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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Reflections on MAS Tarbiya & Ilm camp 2003 |
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| AyeshaZ |
| 09/14/03 at 17:39:13 |
[slm] alhamdullilah got the following e-mail.. Amazing reflection... masha'Allah wassalamu 'alaykum AyeshaZ Assalamu aliukum In the last 10 days of August, approximately 80 University students attended 2 MAS Tarbiya and Ilm Camps, in Boston and Ottawa. The camp attendants were mostly in open usar. They benefited tremendously as these camp, when done right, are indeed a life transforming event. Hope that next year you will insha Allah recommend strongly to all Open Usar members, and others you are working with. One of the camp attendants, sister Aisha Shillingford, wrote this article below about her experience. Insha Allah sometimes soon, the TIC2003 boston web site will be updated. Last year's web site is on : http://www.masyouthboston.org/TICamp/ THe article : ----------------- How many times we remembered a time when we were happy In the book of Allah, we recite in the morning and the evening How many times we remembered a time when we were happy In the book of Allah, we recite in the morning and the evening Ghurabaa`, ghurabaa`, ghurabaaa` ghurabaa` Ghurabaa`, ghurabaa`, ghurabaaa` ghurabaa` As we pulled into the driveway of Bement Camp and Conference Center in Charlton, Masschusetts I was overcome by a mixture of relief and apprehension. We had just arrived after having driven for two hours from Boston. Most of the trip had been spent in bumper to bumper traffic as thousands of Friday afternoon commuters braved torrential rainshowers, unaware of the small caravan that was slowly making its way to the Tarbiya & 'Ilm Camp 2003. I looked around at the familiar landscape and braced myself for the nostalgia that I was sure would soon hit me. I had attended the Camp the previous year and the experience had been mind-blowing, earth-shattering, life-changing - cliched but true. I was worried that this year's experience would have less of an effect on me since I had been through it all before. Nevertheless I remained hopeful, speculating about what the nature of the transformation would be this time around. The next morning we eagerly awaited this year's attendees. I had been given the role of "Sisters Welcoming Committee", a task that I was not well suited for but nevertheless accepted quietly. Armed with name tags, markers and a binder for security I made my way down to the gates waiting to welcome the sisters as they arrived. As the cars began to roll through the gate one by one it finally dawned on me that this was really going to happen. All the planning that had taken place over the previous months was beginning to take effect. The attendees this year were, in large part, all new, and it occurred to me that, for that reason, this was going to be a very different experience. As we settled in to the first day of the program it was hard to believe that we would be able to achieve everything set out for us in the schedule. It was evident that the organizers had our best interest at heart and clearly wished for us to maximize every single minute. And I do mean every single minute. Even sleep had been scheduled into the program. The schedule offered a promising mix of lectures, spiritual activity, brotherhood/sisterhood activities and three square meals per day, something I was sure had ceased to exist and certainly a term that had become absent from the lexicon of the average college student. As I reflected on the faces around the table as we listened to the orientation, I felt hopeful. Hopeful, that with the help of Allah (SWT) and the company of sisters like these the experience would be amazing. Throughout the camp there was much talk of intention. During the early ta'aruf sessions we were asked what we hoped to achieve during the next nine days. Sub7anaAllah there were so many lofty aspirations and I wondered if it was possible that these hopes could be fulfilled in such a short time. The first test of the camp came quickly. Would this motley group of travelers, some of whom were complete strangers, be able to conquer the initial desire to put up barriers between themselves? Alhamdulillah we had no choice. We were thrust right away into ta'aruf sessions that required us to share aspects of our personalities normally reserved for close friends who had earned the right to those parts of our brains only after months, maybe years, of companionship. But, as the camp progressed, it seemed we were all on the fast track to lasting friendship. A friendship based solely on the love we all had in our hearts for Allah (SWT) and His Prophet (SAW). What had begun as common courtesy coupled with a genuine eagerness to learn about and from each other burgeoned into the kind of friendship that, by the end of the camp, left us literally clinging to each other, not for life, but for love. We quickly overcame the superficial differences created by a society obsessed with ethnicity, race, age and nationality and found that we didn't have to dig too deep to discover that every single one of us had certain basic things in common. Out of the hundreds of people who had heard about this camp, this small group had been chosen by Allah (SWT) to actually be there. Every single one of us had returned to Islam in some way or the other and had stopped to drink at the same watering hole along our respective life journeys. All the false societal constructs that usually governed relationships between people were peeled away one by one as we returned to a way of interacting that was closer to what was intended by Allah (SWT) and was implemented by the Prophet (SAW). People who the day before had never even heard of each other's home towns were suddenly sleeping together in cabins, eating together, learning together, playing together and praying shoulder to shoulder, feet to feet. The perfect balance was struck between lowered gazes and proper hijab for both men and women. Brothers and sisters were brought together for the noble purposes of knowledge and prayer and at other times gave each other the necessary privacy to relax and let loose. Nothing was more instrumental in bringing us closer together than the effect of praying together in jam'ah every day for 9 days. One of the sisters had remarked to me saying, " Nine days times five prayers per day PLUS qiyam!! That's approximately forty-five prayers or more in jam'ah with the same people!!" It seems almost impossible now that we were all waking up for qiyam every night for 9 nights. It is even more unimaginable that we did so on an average of 5 hours of sleep per day. Alhamdulillah we were all eager to face our Lord in the last thirds of those nights listening to the sweet sounds of the Qur'an and feeling our hearts swell with the overwhelming feeling of closeness to Allah (SWT). Our closeness to Allah (SWT) and each other grew throughout the nine days as we learned more about our Creator and our Deen in the lectures. Blessed with the presence of speakers and scholars such as Nadeem Siddiqui, Sameera Ahmed, Imam Suhaib Webb, Dr. Jamal Badawi, Dr. Suhail Ghannoushi, Dr. Yasser Hadara, Hossam El-Gabri and Saif Abdul-Rahman it became apparent that while the lectures were extremely enlightening and beneficial, some of the greatest lessons were learnt while sitting at lunch with them or talking with them about their life's experiences. One of the most valuable lessons learnt was the lesson of humility. Just the way in which these speakers carried themselves and interacted with us provided gentle reminders about the best of Islamic behavior. The way in which we were taught allowed us to conclude that really knowledge of this Deen is a valuable thing. Alhamdulillah we weren't allowed to fool ourselves into thinking that we were now among the knowledgeable. Rather we were forced to come to terms with the reality of the knowledge we lacked. The fire of the quest for knowledge had been lit at the camp and it would be up to us to continue to pursue it once we returned to our homes. We were blown away by accounts of the Rasool (SAW) and his companions. We had read the Seerah many times before but Allah (SWT) blessed us with new understanding during this camp alhamdulillah. We were taught to love the Qur'an and to be excited about reading it. We were told to be creative in our Da'wah and discovered the purpose of life. We had slowly begun to align ourselves with the natural environment around us. Gone were the fleeting distractions of television, internet and the vagaries of our daily lives. We began to notice the slightest breeze and the smallest of insects. Reflections on the Qur'an became deeper and we had begun to make the connections between our own lives and the verses we were reading in Surat Al-Ankabut. Everything seemed so simple; the truth seemed so clear. We were living life the way it should be; at peace with our surroundings, unable to resist everything around us and everything within us gently nudging us towards Allah (SWT). By the time the last few days rolled around we didn't want to leave. This was home now. This was where our hearts felt at peace. Who would want to leave such a place? Who would want to leave people like these? We wanted to stay more than anything but reality dictated otherwise. We had been charged with a heavy responsibility and it required us to leave and take with us what we had learnt and teach it to others. We could not afford to become complacent and satisfied with just living our lives in this camp. As a group we had become bonded based on our shared experiences and now it was time to take those experiences and channel them into meaningful Islamic work. We had been broken down completely and built back up with something much stronger inside; and this thing, whatever it was, needed to be conveyed to other people. As we prayed our last prayer together on Sunday afternoon, my heart felt heavy. It was all over but it was also just beginning. We packed up our belongings, removed every trace of our presence and got back on our various paths to meet again inshaAllah on the shores of the rivers of Jannah. We might meet again in this life, but it would be nothing like these 9 days. To the strangers of Tarbiya & 'Ilm Camp 2003, always remember that time when we were happy in the Book of Allah which we recited morning and evening. Glad tidings to the strangers. |
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