila pergi dari sini, kami tak nak dengar." Mendengar jawapan yang kurang menyenangkan tu, Br. Gungor cuba membantu tapi tetap tidak berhasil. Maka diorang berdua terpaksa beredar dengan "Jazakallah khair" sebagai penutup bicara. Selepas solat Maghrib, Br. 'Ali bagi bayan sikit..pastu kitorang duduk mesyuarat sekali dengan imam..membincangkan hal ehwal kawasan tu. Br. 'Ali tekankan betapa pentingnya untuk buat usaha atas mereka-mereka di luar tu. Sekurang-kurangnya perlu ikhtiarkan sesuatu supaya kita terlepas daripada dakwaan di akhirat kelak. Terima atau tidak, itu terpulang kepada Allah yang menentukan. Semoga Allah memberi taufiq kepada kita dan mereka..ameen.

Peristiwa yang lebih kurang sama berlaku sewaktu aku keluar di Syracuse. Masa tu aku, Br. Intikhab, dan seorang brother tempatan keluar jaulah sekitar perumahan orang Bosnia. Kami bagi salam kat satu kumpulan brother ni, mereka jawab salam kami, tapi..mereka sedang main kad dan "minum." Kitorang tanya boleh luangkan masa sikit tak..diorang jawab; "Sorry bang..masa tak sesuai lah, kitorang tengah "minum" ni." Lahaula wala quwwata illa billah. Mereka tahu apa yang mereka buat tu salah di sisi agama, tapi di mata mereka ini adalah seolah-olah perkara kecil. Sedih. Kita sepatutnya menangis mengenangkan mereka. Mereka juga muslim seperti kita, tapi mereka jauh daripada agama..jauh daripada rahmat Allah swt. Sedar atau tidak, di seluruh dunia..saudara-saudara seIslam kita berlumba-lumba lari daripada agama..berlumba-lumba menuju Jahannam. Siapa yang akan menyelamatkan mereka? Siapa yang akan datang kepada mereka dan beritahu dengan rasa hormat dan kasih sayang; "Wahai saudaraku, kamu ada kalimah yang berharga dalam dada kamu iaitu lailahaillallah muhammadurrasullah. Seorang muslim itu darjatnya tinggi di sisi Allah dan sesungguhnya Allah sangat menyayangi hamba-hambaNya." Hari ini jika rumah jiran kita terbakar, kita akan cuba sedaya upaya untuk membantu padamkan api. Tapi ini api Jahannam yang kita perkatakan..yang berpuluh kali lebih panas daripada api dunia.

Umat Islam perlu bergerak untuk usaha ini. Bergerak dan lihat keadaan orang-orang Islam hari ini..jika tidak, kita tidak akan dapat merasa fikir risau Nabi untuk umat ini..fikir risau yang Baginda bawa hingga ke akhir hayat Baginda saw. Teringat seorang brother ni cakap; "Sesungguhnya orang-orang bukan Islam bukan nak dengar ceramah yang hebat-hebat daripada kita tentang Islam, tapi mereka mahu lihat umat Islam bergerak..bergerak dengan membawa agama..dari situ mereka akan nampak indahyna Islam." Bagaimana mungkin mereka boleh mencari Islam melalui kita jika Islam itu sendiri telah hilang daripada hidup orang-orang Islam...

Kitorang balik ke ICR selepas solat Isyak, dalam pukul 8 malam lebih kurang. Br. Kamran turunkan aku kat ICR manakala dia terpaksa bergegas ke tempat lain..ada jemputan dinner katanya. Lupa nak cerita pasal Br. Kamran. Br. Kamran ni ialah seorang hafiz Quran..merangkap seorang software engineer dari Pakistan. Dia selesaikan Master's degree di Jerman sebelum datang bekerja di sebuah syarikat di Rochester ni..impressive kan? Dalam perjalanan dia order dua extra-large pizza..memandangkan jema'ah ada jemput beberapa budak malaysia lain untuk makan sekali lepas Isyak. Tapi dalam ramai-ramai tu hanya Izani yang dapat datang. Jadi kami empat orang Malaysians makan malam bersama jema'ah malam tu sambil sembang-sembang. Alhamdulillah..Izani ada niat untuk keluar jema'ah dalam waktu terdekat ni. Kawan-kawan aku dua orang tu pun ada niat keluar 40 hari di Malaysia cuti Summer ni, doa-doakan la supaya diterima.

P/S: Jaulah petang ni insyaallah..semangat2! Tulang belakang bagi agama adalah dakwah, tulang belakang bagi dakwah adalah jaulah/ziarah/gash/visitation..dan yang sewaktu dengannya..=)

ICR jaulah squad, reassembled!

WARNING! This entry is super long.

Having been back for a couple of days, Br. Kamran made it to our house at last. He brought along his cute, cuddly, adorable little Atiqa and Taha with him too. I just love playing with kids! Especially the cute ones. But all kids are cute, then that means I love playing with all kids..hrmm..ok, don't mind me. We spent some time catching up. He filled us in on this jord he attended back in Pakistan, along with giving us some targheeb. He said he met some Malaysian jama'ah over there. Well..Malaysian jama'ah is all around the globe now!

As for us, we were just really fortunate to have met one back on our first Eidul Fitri here, the Malaysian jama'ah whose 'amir sab was Br. Ismadi if I'm not mistaken. Br. Hanafiah from Sabah...I still keep the tasbih he gave me. He had a diabetic problem last time, hope he's alright now. ICR brothers were hosting them and that was when we first met Br. Kamran and the others and got connected with the local effort here at once. What a beautifully arranged destiny that was. Otherwise, we might have been complete strangers to each other. Enough with the reminiscing. So Br. Kamran left us with some souvenirs (miswak, kopiah, and cologne) from Pakistan and an invitation to jaulah after maghrib.

After maghrib we left in two groups; one group going to the Burmese community downtown, another going to some other housing area. Br. Kamran, Wae and me were in the first, while Mael in the second with Br. Irfan and the others. There is a Burmese jama'ah from Utica, NY staying at Br. Yunus's house, to which we were headed. His house has been made a musolla at which the Burmese have their congregational prayers. Our goal was to find out how many brothers from the Burmese are ready for next week's Winter-break khuruj.

They were at dinner when we came, and they gave us no choice but to join them. The Burmese is one of the few other communities like Somalian and Bosnian who live as refugees here, being under the protection of US government itself. Most of them don't speak English, only a few among the youngsters do. But in jama'ah, language barrier is never really an issue. We are brothers regardless of any physical, geographical or linguistic differences...and brothers always understand each other. Done eating, we went to the attic upstairs for a quick mesyuwarah with the Burmese jama'ah. Br. Kamran did all the talking on our side. Wrapping up, they said they would come to ICR for Isya'.

Back to ICR, Mael and I had some conversation with these two Arab brothers: Br. Saif and Br. Abd Majid. Br. Saif goes to Monroe Community College (MCC), the same school one of my housemates goes to near Rustic Village while Br. Abd Majid is doing his Master's at RIT. Br. Saif is a very handsome guy (speaking from the standpoint of a girl). He has the looks girls would fight over: Bright skin, sharp nose, thick black hair with thin beard wrapping his jaws. If I were a girl, I might have fallen for him. Just kidding. But believe me sisters, he IS good looking. As for Br. Abd Majid, he is just married, and he is taking the same Biochem class we are taking.

We had bayan after Isya' by a Burmese brother from the guest jama'ah. Br. Rauf Bawani was the interpreter. It was short yet packed with important messages. Among the few things I recall; "Don't worry if the people you are talking to don't understand what you're talking, or if they would understand it wrong, because Allah is the one who bestows understanding. And He is the one who makes you understand what I'm talking right now. Our responsibility is just to convey the message."

We had a mesyuwarah again afterwards on our upcoming Winter-break khuruj. We listed out all the potential brothers that came to mind and discuss the other details. The destination is still undecided, but there is a strong possibility that we'll go to Boston since there's gonna be an ijtimak there on this 23, 24 & 25 of Dec. Br. Intikhab was chosen as the 'amir for this jama'ah. After all, he is the most qualified among us in terms of experience and sacrifice level. He has spent 7 months before on khuruj, traveling around the world just for the sake of religion. I noticed Br. Ismail, son of Br. Gungor was there too. He has grown full beard now. Later when we were leaving I said to him, "Nice beard you have. I would die for that beard. Mine just won't grow." He just laughed at this (man..I was pretty serious~).

Wassalam

p/s: The title is an overstatement really. We have abandoned our jaulah for quite some time now. But its good to be back to work. Also it reminds me of "squad ziarah Cemara." Hm..I really miss those days doing ziarah with you guys. Hope you guys are keeping this effort close to heart. Next time...more pics, less words! =)