Originally written on August 09, 2006 and is a commentary on the lectures and the schedule that was in place when the Torontonians arrived in Jeddah. The Rihla program was already a week in when the Torontonians arrived (visa..what can you do about it?) and we were having some issues getting used to the schedule. There were issues (sleeplessness, waking up, jet lag and all that) but for the most part I was cool with everything. The lecture series made up for everything, and I was in Jeddah to boot...
August 09, 2006
Alhamdulliah, it seems that I’m getting a hang of the different classes and timing of the lectures that we are having. I admit, waking up for Fajr at around 4:30 am, is difficult for me normally, and even more so when you have only gone to bed at 2 am. The schedule is tight in a nutshell, and is as follows for the most part:
Wakeup 4:30 am
Fajr 5:15am
Wird and Yaseen 5:30am
Session #1 6:00-7:30am
Breakfast 7:30-8:30am
Session #2 8:45-10:15am
Session #3 10:45-12:15am
Lunch 12:30pm
Duhur 1:30pm
Asr 4:30pm
Session #4 4:45pm
Maghrib/Dinner 7:00pm
Session #5 8:45pm
Isha/Dikr 10:00pm
To say that our days are jam packed is an understatement. On top of all the classes (the Shayuk are amazing and the topic are so relevant to us it is scary), I have been trying to read the Quran to the best of my ability. InshaAllah I plan to finish a full Quran before returning to Toronto, and InshaAllah I have been working on this when ever I get the chance.
In terms of classes, Imam Zaid Shakir has been teaching us from a text called “Sayyidunah Muhammadin Rasuulalha” and has spoken to us on the topic of ‘Mercy that the Prophet displayed’. In a Hadith as related by Muslim and Buqari, the Prophet (PBUH) is reported to have said “These are tears of mercy …for if a heart is merciful, in turn Allah will be merciful to the heart that is merciful”. Another Hadith relates that the Prophet (PBUH) once said “One who shows no mercy to this world, would be shown none in the next”. Another topic wee have covered in some detail are the ‘Qualities of the Prophet (PBUH)’, which include Beauty, Generosity, Courage and an Infinite sense of Patience.
Shaykh Abdullah al Kadi’s lectures have centered on the Wives of the Prophet (PBUH). He has compiled a GIS based map of all the most important sites (burial sites, places of interest and conflict) in the Muslim world, in relation to the Prophet that has combined his love for the Blessed Prophet (PBUH) and his skills as an adapt city planner and a GIS technician. I did not know that he had a background in GIS systems, and it has given me an insight of something that I would like to pursue. Shaykh Al-Kadi was telling us in his last lecture, that it is important for us to combine our skills in the Dunyah with our own interpretation and implementation of the Deen. For this is how we are useful to those around us, be it in the Dunyah or in the Deen, and InshaAllah this perseverance will help settle our debts for the Hearafter, because in helping those who do not have the same skill that you posses, you are allowing them access to a limited words. InshaAllah I would love to help Shaykh Al-Kadi with his work, and he was asking for people who have similar training to help him complete his immense project, that when completed will give the Ummah a point and click method of knowing the exact coordinates of some of the most important historical details of our own history. Also, he helped us to map out the route for Badr both for the Quraish as led by Abu-Jahal (from Makkah to Badr )and for the Muslims as led by the Prophet (PBUH).
Shaykh Hamza Yusuf spoke on the Knowledge of the Self using the notable text by Imam Ghazali, ‘The Alchemy of Happiness’, who states that there is a distinction, began between the Heart and the Nafs. Since the Body is the gate of the Dunyah, the Heart is in reality the Ticket to the Hear-After. This occurs only when the Heart is used as an “Eternal” thing, not as the flesh and muscle that s in the actual left brest of man. The Consciousness that one has is the thing that connects the Heart, the Mind and the Nafs of man. The Heart in the analogy used by Imam Ghazali is the King (method of understanding) of the consciousness and the limbs are all the soldiers. The breakdown for this is as follows:
The Self as a City:
Heart—The King
Limbs—The Farmers who provide Food
Desire—The Governor
Anger—The Police Force
Senses—The Spies
Mind—The Minister
All of these parts work together as a whole where the King gives the Governor and Police Force free range of the kingdom, as long as they report to the Minister, who with constant consultation with the King allows the King to pursue higher callings where it can subjugate itself in front of the Lord and Creator. The Spies work for and against the Kings (because there can be double agents in the mix). The whole point is to internalize the order so that you can look into yourself to get meaning, thus allowing yourself to change it internally. This internalization of the change allows you to reflect on the Dunyah, and in turn the Outside World is reflected back to you in similar forms of struggle. The Rooyah is from the a part of the World where it is from the Command of Allah, and there is no real measure of the Rooyah as it is not a physical thing that can be dissected and measured. The Nafs is the impure form of the Rooyah, so in Freudian terms the Nafs is the Ego and the Rooyah is the SuperEgo.
Shaykh Abdullah Al-Bayyah, a legend in his own right has often tried to convey the message of the Prophetic traditions in ways that make sense to the average individual. Though he has been giving his lectures in Arabic, with translations by either Imam Zaid Shakir or Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, he has touched on many different sections of Seerah and Fiqh on the Idea of Divine Law. On Divine Law, the objective is to provide us (humans) with a philosophy and method to interpret Allah’s law. For the wisdom of his law manifests themselves in all creatures (in every atom of all creations). The wisdom is broken into two main Spheres, the Sphere of Malumat (interpersonal relations) and the Sphere of Taburiat (laws legislated as a function of Allah’s wisdom). The Seerah was broken down into three main sections where we looked at the Miracles that occurred surrounding the Prophet (PBUH), the Courage and Embodiment of the message by the Prophet( PBUH), and the lives of the Companions of the Prophet (PBUH).
All in all the sessions have been amazing, and all the classes have been in turn so instrumental in understanding the Seerah, Fiqh and other aspects of the Prophet (PBUH).
