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.
