Alhamdulillah. Things are getting more reasonable over here..with only one exam and one lab report left, I can finally catch a deep breath. As promised, I'm going to write a special post on the Northeastern States Ijtima' I attended in Reading Pennsylvania from 17th to 19th of June, 2011. You see..when I write, I always tend to write too much. I don't know if I can keep it short this time, but I'll try to keep it sweet. Bear with me OK. =)
Specifically speaking, the ijtima' was held at Greater Reading Expo Center, 12th Street Reading, PA. It is a HUGE indoor facility that can fit thousands of people at one time. I was surprised myself to see how gigantic this place was - for such a scale of gathering, I thought it was gonna be in an open field or something, like we have back home. The halaqahs that participated in the event include Buffalo, Boston, Connecticut, Manhattan & Bronx, Li, Queens, Brooklyn, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Springfield, and Raleigh. Our city Rochester falls under the Buffalo halaqah. Five groups came from Rochester, excluding the Burmies who had their own arrangements. I was in the first group that left after Fajr on Friday. The other groups joined us later in the ijtima'. The journey there from Islamic Center of Rochester (ICR) took about 5-6 hours of driving.
The purpose of attending an ijtima' is (correct me if I'm wrong) to listen to the bayans and to send out jama'ahs. Alhamdulillah from this blessed gathering, about 30 jama'ahs were sent out all around the place, including the Malaysian masturat jama'ah that was sent to Rochester. For the convenience of the event, the attendees were requested to sit in their respective halaqahs. There were signs pasted at different spots, designating the different halaqahs. Apart from the typical bayans that we listened to throughout the ijtima', there were also:
a gathering for the ulama'
a gathering for old workers
(brothers who have spent 4 months, or regular 40 days)
a gathering for the youth
an Arabic ta'alimi halaqah
I met all those I'd wanted to meet here in this ijtima', among whom were Syeikh Hassan of the last Boston Ijtima', Syeikh Abdul Badi' and Br. Fuwad of Boston, Br. Amin Shah of Penang, and the Malaysian masturat jama'ah that came to Rochester recently. I even had lunch once with the Malaysian jama'ah in the foreign jama'ahs room. Speaking of foreign jama'ahs, there were also jama'ahs from England and Pakistan that were stopping by at the ijtima'. On top of that, I talked to a lot of great brothers throughout the two days. I met two Moroccan brothers who really look up to us from Malaysia, and this American revert who just came back from spending 4 months. There were times when I would just stand in the midst of the crowd and started looking around from one far end to the other, just to see if I cold find familiar faces among those thousands of people. All kinds of people were there, and from their expressions I could tell they all were as happy as I was. I remember one brother was saying. "This is the kind of gathering where you meet the best of people.." I couldn't agree more.
My moments in the ijtima' got into full swing on the last day when our halaqah, Buffalo, was put on khidmat (serving) along with the other halaqahs that had not done it. We were divided into several groups, each of which was put in charge of one serving lane. And for each group there was an 'amir. Lets see, if I can remember it right I think I was in group 15. Though it was my first time serving at a huge ijtima' like this, I had so much fun with it. We were even kinda competing with each other to give the best serving. Then, I saw Maulana Abdul Muqeet. He was on khidmat too since he is from Buffalo. I was thinking..he has the status of an 'alim, yet he is serving the other brothers. And most of the people there don't even know him. Apart from the ulama' in this world who live in comfort, he is among those who strive in the path of sacrifice..like most of the ulama' in this effort do. I remember someone was saying..in this effort, we all have our own sacrifice to give..and for the ulama', they have to give their honor by meeting the people, instead of waiting for the people to come to them. Likewise, the speakers who gave the bayans, people don't even know their names - no titles, no achievements, and no recognitions are announced prior to a speech. They speak and they go, just like that. Here, you may be sitting next to a doctor, a lawyer, a millionaire, or a minister even..without you realizing it. They all sit shoulder to shoulder, eat the same food, use the same washrooms, and sleep in the same place. As Br. Kamran was saying, "If you can't find ikhlas in this effort, then you won't find it anywhere else."
"my love at first sight"
courtesy of tvtube777 (more videos on YouTube)
courtesy of tvtube777 (more videos on YouTube)
At the end of the day, all who attended this gathering went back to their cities with their own unique experiences to keep. As for myself, no worldly words can describe what I felt inside every second I was there. As Br. Kamran was saying, "you can hear all kind of stories about an ijtima', but it is never the same as your own first-hand experience." I was happy to see a lot of youngsters in the program. May Allah open this effort to those who came for the first time, the way He opened it to me not long ago. I fell in love with the 'simplicity' of this effort, and it's closeness to the effort of Prophet Muhammad saw. Lastly..I'd like to leave you with this saying from Br. Nasiruddin to ponder over; "This (effort) is not an organization, with a president and board of directors..no registrations, no membership fees, no fund raising..this is just an 'amal." Wallahua'lam. May Allah keep us all in His blessing..always.
*halaqah - a designation for an area that is manageable to a markaz (center) masjid
p/s: Hurm..It seems I've been falling in love a lot lately..=)
