However, it seems that as each year passes, it isn’t able to affect us to a point where we try to change ourselves personally to an extent that this change might last past these thirty days. In a lot of our minds, Ramadan is about rituals; ritually staying away from food and drink, ritually attending the Masjid nightly, ritually praying our Taraweeh prayer, ritually reading whatever little we can of the Arabic Qur’an.

There is no problem with following rituals, but the problem lies in the fact that we may have forgotten the purpose behind our rituals. And, without the purpose, then, quite simply, what’s the purpose of doing all this? We hear the Qur’an recited to us in full Ramadan after Ramadan, but we might not take any steps to understanding it. We stay away from food and drink every year, but don’t realize why.

This Ramadan, why don’t we attempt to change that? In fact, why don’t we challenge ourselves to make this the year to remember?

In order for this to be our best Ramadan yet, wait, we need to change that statement first. In order to make this the best Ramadan yet, we have to do a few things.

Follow the ABC’s of making this the best Ramadan:

Attitude

Stand up in front of that mirror, and with clear and loud words, look yourself in the eye and repeat this:

“I am going to do whatever it takes to make this my best Ramadan!” Before you can accomplish anything, you need to have the mindset that you will accomplish everything.

Bold Goals

Don’t shortchange yourself. You’re a Muslim. You pray five times a day when others barely remember the word ‘God’. You stay away from food for this whole month while others can only manage to ‘fast’ a day or two, while drinking water. This Ramadan, make the goals that you know will please Allah.

Do what’s in your capacity to read more of the Qur’an (in English and Arabic), to visit the Masjid (and other Masjids in your community), to stop that habit that you know is wrong or build a new, better habit. But, just to make sure that you’re in check, split up your goals into 4 weeks. A goal with a long deadline usually doesn’t get done.

“I will finish reading the Qur’an, and I will do so by reading 7 juz (para) every week”. Check in every week to make sure you know your progress and can finish it. A key tip in making sure they get done is writing them down, something found in the next part:

Calendar

Make a schedule for yourself. Don’t let that positive attitude and all those bold goals go to waste. Know that every week, you must have made a certain amount of progress on your goal. Perhaps even every day, a certain amount of progress must be made. Use this calendar also to mark down if you plan to attend certain Masajid on certain nights (try to get out of your comfort zone and meet other Muslims in your community), as well as if you were invited for Iftar by family. Keeping these things in mind will allow you to visually see them and accommodate yourself accordingly so you won’t compromise on your goals.

With this month, Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) opens the doors for us to better ourselves. He closes the gates of the Hellfire and chains up the devils. Excuses become less, and capacity to change increases. Don’t let this month go by without telling yourself on ‘Eid day: “That was the best Ramadan I’ve ever had.”

You don’t know if you’ll live to see the next. You might be like these brothers who might’ve thought they’d live to see this Ramadan, but were not able to:

Brother Adnaan Rahman (17), Nasir Sheikh (17), and Azeez Ali (49) and the many others who may have lost their lives right before this blessed month. Allah bless us to take the most advantage of this month, Ameen.

Today was our first full day at IlmSummit, and I have to say, this was pretty intense.

My roommate Hassan Rasool (a brother from Wisconsin) and I woke up at around 5:40am and quickly got ready for Fajr. We got to the hotel lobby in time Alhamdulillah, and we then prayed behind Qari Uthmaan Khan. His recitation was amazing Masha’Allah, and I felt myself relaxing as I stood there, letting the powerful words sweep by and sink through. After the prayer, we began our first official class, a morning Tajweed session with Shaykh Uthman, and listened raptly as he went over several Tajweed and Makhaarij rules. Before this, I had thought that Tajweed could perhaps be taught over just a few classes, but as we sat down and listened to him, I quickly realized that this was actually a very deep and in-depth Islamic science.

Shaykh Uthman mentioned this himself and said that there is actually a whole field of Tajweed that is purely theoretical and said that he would be teaching that type of class this year and will not even get into rules or applications. All I can say is that I left the class feeling very awed. This Qari studied all of the 10 different styles of Qira’ah and continued to study Tajweed even while his classmates and peers went into studying other branches of Islamic knowledge like Fiqh, Aqeedah, etc. These types of people were one-in-a-million and I felt really honored to be able to study under him.

After the Tajweed class, we all headed over to another room to have our breakfast. One of the special features of IlmSummit that the students always boast about (in addition to the ‘Ilm of course) is the amazing food at the hotel and I now realized that they were not exaggerating; we were literally given a scrumptious buffet with everything from scrambled eggs to soft croissants and rolls. After getting my food, I looked around and noticed that there were several circles of people scattered about the dining hall, all sitting on the ground together. I just randomly picked one of them, found out that the brothers in this circle were predominantly from SoCal (Southern California), and was pleasantly surprised to hear that many of them knew my Masjid, Dar-us-Salaam, and that the University of Madinah students in this circle knew my friends who were also studying there.

We next headed to our Tarbiyah class that was being taught by Shaykh Yasir Qadhi. This class was about improving one’s Akhlaaq and so for this purpose, Shaykh Yasir picked the book Abwab az-Zuhd, which is included in the famous Al-Jami’ of At-Tirmidhi. Today was the first day, so Sh. Yasir spent the whole class discussing the biography of Imam At-Tirmidhi. He delved into the different books that he wrote, his numerous teachers, terms and rulings that he popularized, etc. SubhanAllāh, I found out that many of the ‘Ulama thought of Jami’ At-Tirmidhi to be actually better than Sahih Al-Bukhari in terms of benefit because while Sahih Al-Bukhari is meant for scholars and intellectuals (Sh. Yasir said that the Sahih is so great and phenomenal that one can only truly understand it if they study the Islamic sciences first), Jami’ At-Tirmidhi was perfect for the laymen and masses because of its simple and concise manner. I also found out that At-Tirmidhi’s main teacher was Imam Al-Bukhari and that they shared a very special relationship, even to the extent that Imam Al-Bukhari told him, “I have benefited from you more than you have benefited from me”. This is very amazing considering the stature of Imam Al-Bukhari, and the whole close relationship kept on reminding me about the Encounter With Muslim Superheroes analogy.

Imam At-Tirmidhi had also popularized the term of Hasan and Hasan Sahih, and wrote several monumental works in his time, including the Al-Jami’, Al-Ilatul-Kabeer, and Kitaab Ash-Shamaa’il.

• His Al-Jami’ is the famous book in which he compiled roughly 3,950 Ahadith over the course of twenty years. This Jami’ is included in the Sahih Sittah (the six authentic books of Hadith) and is really what led to him and his other works becoming famous.
• His Al-Ilatul–Kabeer was the largest and most comprehensive book ever on ‘Illa. ‘Illa is basically the science of finding defects on Ahadith based on several types of evidence and is actually the most complicated sub-branch of Hadith. Even with this amount of difficulty, Imam At-Tirmidhi (rahimuhullah) was still able to master it and become the premier authority on this matter.
• His Kitaab Ash-Shamaa’il was a large book that had to mainly do with the physical characteristics of the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wa sallam) as well as his character towards others.

After learning all of this and much more, my respect for At-Tirmidhi exponentially grew. Before this, all I could really remember about Imam At-Tirmidhi was that he was a great scholar and that just like Imam Al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim (but to a lesser degree in my former opinion), he had also compiled Ahadith in his lifetime. I now understand that he contributed a lot to Islamic academia and that his Jami’ is actually excellent for the average Muslim.

Right after our morning Tarbiyah class, we began our Heresiology class, which was also being taught by Shaykh Yasir Qadhi. Heresiology is the study of different heretic groups and their history, development of their theology and practices, famous people, and other related material. When I was first going to take this class, I thought that it would merely teach us the errors of certain groups and how we can counteract against it, but now I realize that this class was taking a very different, and perhaps more mature, approach to the subject; all of this was going to be taught to us in a much more academic discussion, one that we sadly do not have in our hometowns where it is so direly needed, but I’m happy that we were able to study this material in depth at IlmSummit. We’re actually not allowed to freely share the notes for this specific class since it contains a lot of sensitive information and can easily be taken out of context, but all I can say is that the class was very mind-opening. I wouldn’t say that I now find these groups to be valid or authentic, but I now see that they too had some type of thought process that went into their methodology and creed.

This was perhaps the most intensive class we’ve had so far, especially considering the brevity and depth of the class, so it came as rather of a relief when it was time for lunch. We headed over to our dining hall and were served steak, vegetables, and salad. This time around, I picked a very specific circle to go sit at, and that was the circle of Sh. Yasir. Sh. Yasir had decided to come and join us for lunch, so everybody gathered around him and engaged in a Q&A discussion that lasted for the rest of the whole lunch session. Imagine if every lunch session was like this! SubhanAllah, it was truly a blessing to sit alongside the Mashaayikh, eat with them, and to learn from their words and actions…

Sh. Yasir with Haytham (to the Shaykh's right) and the SoCal brothers

After having lunch with Shaykh Yasir, we headed over to our first class with Shaykh Waleed Basyouni. He was going to teach us about Bid’ah (innovation), and I personally found this very exciting. I was tired of hearing the word “Bid’ah” being flung around carelessly, and sometimes even jokingly, so I was really eager to finally learn about Bid’ah in a proper academic fashion. Sh. Waleed began by discussing the concept of Bid’ah according to Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah. This turned out to be very exhaustive and we spent the whole class going through only three of the five introductory concepts of Bid’ah. We found out that that classifying something as Bid’ah is not always very easy, especially when there is a Bid’ah that contains some sort of evidence as well as other elements that clearly have no type of evidence. This is known as al-Bid’ah al-Idhafiya, and was one of the many things that we had to discuss in our class. One of the enjoyable aspects of this class is that Sh. Waleed gives varying opinions on an issue and then lets the class choose and discuss the correct opinion based on everything that was taught in the class so far. The class enjoyed it, and it really helped us to solidify the information that we were learning since we were being asked to immediately put what we learned into practical applications.

A picture taken during the break. In the picture: the Ameer of Qabeelat Majd, Toronto

We had dinner afterwards, and then we began our Wild Card Session. A Wild Card session is basically the last session of the day in which the Shaykh for that respective day comes up and talks about something special and unique. Today’s Wild Card session featured Shaykh Yasir Qadhi, and it was on a topic that many people were craving to hear about; his change from the “Madinah years” to the “Yale years”. The whole premise of the discussion was that he got the best of both worlds and that he really matured as his experiences went further. Shaykh Yasir Qadhi had scored at the highest of his class, and he was slated to go into the PhD program at the University of Madinah, a program that no American student has graduated from as of yet. However, right before beginning, 9/11 had struck and he was at a loss of what to do with the rest of his life. As the events unfurled, he felt an increasing and compelling urge to return back to America, the land of his people.

He immediately applied for Harvard, Yale, and other Ivy League universities, and eventually got accepted into the PhD program at Yale. This is when Sh. Yasir Qadhi explained the primary difference of the two universities to us; the University of Madinah extensively grounded him in the authentic Islamic narrations and traditions, but it never trained him on how to think critically or on how to properly conduct academic research. All of this was rather taught to him at Yale, from where he has just received his PhD. The reason that I found this story very profound (even to the extent of making it today’s title) is because this transition of coming over from Madinah to Yale really demonstrated two things. Firstly, it showed us the real care and concern for us as this scholar, as well as many others, left the Muslim lands and came back to America for the primary purpose of spreading on the knowledge to us. It also represented a shift in thought and showed to us that it may now just be possible to seek Islamic scholarship in the West under the tutelage of such scholars that can make the material both timely and relevant.

Another special event occurred during this wildcard session; an IlmSummit student was going to recite her last memorization assignment to Shaykh Uthman today. Sr. Julie had converted to Islam only about four or five years ago, but ever since then, she was hard at work, Masha’Allāh. She got into contact with Sh. Uthman at the last IlmSummit and in the course of only one year, she had completed the memorization of the whole Qur’an and had done this while taking full-load courses at law school at the same time. She recited the last Ayah of Surah Al-Fath to her teacher in front of us and SubhanAllah, it was really an inspiring moment and got all of us to ask ourselves, “If she can do this much, while being a recent convert and while at being at law school, then what about us?” It was truly an encouraging moment for us, and Sh. Yasir even stated that she was an inspiration for him.

All in all, it was a very hectic and amazing day. We got word that Shaykh Salah As-Sawy from AMJA will be coming in to teach us a special class on Maqaasid tomorrow, so we’re all excited and looking forward to that. Until next time!

Preface – Alhamdulillah, Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) has blessed me with the opportunity to attend this year’s AlMaghrib IlmSummit. For those of you who don’t know, IlmSummit is a special summer program that AlMaghrib Institute begun in 2008. It is a 9-day event comprised of back-to-back seminars taught by AlMaghrib powerhouse instructors and special guest speakers that delve into topics such as Tajweed, Islamic History, Economics, Heresiology, and much more. The classes begins right after Fajr (which is currently at 6am in Houston) and runs until 10pm, after which the students organize and review their notes before slipping in a few hours of sleep.

I’ve been watching IlmSummit videos ever since last year, and just about everything seemed downright amazing about the event; I saw that the Shuyookh actually live on the same premise as the students, full books were taught cover-to-cover in an intensive manner over just a few days, various wildcard sessions were planned throughout the days, speakers regularly came in and out, and the students were always busy gathering and digesting their daily plethora of information. All in all, it was a student’s dream come true.

I received regular emails from AlMaghrib Institute encouraging us students to apply for IlmSummit, but I always felt that it was a bit pricey and that I wouldn’t be able to meet the high standards of getting in (they look at your AlMaghrib exam grades, your community activism, your Hifdh, etc.). However, while at college one day, I received yet another email from the IlmSummit team. I was about to go ahead and delete the email, but then I decided to at least just give it a shot. I quickly filled out the form, pressed ‘submit’, and then went off to class without another moment’s thought.

To my amazement, I was accepted into the IlmSummit program Alhamdulillah. After talking to my parents, I called the AlMaghrib office, confirmed my trip, and paid for the event. As the phone call came to an end, I realized that this was it…I was really heading to IlmSummit.

Day 1

Friday - On Friday, the first day of IlmSummit, I headed to the airport right after Fajr. I was a bit apprehensive at first, while passing through security, but Alhamdulillah, everything went really smoothly for me (I later on found out that others had to unfortunately wait 2+ hours at security). While on the plane, I first opened Shaykh Yasir Qadhi’s An Introduction to the Sciences of the Qur’aan and began to read the book. SubhanAllah, with every passing page, my excitement only increased.

He first discussed how he began writing this book even before entering the University of Madinah and completing it while in his undergraduate years (on the 27th of Ramadan no less!). He then went on to note several role models in his life with a special emphasis on Shaykh Jamaal Zarabozo. After all of this, he then began to discuss the topic of Uloom-ul-Qur’an. All of this was fascinating for me because I was roughly around the same age as him when he began researching the books of Uloom-ul-Qur’an, Jamaal Zarabozo was going to be one of the instructors at IlmSummit, and the whole topic of Uloom-ul-Qur’an was presented in such an amazing academic manner that it only kept on increasing my anticipation for IlmSummit.

After a brief layover in Charlotte, North Carolina, our plane reached Houston and I found myself soon outside of the George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) in the glaring heat around 11am, waiting for the shuttle to take me to the hotel. When the shuttle came round, there were three other Muslims that joined me; two brothers from Qabeelat Quwwa at Rochester, New York, and Sr. Ify, the Ameerah of my Qabeelah in the DC Metro Area, Qabeelat Nurayn. I began talking to the Rochester brothers, Asim and Imran, about their newly-founded Qabeelah amidst other things, and we quickly became friends over the course of that short trip. Turns out, one of them was developing his own Islamic studies major and the other one was receiving a graduate degree in Neuroscience. I was humbled to be around such students of knowledge, Masha’Allah.

The shuttle arrived at the hotel shortly after, and my companions and I took our luggage and entered the Crown Plaza Hotel. Masha’Allah, no joke, the hotel was very nice and there was this feeling of welcome and openness as we entered. Haytham Soliman, the program manager of the whole event, was there to greet us and immediately began treating us as if he knew us for years as he began piling on joke after joke with each statement. After receiving that warm welcome, I checked into the hotel and then went up to my room and dropped off all of my luggage. Masha’Allah, the room was very nice and as I sat down on one of the futons, I felt the fatigue of the day’s travels slowly wash over me. In a matter of seconds, I was fast asleep, with the bed literally a few inches away. I was way too tired to care.

Settiling in at the IlmSummit hotel

I woke up a couple of hours later, and then made my way down to the hotel lobby. The program was going to begin in an hour or so, so I decided to go ahead and meet as many brothers as possible before that. In the span of those few minutes, I met Qari Uthman Khan, Shiraz (IlmSummit blog here), Ahmed and the other Haqq brothers from SoCal, Hamid Syed and the other Nurayn brothers from Washington DC, Nihal Khan and the other Durbah brothers from New Jersey, as well as Ammar Al-Shukry and the other Tayybah brothers from New York. It was truly beautiful seeing all of these students of knowledge coming in from all around the United States, and even more beautiful when we saw the Shuyookh checking into the hotel; these same Shuyookh have their own homes in Houston, but yet they are sacrificing all of those comforts so that they can be here with us for the full week, Alhamdulillah.

Shaykh Uthman with a student from Houston and another from New York

The program began around 7:30pm with a beautiful recitation by Qari Uthman Khan. Right after that, Shaykh Yasir Qadhi, the Ameer of IlmSummit, stood up and gave an introductory speech. Masha’Allah, this speech was very inspiring and it finally really made me realize that I was at IlmSummit and that we were going to be in intensive classes with all of the other Mashaayikh for the next seven days. He talked about going on a Rihlah, a travel, for knowledge and its importance and benefits for the students of knowledge. He said that we are continuing the legacy of the great pious predecessors before us as they used to also travel very far for sometimes just one Hadith. The speech felt especially special to me because he made several references to the Ash’ari theology, the people of Kalaam, and related matters, and SubhanAllah, I was just reading about the same content from the same author, only this time he was right in front of me! Many of the proofs that he was including in the speech were actually new material, so it was really as if this speech was an addendum for the book that he had written several years ago. I used to always wonder how would it be if Shaykh Yasir was to write another version of his highly acclaimed book, and here it was SubhanAllah.

Shaykh Waleed Basyouni also gave a nice speech, welcoming us to IlmSummit and reflecting on a lot of what Shaykh Yasir told us. He was very enthusiastic about his theology classes and repeatedly brought them up so many times that the whole class was feeling the contagious spirit and getting in the mood of wanting those classes as soon as possible. After the main Shuyookh gave their introductory remarks, Haytham came up, welcomed us, and then gave each of us a full, grandiose IlmSummit binder with several books and memorabilia to make sure we had everything needed to make our learning successful.

We went back to our rooms exhilarated and excited. Can’t wait for tomorrow!!

(Verse one)

I can’t escape, its everywhere I go
In the news in the paper, in all that I know

From state to state, shore to shore
Plagued to the heart, down to the core

Undivided and conquered we’re all torn apart
This is coming from inside, straight from my heart

This is all I’m thinking, day and night
We seem to think we’re always right

When I go to the Masjid, I don’t know who’s leading
Who’s sitting by my side, I don’t know who’s praying

Do I give salaam, do I bother to care
I looked at him, all I got was a stare

(Chorus)

At the end of the day there’s one way to go
There’s one way to see, one way to show

As bright as the sun, vast as the sea
To be one unit, one family

Flow of a river, one current
The walk of a march, one movement

Oh brother or sister, I see you, you see me
Together in one cause, one final destiny

Together we rise, together we fall
Hands together forever standing tall

(Verse Two)

I once had a dream it seemed so real
Changed the way I thought, the way I feel

I saw a brother, I never met before
We arrived at the Masjid, he opened the door

He gave me salaam and hugged me like a brother
It made me tear, like none other

What was wrong he asked of me
His kindness made me, so happy

His words stayed with me for so long
Running in my head, on and on

We’re all equal to Allah
Five times a day, we pray Salah

From He we came, to Him we shall return
To unify should be our only concern

A single stick will break so easily
But a bundle sticks, will never be

(Chorus)

At the end of the day there’s one way to go
There’s one way to see, one way to show

As bright as the sun, vast as the sea
To be one unit, one family

Flow of a river, one current
The walk of a march, one movement

Oh brother or sister, I see you, you see me
Together in one cause, one final destiny

Together we rise, together we fall
Hands together forever standing tall

(Verse Three)

What was in my dream, I wish was true
A world where no differences, between me and you

Foot to foot, in a straight line we pray
Forgive our egos that get in the way

Piety and humbleness we need to learn
And let our arrogance, just let it burn

Take a look around, shake a hand
Spread the salaam, to every man

As small as a smile, it can be charity
The best are small deeds, made consistently

I plead with you all, forgive me
Let’s try to live, to live in unity

It’s just that one remained ordinary, while the other went the extra mile, making him extraordinary.

Sounds too simple to be true? Take a quick look at the famous personalities around us. Whether they are famous in the field of politics, sports, acting, or any other prolific career, they usually got there by simply putting in the extra time that others didn’t. In politics, anybody can theoretically run for an elected position, yet we only ever see two or three people, out of hundreds and thousands of people, run to get elected for a government position. This is true not only in politics, but in almost every type of leadership and working capacity. Roger Staubach, a businessman and Hall of Fame quarterback, once said,

“There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.”

If you find yourself along the extra mile and look around, you will notice that there are only handful amounts of people . You essentially become a pioneer, carving out undiscovered lands of Barakah and opportunity for others to follow. Every step that you take in this extra mile is a historic first in its own right.

It sounds great from all aspects, so why don’t we see Muslims actually taking the extra mile? I personally see several syndromes that account for this:

1. The 9-5 Job Syndrome - It’s practically set in stone; an employee signs in at 9am, works the day (with lunch and several breaks of course), and then promptly leaves as soon as the clock hits 5pm. It’s a job after all, so why bother staying longer than necessary?

The sad thing is that many apply this rationale to their Islamic activism. This is not limited to part-time Islamic activists, but also includes those who work full-time hours for an Islamic cause and/or organization. It so happens that as soon as the time shows that it’s time to go, they promptly shut off their whirling brains and head out for home, their mind now thinking about what will be for dinner instead of caring for what they were doing just a few minutes ago. The problem is not necessarily that they leave immediately, but that there is no semblance that they have a strong attachment to their work. It shouldn’t be that they view their work…as work or as a chore, but it should rather be that they view it as their life mission. They eagerly share their ideas for Islam with others, they inspire their families and friends to get more involved in the community, and they’re constantly working and being productive because their motivation is not money, but Jannah. They’re always aiming to be along the extra mile.

A friend of mine was once talking to his mother-in-law, and he mentioned to her that he once became very amazed when this one brother  told him that he was working three jobs to keep his children in an Islamic school. His mother-in-law replied,

“This is not putting the brother down or anything, but this is what every Muslim needs to do to make sure that the Ummah moves forward. I also had to work two jobs, attend medical school, and look after my children”.

SubhanAllāh, just think about that for a moment; she is saying that at the very least, we need to pump more than 120 hours per week for Islam. This would not only us very far on the extra mile, but it would ensure that Islam truly becomes a Deen, a way of life, for us. I’ve seen Muslim friends wearing t-shirts that proudly proclaim, “I eat, drink, breathe, walk, talk, and sleep [insert favorite team]”.

Perhaps it’s time that we insert Islam in there.

2. The “Good Enough” Syndrome – “Just slap a “beta” sticker onto the project and release it to the world” – that’s the way several Muslim organizations have been operating ever since their inception, unfortunately. They simply complete the bare minimum and see no reason to do anymore. As Muslims, this really should not be the way we conduct ourselves because our aim is to have Ihsan, excellence, in everything we do. Whenever I try bringing this up to others, they normally retort in an exasperated tone, “Well, I know that it’s impossible to reach perfection, so why bother trying?” Well, nobody’s asking you to be fully perfect, but we are saying that good is the enemy of great. We can no longer afford to be mediocre. We can no longer have our projects laying around half-completed. The focus needs to immediately shift from focusing on quantity, to focusing on the quality of our work as  this will directly accelerate our Ummah’s growth.

3. Laziness Syndrome – At the end of the day, it all comes down to being lazy (I wouldn’t be surprised if someone flinched while reading the title and seeing the words “Extra” and “Mile”). Ustadh Muhammad AlShareef once mentioned in his lecture, “Lazy Boy”, that laziness is actually at the root of many sins that people commit; they steal and gamble because they are too lazy to earn Halal money, they commit Zinaa’ (fornication) because they are too lazy to get married, etc. In the same way, many are just way too lazy to get up and go the extra mile. They are in their comfort zone and have no wish to ever get out of it.

Sorry, but all of us need to get out of our comfort zones, especially since it may just be a trap of Shaytaan. Imam AbdulBasit once gave an excellent Halaqah on this topic and mentioned that Shaytaan’s initial trap is to get us to commit sins. If he doesn’t succeed in luring someone to do so, then he will try to get him to perform Mubaah (merely permissible, with no good or bad deeds gained) acts because that is better than that individual performing good deeds. It doesn’t stop there however, because an additional trap of Shaytaan, in the case that all else fails, is that he will try to get us to perform acts that are Mustahab (recommended, with good deeds gained). Why? Because it turns out that these good deeds are actually less in reward than others acts of worship of great reward and benefit that we could be doing with our time instead. SubhanAllāh…

Gauge yourself on this scale; are you in the extra mile zone, with Shaytaan frantically trying to keep you from performing the best of deeds, or are you still struggling with the bare minimum? Gauge your level, and then work on continuously improving yourself. Realize that Islam is a way of life, work around-the-clock for Allāh, make excellence your goal, and get out of your comfort zone. Insha’Allāh, in this way, our Ummah will move forward.

May Allāh (subhanahu wa ta’ala) help us to reach and continue through the extra mile. Ameen…

I tried convincing my parents numerous times to let me get one, but it was all to no avail. I slowly resigned myself to the fact that I’d never be as cool as others…I’d never fully understand my classmates’ conversations…

My life was over.

“Want to come and help distribute the Zakat-ul-Fitr?,” my father asked me.

It was a clear and bright sunny day, and I decided to accompany my father and an uncle as they drove from address to address, delivering food for the truly needy. I quite enjoyed myself as I raced up and down the stairs while carrying packets of meat and grains in both hands.

As we got in our car, having finished dropping off some food at a house, we saw that house’s door suddenly burst open. A Muslim woman came running out, looking slightly distraught as she quickly made her way to talk to us before we left.

“Brothers, please help me; my husband left us and the landlord is trying to kick us out of this house. My young children are all still in school, and I can’t work here. Please help me…”, she implored in faltering English with a pleading look in her eyes. We quickly got her information and promised to send it to a local Masjid that had allocated funds for such cases.

We drove off very quietly.

As we drove off with Ramadan slowly came to a winding close, it finally hit me. How in the world can I ask for hundreds of dollars in consoles, games, and other luxuries while our sisters in Islam are suffering? How can we neglect and even ignore fellow Muslim families while we sit back and just relax?

Let’s concentrate on what is important and step up our activism to help our Muslim brothers and sisters for the sake of Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala). Many are suffering either physically or spiritually, so it is up to us to reach out to them and to get them to smile once more as they get back on their feet. Let’s not spend our money and time on buying and playing useless games, but spend it for the cause of Allah.

I leave you with a challenge: Get your game on.

“Therefore, treat not the orphan with oppression, repulse not the beggar; and proclaim the Grace of your Lord” – Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) in Surah Duha, Ayahs 9-11.

This is a question which has been lingering in the minds of many “Islamically-aware” youth in the Muslim community for a very long time. They may be the main volunteers in their Masjid, be active in their MSA, but cannot contemplate at why non-religious Muslim youth do not start practicing Islam after they tell them that their pants being too tight will cause them to go to hell :-/.

My intention with this post is to shed some light as to the proper and most effective way of guiding (in the directional sense; it’s only Allah who guides) Muslim youth who have strayed from the community, back to the Masjid. To start:

• Give Da’wah with Wisdom

In Surah Nahl it says, “Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction.” At the same time, Aa’isha (R) the wife of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “If the first revelation was to tell the Arabs to stop drinking, they would have never stopped drinking.” The Hadith went on to mention the act of fornication in that context as well. The whole point is that we cannot expect results in a day; rather, we need to be patient and persistent in the youth work we are involved in.

Anytime we call the youth towards Islam, we need to understand the circumstances surrounding them and what they are going through. You simply can’t tell a sixteen-year-old Muslim youth to not listen to Jay-Z if he is not praying Salah.

• Define the three types of Muslim Youth

This is a categorization which I adopted after listening to a lecture from Br. Nouman Ali Khan. He said that generally the Muslim youth in the West fall into three categories:

1. Religious Youth

They’re your MSA going, weekend seminar attending, shaykh so-and-so rocks, etc type of guys (You know who you are). They’re keen on gaining knowledge, want to go study overseas, and attend college/high school at the same time. They’re active in da’wah and are recognized in their communities. They teach at the local Sunday School, conduct the weekly halaqas, and truly care about their communities. InshaAllah they will be the leaders of the Muslim youth.

2. Mildly-Religious Youth (The Most Important Category – Read VERY Carefully)

THESE are the youth the religious crew need to focus on!

Who are they? They come to the masjid for Jumu’ah, come to the Friday night youth group, Islamic events, etc…but check this out, they still listen to music, could find some better friends to hang out with, and may even let a few curse words fly here and there. They have a relationship with the religious youth and with the third category (who will be talking about next), the non-religious youth. The religious Muslim youth need to understand that THESE are the guys who they need to work with and build a rock-solid relationship with! They are the most effective route towards getting across to the non-religious Muslim youth.

Instead of being Du’aat, Ameers, Ameerahs, MSA Presidents, and Youth Coordinators, learn to be good friends to the middle-men youth. Take them out to eat randomly and buy them a slice of pizza or something. Take them to the mall if they need a ride….you get the point!! Simply, be really chill with them. That’s the first thing before anything. As John Maxwell said, “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Secondly, do not focus on too many lecture/knowledge type events for them. The weekly Halaqa should be their main Islamic source of self-development. These Halaqas need to be lots of fun and attention catching. Make sure there are moments in which you have the guys on the edge of their feet, at times be laughing with them, and at times be really emotional with them. This will stir their emotions to make them think about their true purpose. And I am 110% against presenting educational material in Halaqas in which the middle-men youth are present. Sorry, but Usool al-Fiqh won’t work here; save it for a knowledge based Halaqa.

Thirdly, have lots of halal activities available for them. The middle-men youth have interests and hobbies…as a religious youth, you need to find out what they are!! For example, the youth I work with are into basketball, skiing, fencing, bowling, and the like. Last month, we went bowling. This month, we’re going to be playing basketball after Fajr every Sunday, football before the Halaqa on Fridays, etc. Basketball tournaments were a big turn on for our community’s youth…..then again, as one of the aspiring leaders of the youth, you would know what activities your community’s youth are into.

Another thing which is important is to be up to date with sports, movies, and music which is popular amongst the youth. I’m not saying go out of your way to watch or not watch Alice in Wonderland or Repo Men, or listen to the latest song by T-pain or Kesha, but at least do research and find out who’s song is on the top radio charts, which movie is currently a hit in the theaters, and who won the NBA All-Star game, the Superbowl, etc. If you’re not up to date with pop-culture and live in a cave, then it is time to get up to date.

3. Non-Religious Youth

These youth don’t come to the Masjid except on Fridays when their parents bring them. They also are not involved with the Masjid and may not pray, read Quran, etc. They have girlfriends/boyfriends, do drugs/alcohol, and also do not hang out with a healthy group of friends. The mildy religious crew is the only group to have a grip on these youth. They are the ones who can bring the non-religious youth towards the Masjid and/or activities planned by the religious youth. Of course the religious youth can have an effect on the non-religious youth directly, but it is the mildy-religious youth who can have a greater chance at convincing the non-religious youth through indirect means to come to the Masjid.

Keeping all of this in mind, we must never forget, even after putting in much effort to get the youth to come to the Masjid, that guidance is in the hand of Allah. We can only do so much as to ask Allah to put in us the ability to direct the youth towards Islam. Please do keep in mind this is a process which takes months and years and not hours and days to implement in the community. But InshaAllah, if we are steadfast, the fruits of this work will be seen in the future!

When they were younger, they used to attend the full-time/weekend school, spend hours at the playground with other children, attend the after-school Karate or sports program, participate in the community festivals, get scolded by their wizened elders, and get loved and spoiled by their uncles and aunties…They were being raised by the whole village, by the whole community.

What do they decide to do?

They turn their heads in scorn and traipse out the second they’re allowed to. They forget the love and care that was shown to them throughout the years. They forget the countless hours of works their parents spent to make sure they grew up to become happy Muslims. They forget the harsh sacrifices their teachers had to endure to make sure they received a high-quality Muslim education.

They forget all of this, and embrace the ‘real world’ with open arms. They stifle any thoughts of their childhood and try to fit in with their new circle of college students. They walk by former acquaintances without even a nod of acknowledgement. They ignore any pleas of help and assistance from their families and community members. They would rather live the high life. They would rather move up the career ladder, forgetting who were the ones responsible for their education and upbringing. After all, it was them that had to work hard, not their families, right?

Wrong. Believe that your community didn’t have a positive role on you, and you have committed a great travesty. Believe that you don’t need to give back to your community, and you have have committed an even greater travesty.

It’s time that we remember and appreciate the ones who brought us up. It’s time that we contribute back to the community that lovingly brought us up. It’s time that we realize that the Ummah will only move forward when we fix what is in ourselves and reach out to those all around us. It’s time we understand that we must be the flag-bearers of the new generation. It’s time that we stop being selfish and become selfless.

May Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) guide us all and help us to give back in a most beneficial manner to our communities.

For me, all I see are a bunch of gloomy clouds. MashaAllah it’s a beautiful picture, but tell me, do you see any STARs?

It seems that nowadays, all of our STARs have left us. They’re somewhere hidden and overshadowed by the flashing lights of this dunya. However, think back to the Prophet (SAW)’s time. He was in a desert, with no electric lights that were blinding. No need for them at all. All that was left after the Prophet (SAW) were the STARs.

STARs that shone so bright and lasted for so many years. They’d guide ships to discover new lands, and later on even had a study just for them (not necessarily astronomy).

The Sahabahs of that day were ordinary youths that gathered together and decided that they’d accept this message that the Prophet (SAW) brought: Islam. And although they were young, and weren’t very high people in society, they went on the front lines for Islam (even literally, check here about the Battle of Badr). They were the best generation.

Why were they the best, and how can you, as an average Muslim youth become like them?

Well, there were four areas that they all excelled in, and that’s what made them STARs. If you work on these areas, then you, too, will be able to work toward being like the best generation. STAR is an acronym, and represents four areas of your life that you can work on, they are:

Spirituality

Your relationship with Allah (SWT). This is otherwise known as your ‘Ibadah, or your worship. This area dares to ask the question, “Why are you a Muslim?” It taps into and builds the foundation of your identity. Simple things you can do to improve this are:

• Try to pray all 5 of your daily Salah
• Pray your Sunnah prayers as they guard your Fard prayers (if you’re lazy one day, you might neglect Sunnah rather than Fard)
• Seek to learn the meaning of what you say in Salah

Try to learn about these areas of Islam:

• Iman (and the six articles of it)
• Aqeedah (the foundation of Islamic beliefs)
• Shari’ah (the laws of the Qur’an interpreted by the ‘Ulama)

Training

This is also known as Tarbiyyah. It’s personal development. Basically, gaining knowledge and skills to apply that knowledge. With this, you begin to change and turn into a person that Allah is pleased with. Simple things you can do to improve this are:

• Practice everyday Adab (manners & etiquettes) like using your right hand to eat, sleeping on the right side, etc.
• Watching your speech, and trying to refrain from cursing or hurting others’ feelings.
• Try to guard your eyes, ears, and limbs from seeing, hearing, or doing what is disliked and forbidden by Allah

Try to learn about these areas of Islam:

• Tarbiyyah (Islamic Training and character development)
• Adab (manners & ettiquettes)
• Small Sunnan (plural of Sunnah) that the Prophet did, such as entering a room with the right foot, “Alhamdulillah” after you sneeze, etc.

Activism

This is your relationship with the community. How are you benefiting everyone around you? This can encompass community service, and things that you do just for the sake of Allah. Simple things you can do to improve this are:

• Look into and attend service projects already established (Project Downtown is a great one)
• Take advantage of any clubs or groups (Muslim or non-Muslim) that benefit humanity.
• Fulfill and surpass your 40-service-hour high school requirement (for U.S. students)

Try to learn about these areas of Islam:

• Seerah, specifically stories of how the Prophet dealt with non-Muslims

Relationships

You have countless relationships that you must nurture, and cherish. There’s the relationship with your parents, siblings, friends, fellow Muslims, non-Muslims, neighbors, and even more. When you master how you act toward all these people, you’ve truly accomplished something great. Simple things you can do to improve this are:

• Call up at least one friend a week, just to talk
• Commit to one good deed a day, whether it be for your parents, your friend, or other family
• Try to communicate and understand when dealing with others.
• Hold your tongue and try your hardest to stay away from anger. At all costs.
• Don’t jump to conclusions, or judge anyone.

Try to learn about these areas of Islam:

• Seerah, the Prophet as a father, a neighbor, a Muslim brother, and every other role.

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InshaAllah, if we realize that self-improvement and purification is encompassed in these four areas of your life, and we strive to improve them, the night sky will soon be brighter.

إِنَّا زَيَّنَّا السَّمَآءَ الدُّنْيَا بِزِينَةٍ الْكَوَكِبِ

“Verily! We have adorned the near heaven with the stars (for beauty).”

Surah Saffat 37:6

It’s time for us all to improve ourselves, and light up the night sky once again.

Photo 1: richiejay

Photo 2: slworking2

What was most striking about this game was that these teams were both representing Muslim-majority Arab countries but yet, we saw so much enmity. Even putting all the hatred and enmity aside, it is amazing just to see the millions of Muslims that tuned in to watch the show. Shaykh Muhammad AlShareef once said in a Khutbah,

“When a Muslim nation plays in the World Cup, over three million Muslims from that one country tune in to television to watch the game. Multiply that by the duration of the match, and you have almost five million hours of the ummah’s time wasted on a football game, in one sweeping night.”

That’s only if it were three million people tuning in to watch the game. Take how many people watched the World Cup in 2006 and you will be amazed; according to Fifa.com, there were “715.1 million viewers” in the final match alone and a “cumulative TV audience of 26.29 billion”. Imagine 26,290,000,000 spending their time watching soccer!

Out of all these numbers, it would be safe to say that at least 1,000,000,000 Muslims tuned in at one point to watch the games (if not drastically more). Just with these numbers, and multiplying it by the duration of a match (same way as done before), that would mean one billion six hundred sixty-six million six hundred sixty-six thousand seven hundred hours of the Ummah wasted, and that is just on a single World Cup. Take that and imagine how much time we waste on television, Internet, parties, etc…

It helps to think of your time as Ummah time. So for every minute that you waste, you have wasted a minute of the Ummah Timer. Conversely however, for every minute that you do something beneficial, the Ummah has just benefited from another action. If we are to think of our time from this viewpoint, we would see that our time is very limited and that we need to contribute as much as possible can before our deaths to benefit the Ummah. You may not think you yourself will make a major difference (the same way people who vote think they make no difference in a national election), but if you do it right and hundreds of thousands of millions do it also, then this would make a paradigm shift for our Ummah.

There’s the butterfly effect in which the flap of a butterfly can cause tornadoes in Kansas (or so it goes). You are more than a butterfly; you are a human being that Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) endowed with special talents. Go out and do something for the Ummah in your own unique way. Remember, it’s great to make grandiose long-term plans, but make sure to act on them daily and to inspire all those around you to do the same. In this way, the Ummah will regain the honor that it had sustained for many centuries past…