All I have to say was the khatm tonight (Sat. 10/22, the 29th night of Ramadan) at Zaytuna was AMAZING!!!! Whoever attended please share your thoughts/comments with the rest of us!
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May Allah swt accept our fasting, accept our tears, forgive our sins, and extend our years. May this blessed month be a source of mercy, guidance, unity, and peace that permeates throughout the world. Ameen.
The Messenger of God
said, “Abandon desire for this world, and God will love you. Abandon desire for others’ goods, and people will love you.” Ibn Majah
Wish I could have been there. I hear that zaytuna may be relocating to virginia! I heard that from someone who heard it from Imam Majid (VP of ISNA and imam of the ADAMS center).
ReplyDeleteAssalamualaykum! Jazakallah khayr for your comment. I hope Zaytuna is not planning on leaving Northern California! I haven't heard anything like that, Allahu Aalum, but they do have "Minara Programs" that are conducted in many of the Eastern states. For example, the Ohio Minara is taking place this coming Nov. 4th and 5th http://www.zaytuna.org/eventDetails.asp?id=89
ReplyDeleteI wanted to share with all of you a sense of the experience we felt last night. It's taken from an email I wrote to a friend:
ReplyDeleteSubhan'Allah is all I have to say!! It was AMAZING ...the initial talk by Ustadh Yahya was a complete heart softener, mentioning the desires of the heart--some people desire the world, others desire the highest levels of jannah while others desire the company of Nabi (saw) in the hereafter, and others desire the Pleasure of Allah swt and seeing Him in paradise. The tarawih was very melodious and beautiful! and the du'aa at the khatm was just pure power and tawfiq. The du'aa was so compelling and beautiful that I was literally shaking. Then when Shaykh Hamza came to speak, he was very emotional because of a very tragic shooting that occurred a couple days ago that involved an Ansari sister who was walking to her childrens' school to pick them up and was shot dead in a hate crime. His talk was trying to awaken the community, trying to unite us to [personal and social] action, and it was a specific plea to the young Afghani community to wake up and to stop adopting the worst traits of our society (the gangsta nonsense and the like) and rather recognize who they are, where they come from and a plea for them to become like their great ancestors who were the biggest Sufis and the purest of people. He recited a really long, awesome poem from the munaajaat and had to pause many times because it just brought tears to his eyes. Subhan'Allah. I hope Brother Haroon recorded it!
The tragedy that shook our community:
ReplyDeleteReligious hate seen as motive in killing Fremont slaying: Muslim leaders and relatives of Afghan American mother shot at point-blank range say only motive they can imagine for anyone wanting her dead was the garment of her faith, her
head scarf.
"Whoever did this did not see Alia Ansari, a mother of six children," said Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, one of the nation's most respected Muslim scholars and leaders, who spoke to the media outside of the Ansaris' modest two-bedroom apartment. "He saw a symbol of something that people are taught to hate."
The full article can be accessed here:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/21/BAGMTLTGM51.DTL&hw=Afghan+mother&sn=001&sc=1000
I forgot to mention that Sister Alia Ansari (the victim of the shooting) was a descendant of the great sahabah Abu Ayoob al Ansari (ra)whose home was the home chosen for Nabi (saw) to stay at when he first came to Madinah al Munawarrah.
ReplyDeleteMay Allah Ta'ala grant Sister Alia the highest levels of Jannah al Firdaws, and unite her with her great forefathers, and may He Ta'ala grant her family sakinah, a full healing, and grant them khayr in this life and the next.
Please remember Sister Alia and her family in your special du'aas.
Was'salaam
*WEAR A HIJAB DAY: NOVEMBER 13, 2006
ReplyDeleteHelp us spread the word...
*Concerned women of Fremont, CA have formed a response to the murder of
Alia Ansari, and other hate crimes against Muslims and Muslim women.
For more information, contact:
Melanie Gadener, Executive Director
Foundation for Self-Reliance (FSR)
PO Box 604
Fremont, CA 94536
510.797.4660
melanie@efsr.org
www.efsr.org