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.
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!
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.
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! =)
