decorative imageI heard Br. Kamran finally came back. The last I heard about him, he was having trouble getting back here because of visa problem or something. Anyway now that he's back, it's a blessing for us all insyaAllah. After being "frozen" for weeks now, it's time to have someone "thaw" or "heatshock" us back to work. There hasn't been any significant progress on our side since the Winter kicked off. When you've got yourself trapped in this misleading "comfortable" zone, it's hard to find your way out. No. Accurately, it's hard enough even to WANT to get out.
Come to think of it, I can't help comparing this whole situation to being caught under a genjutsu in Naruto (anime series). Ok2..Let me brief you on this. Genjutsu is a ninja battle technique that traps your opponent under an illusion, causing a disruption in their senses. There are two ways to escape, one is to have your comrade snap you out of it by disrupting your chakra (energy) flow, the other is to inflict considerable pain onto yourself in trying to cancel it's effect. Apparently, the earlier is more practical. So now we're counting on our comrade (Br. Kamran) who is outside this illusion to pull us out -End of detour-
Br. Intikhab dropped in yesterday and brought us some cookies, upon his coming back from attending city mesyuwarah (held once every two months) at Buffalo markaz. It might appear that he just came to say "salam" and then leave, but I could sense something else behind his coming. He came to give us an encouragement to come to the masjid more often. This is a great blessing of being among muslim jama'ah; When you forget and start losing your way, someone will pull you back home. So basically he came over to say "My dear brothers, you guys haven't been showing up for congregational prayers lately. What's happening? Is there a problem?" Just before he left, he gave me a warm hug, and a fatherly kiss on the forehead as a sign of concern. Karkun 2 got one too. Haha..I bet we both felt a little awkward back then.
Wow, even my dad never did that, at least as far as I can remember. And my mom hasn't done that in a while either..haha (like I'd ever ask my mom to do that anyway). You think it's creepy? Outside the jama'ah, maybe..but within the jama'ah, it's nothing unusual. Not saying that you kiss each other's foreheads all the time, but this is the level of affection sprouted from a strong tie of brotherhood in Islam. You see, until we can establish firm love, respect and care for our muslim brothers and sisters, there is no way unity can be achieved. This is the kind of bond we're trying to establish by going out on khuruj. The feelings of high and mighty, hatred, jealosy..we learn to suppress all these bit by bit. In jama'ah, we learn to honor each other: we eat in the same plate, we watch each other's back, we cover for each other, we even feed each other. All of these are contained in the fourth quality of the sahabah, ikramul muslim. Fuh..I can continue all day on this but I think I'll pen off here. There's still a whole lot of chapters to go over! Bye for now.
