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| studying in Muslim countries and becoming a.... |
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| Doha_03 |
| 12/16/03 at 20:34:07 |
| [slm] Lately I have been interested in the lives of sheikhs and sheikhas. I have always wanted to study in a Muslim country. I think it would be easier to go where I have family. So now I have a few questions for ya!........ What country do you think is a nice one to study in? I have a lot of family in Yemen, an aunt in Saudi, and an aunt and uncle in the UAE. Do you think it matters if you have family there? And here is a question that has always bothered me........................... What must one do to become a sheikh or sheikha? How much schooling, experience, etc is required? Does age matter, like could you study during high school, after high school, after college...........? Any input or opinions would be really helpful. Thanks in advance! Wasalaam Doha :-) |
| Re: studying in Muslim countries and becoming a... |
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| Ayaatee |
| 12/17/03 at 23:21:47 |
| [slm] Doha, What a wonderful aspiration you have! May Allah facilitate a way for you to acheive your goals, ameen! All of those countries that you mentioned have great opportunities within them for Muslimaat to obtain ilm, Insha'Allah. First, though, before one can jump to become a shaykha, she has to be talibah al ilm...a student of knowledge. I believe the student phase can be a long time. Of course we can never stop learning and even the shaykh has a shaykh. But in terms of reaching a certain level - such as being considered an Alim or Alimah.. then I believe the Ulemah themselves would have to give that sort of credit. Although, just because someone isn't an Alim or Alimah doesn't mean they are not learned. Basically, I think it depends on how far you would like to go, Insha'Allah. There aren't any boundaries. The more you learn and are able to practice, the people will Insha'Allah recognize! I hope that helps. |
| Re: studying in Muslim countries and becoming a... |
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| Ayaatee |
| 12/17/03 at 23:24:27 |
Also, I wanted to say Ummul Qurrah in Makkah is a very good school. I have some muslimah friends attending and they all are very appreciative of their instructors. |
| Re: studying in Muslim countries and becoming a... |
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| muslimah853 |
| 12/18/03 at 13:47:27 |
| [slm] You mentioned that you have family in Yemen. Dar al Mustafa in Yemen is a good place to start, here's their website. The school is for brothers only *but* the same people have a separate school for sisters that they run...I think it's called Dar az Zahra. You can get information on the women's program by contacting them insha'allah. http://www.daralmustafa.org/about.htm |
| Re: studying in Muslim countries and becoming a... |
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| Nomi |
| 12/20/03 at 00:29:24 |
| [slm] Come on madina team, you guys arn't impressing me! This litle sis of ours is taking this gr8 step of going for full time islamic studies and no encouragement for her!!!! We need more power Muslimahs inshaAllah, atleast pray for the success of our lil sis. Here is the update on my cousin... The madrassa she goes to requires fee unlike many other madrassas in Pakistan that dont! They have a gr8 course outline and also register girls after 10th grade. Her batch is of 23 girls and her parents and a couple of other ppl around keep encouraging her for this step towards deen. Whats saddening is this other uncle of mine who discouraged the move and told my uncle (her father) not to listen to "us molvis"!!!!!!! Perfect.......................... you find opposition everywhere dont you! But what he probly doesn't know is that opposition also makes some ppl stronger and work with more zeal. So inshaAllah as this uncle who opposed, himself has four grand daugthers (my first cousins kids) so my next goal would be to convince my cousin to encourage his daughters, atleast two, to be shaykhas..... when the time comes inshaAllah, as now they are only litle adorable kids :) Actually our problem is that we have so many ppl around us who are tangled up in dunya and think of deen as something low (Astagfirullah). But as i said, this attitude only makes some of us more zealous alhamdulillah. And i have a friend in UAE, i can ask him for info on religious schools there if you want me to. Take good care and be a power Muslimah inshaAllah [slm] Your brother. |
| Re: studying in Muslim countries and becoming a... |
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| Doha_03 |
| 12/20/03 at 00:41:58 |
| [slm] Thank you so much everyone for your help and support! I checked out that site for Dar al Mustafa and mashaAllah it looks like a great school. Their student schedule sounds nice and peaceful. Too bad it's only for bros. I'll have to check out the sis's school. I asked my dad how far away that was from Aden (his home city that he plans on retiring to in a few years inshaAllah) and he said it was like 11 hours away. He says he has heard wonderful things about Tarim and it is a humble little city. What Bro Nomi said about us getting caught up in the dunya really got me thinking. My dad said he has always imagined me as a Pediatrician with my own little clinic. That would be cool and all, but I'd rather think about what could benefit me in the dunya as well as in the akhara. I live like 5 min away from the most highly populated Middle Eastern area in the US but unfortunatley we don't have many sisters active in the community. No sister's programs or lectures or seminars (except for the MSA) and inshaAllah my goal for this Winter Break is to find out how I can help. I also am going to visit that Charter School on Tuesday inshaAllah! Thanks again everyone Wasalaam Doha :-) |
| 12/20/03 at 00:44:10 |
| Doha_03 |
| Re: studying in Muslim countries and becoming a... |
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| Matheerah |
| 12/21/03 at 13:17:22 |
| [slm] You have a good goal in life your going for sister :), yes thier are many places you can do full time Islamic Studies (Alimah) course, but as a suggestion not that i know many in saudi, but i personaly studied in South Africa, and Alhumdullilah i got a wonderful job, yet applying for another, i hope you success in bothe the worlds. Ameen Make dua for me too. Qurrah! |
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| tarimi_sis |
| 12/28/03 at 11:58:17 |
| [slm] :) Doha, masha'Allah you have a very high niyyah and because you want to seek the path of ilm, I pray that Allah makes this journey easy for you. As you know, taking on this path is a bumpy one but you will reap many benefits in this journey for the duniya and most importantly, the akhirah. I can already picture you in Darul Zahra. ;D Alhamdulillah, studying in Tarim is a great thing that you can embark on because this place is filled with amazing scholars. Abu Bakr (raa) made a special dua for this place, one being for the water (lots of good water here), for the scholars that many will emerge and I can't remember the last one exactly. If you get to know the Habaib too (like Habib Ali bin Jifri who is the most popular d'aee in the middle east now) and Habib Umar...you will instantly fall in love. As for the Dar, there are many young sisters studying there and the itinerary is pretty much the same as Darul Mustafa. Right now there are many sisters from the west who are studying here which is amazing! They offer Seerah, Fiqh, Suluk-Adab, Tajweed, Hifz-Quran and much more. I highly suggest you look at these two sites which might help answer your questions: http://communities.msn.com/thehabaib http://guidancemedia.com Below is a great article about Darul Zahra that was taken from the first site by a sister who attended. Take khayr, Tarimi_sis :-) ____________________________________________________________ In the name of Allah May peace and blessings be upon the best of creation… The Blessed Dar Al-Zahra in the Blessed Land of Tarim -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Dar (abode) of the beloved to the beloved. The Dar of our Sayyidatna Fatimah Al-Zahra, the beloved daughter of our Beloved Messenger Sayyidna Muhammad (may peace and blessings be upon him) is where I found myself. It is this Dar in which I am beginning to hope to know my Lord. The secrets in this Dar are plenty and the mercy and forgiveness are pouring down continuously due to the innumerable gatherings of mahabba (love of Allah), gatherings of sisterhood, gatherings of nearness to Allah, gatherings that remove the filth from the hearts and bring forth the light that has never shone before. As one of the Sheikhs here said, “The dua’s in this place are mustajab.” The sisters begin their day around 3:30a.m for Tahajjud; praying and reading the adhkar (dua’s and dhikr) until time for prayer. The feelings that one feels are unexplainable—calling out to their Lord at the last part of the night in a Dar so illuminated with sincere hearts! Sincere hearts all turning to the Giver of Life! The first time in my life feeling the feelings of having found that THIS IS WHAT I WAS CREATED FOR! The feeling of poverty Allah places in the heart at this time along with the knowledge of Him being our only Goal, Hope, and End are unexplainable. Approximately 65 students live in Dar Al-Zahra at this time. Six just arriving from Singapore about 2 weeks ago, adding on to the list of countries the sisters come from. From amongst them are Indonesia, Malaysia, America, Britain, Kenya, Sweden, Egypt, the Comoros Islands, and other parts of Yemen as well. After the morning prayer there are more adhkar until sunrise. Then we pray Salatu-Shurooq and they may eat a small breakfast until classes begin. At 7:00a.m they meet in the school for a small lesson given by one of the teachers or one of the advanced students before beginning the actual classes as a means of reminding each other of our intentions here and to bring out the himma (aspirations) before class that day. Classes are all given in Arabic by teachers from Indonesia and Yemen six days a week. The age of our classmates vary as well. You may have a 12 year old sister and a 35 year old sister in the same class! It is all based on what you already know or what level you feel comfortable in.For example, some of my teachers are younger than me and the amount of knowledge they possess is simply amazing, ma sha Allah. And this actually helps to make one strive even more. From 7:30am we begin with our classes until 10:30am, having four classes daily. The subjects are Qur’an, Fiqh, Seerah, Arabic Grammar, Adab, Tafseer, Hadith, and Tawheed, depending what day it is. Also Al-Habib Umar’s wife comes and teaches us one of Imam Al-Hadadd’s texts after we do a Mawlid on Tuesdays. All of this takes place in the school. Outside of the classes, there are several other activities such as sessions given by Al-Habib Umar’s wife. A large dhikr session every Tuesday. A Mawlid every Thursday. A Burda recitation every Friday. Da’wah outings to nearby villages to train and prepare us for da’wah back in our countries. And Al-Habib Umar himself may visit the Dar once in a while to give us advice or a lesson on how to give da’wah. Most of his lessons, however, are listened to on the radio, as far as the women are concerned. There is a “Dar Al-Mustafa” radio station that, al-hamdulillah, we are able to listen to and hear almost everything that goes on there, ma sha Allah. Any free time the sisters have is usually spent studying, reading, reviewing, etc. As for the sisters who live outside of the Dar, such as the married sisters like myself, we usually attend the classes in the morning then return back to our homes unless there are any other gatherings that day. We are able to stay the night or go to the Dar outside class time if we want to do that also. The married sisters all live near the Dar so we all walk to the school together or separately. This description of Dar Al-Zahra in no way explains the true reality of what it is like to attend it. All I can say is that I feel so blessed to be in a land like Tarim surrounded by students of knowledge and scholars of this magnificent deen, and most importantly amongst the blessed and illuminated family of our Beloved Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him. We have hope in Allah that in attending this blessed Dar, in this blessed land, with these blessed people that we will be amongst the plentiful fruits that they will produce, inshAllah—the fruits that will aid in giving victory to Allah and His Beloved Messenger! (peace and blessings be upon him). |
| 12/28/03 at 12:00:11 |
| tarimi_sis |
| Re: studying in Muslim countries and becoming a... |
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| strait-talkin-sis |
| 12/28/03 at 13:55:23 |
| [slm] MashaAllaah it sounds like a wonderful place......I'm reaaaallly impressed and would love to visit the school to check it out insha'allah. I'm based quite close to the country, in fact San'aa is just a few hours drive from here. But we've been hearing all kinds of things about the security situation in Yemen in the media here.. I'm wondering, would it be possible to give me more info re: the visa procedures, costs, accomodation etc, initially just for a visitor... Jazakumullah and may Allaah swt grant us all the towfeeq to learn about and follow the straight path |
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| Doha_03 |
| 12/28/03 at 16:49:56 |
| [slm] MashaAllah it sounds beautiful! I was talking to a family friend and she was telling me about this school her daughter was going to in Egypt. I was asking her about Tarim and why her daughter didn't like it and she told me it was funded by Al-Qaeda and that all schools in Yemen and most in Saudi are funded by Al-Qaeda. ??? She also told me that most schools that teach only about Islam and not language, brainwash you into learning extreme Islam. I don't think thats true though. Does anyone know if it is? Thanks again everyone for everything! :)So far I'm thinking about Tarim or that school in Egypt. I'm gonna email that lady's daughter and ask her some questions. Wasalaam, Doha :-X |
| Re: studying in Muslim countries and becoming a... |
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| ouch |
| 12/29/03 at 01:10:40 |
| [slm] I've been reading through this thread and I think its wonderful to see that mashallah so many sisters are interested in learning the deen. May Allaah reward you all for your niyah and efforts and bless all of us with 'ilm an nafi' -- knowledge which benefits us in this world and in the hereafter. Please excuse my ignorance, but there are a few things I don't understand , could one of the sisters please be kind enough to explain: [quote] A Mawlid every Thursday. A Burda recitation every Friday [/quote] and [quote] Also Al-Habib Umar’s wife comes and teaches us one of Imam Al-Hadadd’s texts after we do a Mawlid on Tuesdays [/quote] What does this mean?? I'm also wondering how feasible is it for single Muslim women to congregate in a strange place without any mehram, even for the purposes of gaining knowledge? Perhaps sisters could also look into some of the excellent distance learning courses offered by the American Open University, London Open College etc, besides many other online courses which offer a person the chance to gain knowledge within their own homes. I've taken one of the courses myself and can vouch for the fact that masha'allah they're extremely enlightening and thorough. [wlm] :-) |
| 12/29/03 at 01:13:36 |
| ouch |
| Re: studying in Muslim countries and becoming a... |
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| tarimi_sis |
| 12/29/03 at 08:48:12 |
| [slm] Sister Doha, please do not listen to people who don't know anything about Tarim. It is just plain ignorance what that person told you b/c Tarim and the schools here (Darul Zahra) and Darul Mustafa are not funded by any organization, especially Al-Qaeda. To tell you the truth, half of the people here don't even know what Al-Qaeda is!!! I don't know about other schools in Yemen and Saudi (she could be right about that) but Darul Mustafa and Darul Zahra are not supported by what she told you. Please again if you have any questions about the schools the greatest resource or starting point would be to look at Br. Khalil's homepage (the message board). The website is: http://communities.msn.com/thehabaib It's 2 great schools that focuses on Traditional Learning and you will know that once you enter into tarim. This land is filled with ulema and amazing people who are related to the family of the prophet [saw]. As for Sister ouch's inquiries, with due respect to you sister...I cannot answer your questions about Mawlid and Burda. I am not going to get into such a heated discussion. If you want more information you can look at the site above. As far as women leaving the Dar....the women don't leave the dar here. It is very segregated. They come to Tarim with their mahrems...be it father, brother, husband, etc. But they stay in the Dar for their studies. Habib Umar's wife comes to the Dar to teach. She is a scholar and not a student in case you were confused. All of your questions can be answered at the site I gave you and if you have more then just write it on that site inshaAllah. May Allah SWT make this road easy for you Sister Doha and give you Tawfeeq in it. Aameen. tarimi_sis :-) |
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| IMuslim_4Ever |
| 12/29/03 at 16:03:38 |
| [slm] Mashaalllah! Thanks a thousand time sis Doha for starting this thread! O mahsallah! This is so cool! Sis Doha i have the same thought and same dream in my mind and in my heart! :) i remember of being sooo confuse b4 starting college... i even started a post asking my brothers and sisters of Medina to help to come up with a decision about what to study... like yours my family dream of me becoming a doctor... "...for humanity…the doctor’s always work for the best of people's interest and they are rewarded in this world and hereafter..." - comments of my family... well they are right of course... But i used to think, is that what i really want? its true that i want to work for humanity, want to help as many people as i can, and i also want to build my ahirath (hereafter)... but really is that what i really really want? Will i be happy? Satisfied? ... So on... i was restless... i am still kindda restless... but one semester of college and other events that happened that is now helping me to be content and to have sabr at least for now... in college i joined our Islamic socity of the university.. O Mashaallah! Its soooooooooo goood!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wonderful speaker from all over the states come and lecture! like YOUSEF ESTES, SHIRAJ WAHIJ... Sister Aminah, Brother Mukthar, Sheikh Samer Raey, and so on... They all are just plain wonderful! and Mashaallah really good speaker, scholors of Islam... anyways, i learned a lot... most importantly i learned that for knowledge i don't always have to look oversees, look to go somewhere else... i can find knowledge anywhere!!! all i have to do is look with best interest and with a clear Qalb! and put two hand up to my Lord [swt] and ask for guidence...i should start from right here... from a university that all the different race, religions, and ethnicity ppl attend... i have to learn about life from them... from the surrounding that i belong to... with examples from my everyday life i have to learn... i have to read and read and read more books about Islamic sariyah... from Quran... from books that are written by mentioned and famous sheikhs and sheikhas... FOR THIS IS MY STARTING POINT :) Anyways, i think i am getting carried away!!! :) phewwww.... what i think i am trying to write or express is that... Like you sis Doha i have big dreams of going to as islamic country and studying abroad... i mentioned to my family, so many times... i mentioned to my friends... i got discouraged :( most ppl i know told me that i shouldn't dream such... :) they don't mean that in a bad way of course... i think i know what they mean... they are afraid that how am i gonna live there? who will take care of me? i have no family in any arabic countries... so my family don't want me to go anywhere outside of USA... they want me to begin here... and then lets see what happens!.... btw, I intend to double major with Biology and Middle Easter Studies… and minor in religion… nyhow, i am now taking both Islamic courses and sciences that are needed for my majors, and minors…I love taking Islamic classes! All of them are really great and I enjoy learning… and i really like science, especially because the amazing creations of Beloved [swt] and the proof that Quran is Creator's [swt] book are facts that can be found from sciences! Yoq know what i mean... :) so inshallah sis Doha, you will become one of the sheikhah and inshallah your dream will come true... but don't ever feel discourage... :) start from your environment… from your school… I don’t know much about you sis… are you in college? in high school? Pray for me sis...pray that I will reach my destination (Jannath-ul-Ferdous :) ) inshaallah you are added in my duaas... May Allah [swt] guide you to the right path and may you gain the knowledge of His [swt] deen... ameen summah ameen... ma salaama ps. excuse my mistakes... |
| 12/29/03 at 16:18:35 |
| IMuslim_4Ever |
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