Trust your instincts. Our experiences and life expertise often guide us when something feels off.
Even the Prophet (PBUH) emphasized listening to that inner voice. When in doubt, seek the fatwa of your heart, even if others say otherwise.
Imam Zaid Shakir visited the encampment at UC Berkeley, established in support of the people of Gaza, while also urging support for the students involved.
Today we remember with gratitude and longing the seventh Sultan of the Ottoman State, the conqueror of Constantinople, the defender of Islam, the lover of the Prophet ﷺ, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Hân, who left this world 543 years ago on this day.
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We headed out with the brothers around 1145, fighting an hour and fifteen minutes or so of traffic to make it to the University of Chicago Campus.
The University of Chicago has a worldwide reputation of priding itself on freedom of speech and expression. Well, all of that got smashed to the wall this morning. A University-wide email went out hours before we left, the summary of which was, yes freedom of expression is great, but you had enough and now we're going to break it up.
Being forwarded this email by several brothers this morning, I was not quite sure what to expect.
The contingent of brothers who went with me to the Friday prayers, showed up on time, wearing white as we had agreed.
In the car, I finished my Kahf & YāSīn, and we read the Hizb al-Bahr followed by Hizb al-Nasr. The prospect of Chicago cops and riot gear are unnerving, but these are those litanies composed by the generations that had to face the crusaders and Mongols, and greater than them and all other things was the Word of Allah.
We arrived on campus, walking some distance from where we had parked to where the demonstrations were occurring. Not knowing our way around, I reached for my phone to pull out Google maps and figure out where we needed to go, but just 5 seconds of listening guided us to the direction of the protest because of how loud they were.
The side of the quad that we entered from, had very loud radio type music playing from the counterprotest. I'm told that the pro Zionist side had invited a bunch of frat boys, promising them free beer and music a bit before we had arrived.
By the time we got there, there was just a Rabbi and his couple of companions by the music and cooler, and the counter protesters had proceeded to get up in the face of the protesters, separated from them by about 30 ft and a number of police officers in heavy gear.
As we walk through the quad, the Rabbi sprinted at us, came right in front of me and blocked my path, as I was reading my du'ās on the way to our side of the protest. He was filming me with his camera. I just walked around him, and kept repeating my prayers, and after about 30 seconds, he seemed to almost be embarrassed by what he was doing, saying, unprompted, "I have to have a record of who comes and goes."
Like I care if you know who I am. One day my presence will be a source of pride for me, the day I meet the my Lord.
The anti-genocide protest was quite loud, and attended by several times more people than the counter-protest.
When it came time to pray, a number of protesters left their positions in order to form a cordon around us.
It was very loud from every side in the quad, I grabbed the mic, and even though we were outgunned in the speaker department, I asked two of the brothers who came with me to hold our modest size speaker up so that the attendees could hear better over all of the noise coming from every side.
Not knowing what to expect, I wore my Ihrām from several Hajj journeys, with the intention of making a feeble imitation of our Akābir Mashāyikh, to come to those places where the truth must be spoken, wearing one's burial shroud clothes.
This is the Friday sermon that I gave:
UC Berkeley encampment. Students making Qiyam Layl 🤲🏼. Powerful display of Love for humanity . May they be given strength and accept our prayers. Ameen
@hwmaqbul#FreeGazza
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Building bonds that last a lifetime! Imam Ali (R) guides us on the beautiful journey of parenting.
From playful moments to teaching Adab, every stage is a treasure.
Let's cherish these years & nurture strong connections with our children.
#parentinggoals#Adab#muslimparenting
Meet Lumumba, our instructor”. He has worked quietly and diligently behind the scenes since 2016. We ask him what’s happening today.
A 46-page handwritten assignment just landed on his desk. This student is advanced in his studies, Lumumba has his reference library to hand.