Letter from the Imam (Weekly Programs Announcements)

Dear brothers and sisters, Assalamu 'Alaikum Wrahmatu Allah Wabarakatuh.

I pray that this email finds you all in the best of health and strongest Iman. I was very pleased and happy to see our Masjid full on the night of Qadr for both Isha and Fajr. Alhamdulillah, that night was the first time ever in the history of our Masjid to have such a turn out. I have received tremendous amount of positive feedback and many told me that this is the best Ramadan since they came to Hawaii and some of these brothers were here for more than 40 years. This further confirmed to me that our 6 years of work in our community was worth every minute spent to achieve the desired goals. This further encouraged me to think about the community’s future and how we can all do better and achieve higher goals. Without a doubt, this year better than all the years before and the challenge for you and I is how to make the next one even better than this past one. .

I am confident, my respected brothers and sisters, that if we work together with sincerity and good intention, Allah swt will bless our community even more and we will see our Masjid full, not only during Ramadan but every day of the week. This will InshaAllah lead us to witnessing the light of our great Islam reach many people in this Island. It is very important to be involved with our larger Hawaiian community, Muslims and non-Muslims alike and be of a great benefit to all. With this in mind, Hakim and I have been exploring some idea to positively contribute to our neighbors and the needy let it be by providing free Arabic classes and introduction to Islam, visiting care houses, helping senior citizens and the unprivileged, collecting and distributing fruits, food and clothing, or by simply be there for them when needed. There certainly many more ides, but this cannot be accomplished without your full support and involvement. I am confident that programs such as these will InshaAllah create more understanding and harmony with our non-Muslim friends and will also help us improve ourselves by putting to practice the love and compassion that our Prophet pbuh taught us to have for our felloe humanity.    

To achieve some of the above goals, it is my pleasure to send you the weekly schedule of vents that I was working on for the past couple of weeks. As you know I have always been available for you, but unfortunately only few show up. It is my hope that this year I will see more commitment and participation from many of you and pray that Allah (subhanahu wata'ala) will make it easy for you to attend as much of them as you can. The weekly program is as follows:

Sundays:

* 10am to 12pm: Adult males reading from (Reyadu- assaleheen) and discussion of the topic.

* 12pm to 1:00pm open house for non-Muslim. Introduce Islam and answer questions that they might have.

* 9:30am Sunday school for our kids

* After Maghreb to Isha: Introduction to practicing Islam and the pillars of Islam for new Muslims.

* After Isha: reading from  Sahih Al Bukhari

Mondays:

* After Maghreb: Arabic teaching for adults and youth. We will InshaAllah start at the very beginning and work our way up to reading the Qur’an. Depending on how many people register for this, I might hold 2 different classes so that I can accommodate all the interested brothers and sisters

* After Isha: short talk featuring the life of the prophet's pbuh Companions.

Tuesdays:

* Qur’anic school (Qur’anic memorization for children, youth and adults). I have spoken to couple qualified brothers that will be assisting me so that we can hold more than one class at the same time; the entire family is invited to this event.

* After Isha: Qur’anic recitation. Every week InshaAllah, I will use one of the 10 styles of recitation.

Wednesdays:

* Advanced Arabic teaching for adults and youth who interested in high level of Arabic studies (grammar –power language – poetry-literature-word roots and others).

* After Isha: Tafseer the Holy Qur’an

Thursdays:

* Qur’anic school , this will be a continuation of the Tuesday class.

* After Isha: reading Sourat Al-kahf.

Fridays:

* After Jumuaa: continuation of the youth outdoor activity that I started last year. We welcome every body to join us for a day at beach (B.B.Q., surfing, swimming, soccer, and more).

* After Maghreb: Qur’anic memorization for sisters only

* After Isha: Qur’anic recitation. One of the 10 styles of recitation.

Saturdays:

* Early morning: purification gathering (Galsat Assafa) from 4:30 am to sunrise. This will InshaAllah include short Tahajoud prayer –Fajr Salat – morning Dhikr – recite one page from Qur’an followed by  the meaning – and teaching from Ehya'a uloom al-deen by Imam Al-ghazaly.

* After Asr: Sister's lecture. I will InshaAllah be addressing a verity of topics that are of interest to our sisters

* After Isha: selected topics from Islamic sharea'ah (Fiqh).

Let me remind all of us of the following:

Anas (RA) said: the Messenger of Allah (SAAW) said:

"He who leaves his home in order to seek knowledge, he is in Allah's path until he returns [to his home]."

Ibn 'Abbas reported, the Messenger of Allah (SAAW) said [to a group of companions]:

"When you pass by the meadows of Paradise indulge freely in it! They said: O Messenger of Allah! What are the meadows of Paradise? He said: The circles of ('Ilm) knowledge"

Abu Bakrah reported: I heard the Prophet (SAAW) saying: "You should be a scholar, or a student, or a listener, or a lover of ‘Ilm (knowledge) and scholars, and you should not be the fifth which makes you perish. 'Ata' said, Mis'ar said to me: You added a fifth point which we do not have, the fifth point is: To hate 'Ilm (knowledge) and its people."

Once more I hope and pray that you will be able to participate InshaAllah. There are no fees for any of these programs and the only thing we ask is that you put aside some of your time for the sake of Allah so that we can all benefit and move forward.  If you would like private tutoring lessons, I'll be happy to recommend couple of brothers and sisters that will be more than happy to do so at a modest fee. I have recommended these brothers and sisters to some families in the past and have received a great feed back about their performance and professionalism. I look forward to your confirmation and registration and to sending your suggestion for topics or additional activities that you would like us to consider. I can be reached at imam@iio.org. 

Jazakum Allah Kheiran and Fi Amanillah

Imam Dr. Ismail El-Shikh