random updates

greets, peace, etc. today, i decided to upload the nasheeds i have produced over time to this webpage. they’re all in the new “audio studio” section on the webpage. and yes, they’re not great nor listenable-toable, but they’re there to induce (slight) laughter. there are still some other things i want to upload to this page, but it’s a matter of time…

it was sooooooo cold today! [i learned that my camera does some cool stuff today when i looked at the book to find out how to get the camera to automatically take this picture after 10 seconds… i want to take some pictures!].

oh yeah, the other day at the masjid… sighs (as one could tell from my previous post, i really prefer the environment of the masajid in atlanta…) – but the other day (friday), i ran into two awkward situations (i got a whole list of these by now hehe).

so they changed the time of 3isha from 8:15 till 8:00 (desi standard time) – and i had forgotten, and i remembered around 8:05 and so i left late for the masjid. when i got there, it looked as though they hadn’t prayed, so i asked someone if they had prayed yet, and i was told that the imam hadn’t come yet. so i went up and sat down in the front row. the brother next to me, one of the first people mansoor and i met when we got there, tells me to lead the salat (3isha) because its getting late. so i lead 3isha, and when i had finished, the imam had come back, so he lead tarawee7 as normal.

so after the 20th rak3ah, the imam said, “salat ul witr” (as usual), and was faced towards the qibla, so i glanced at my watch to see what time it was (itching to go home hehe), and suddenly he turns around and looks at me and says, “can i lead witr?” – and i am like huh!? (and at the same time feeling really embarrassed, thinking to myself, “is he asking me this because he saw me looking at my watch and thinks i am being disrespectful by checking the time?”) – and he said, “can i pray witr, because you lead 3isha,” and so i said, “please, please do.” (and i was very puzzled at that).

so after finishing tarawee7, a lot of the times i just tend to leave right after witr. but due to that situation, i decided that i would stay for the short talk after witr to avoid further awkward situations. so as soon as witr was being completed, before i could even say my second salams, the guy next to me, a really old uncle, touched my hand. i was like, “huh? maybe an accident?” - so anyway, after witr, i sat for the short talk.

and the talk ended, and i was ready to go home. but when i came to leave, the uncle touched my hand again. and i shook hands with him and the other people and began to walk towards the exit, and he followed me, and asked me, “did the imam read only one rak3ah at any point during the tarwee7?” – and i am like, “yeah, at the very last rak3ah he did.” – and he started going off on this whole spiel about how in pakistan, all the scholars agree that a person must read at least 3 ayahs per rak3ah for the salat to be deemed valid; and how he experienced people reading less in other masajid and his conversations with them and so on. and all this time i am thinking, “why is he telling me this?”

so anyway, not knowing what to say, i say, “jazakAllah khair” and continue walking towards the door, get my shoes and put them on. and as i am about to leave, the uncle starts to talk to me again and says, “you know, if you know quran, you have more right to be leading than him [the imam] because you have (and he touches my “beard”) this.” and other people start coming towards where we are; and i was taken by shock and had no chance to reply, and he says, “i’ll talk to you about this later.” – and he leaves.

two very awkward situations… so on saturday, to resolve the first situation, i went to the imam after salat and i apologized to him for having lead 3isha (thinking that maybe he got offended or something) - but apparently he wasn’t upset, he said, “no its a good thing that you listened to them and lead 3isha, because when the salat time comes we should pray at its time.”

as for the second situation, i didn’t see the old uncle on saturday, and on sunday (today), i saw him but avoided him at all costs. dang, people want to use me to overthrow the current imam.

not to mention that the statement he made is untrue – because 1. the current imam’s memorization is multiple folds better than mine, (and there is NO exaggeration in this statement whatsoever, i am a fake hehe); 2. he has a lot more knowledge than me; 3. he is older than me; and 4. i feel that he is very sincere, to the extent that although he studied deen, he then persued a degree in computer science so that he supports his family from a “non-deen” occupation so that his deen work is totally for the sake of Allah.

so yeah; the current imam is masha’Allah a very sincere and very nice guy – not to mention his memorization is insanely strong masha’Allah, and the fact that his one way drive to work is ~3 hours (!); and yet he still manages to take time out to lead tarawee7 masha’Allah (whereas during normal non-ramadan times, he would stay at a hotel throughout the week and just come home on the weekends). so sub7anAllah, that takes insane dedication.

but what can i tell you, there are always those people who will complain about a small thing that they see that a person has done that is wrong in their eyes, rather than look at the great amount of effort which a person may exert in the sake of Allah… sub7anAllah.

that’s my rant of the day. i got nothing more to say for now. peace out.