Salam to all, our website hasn’t been updated lately, so im going to start it out so we can we can continue updating,

As we all know Ramadan is a month of worship and Dua’s, it’s the month we all should raise our hands to Allah(SWT) and ask for forgiveness. Its a holy month that we get tested and if we pass we open many doors for the future and out afterlife.

This year Ramadan is really special. Last year we learned about the life of Imam Ali(PBUH). This year we learn about the life of Imam Hussein(PBUH). We not only learn about him, we also learn about his companions and Hazrate Zainab(PBUH) and her sons, Imam Hussein’s sons and Hazrate Abbas(PBUH).

When the Month of Muharam comes do we really know why we hit our chests and yell out HUSSEIN HUSSEIN? Why do we cry for him, his family and companions? Most of our Muslim shia brother and sisters don’t know why. If we want to know why we cry on that month we should attend these classes that our Mohebban teachers are preparing for us.

If you guys want to attend these classes please come to the class downstairs after iftar, we should start about 9:20-9:30. We have many different speakers and many interesting topics to cover. Please pray for everyone in this holy month, pray for your family, friends, your self and also for us. Pray that our group insha… stays together for a long time. Have a great Ramadan.

Its Raining Its Pouring, Most of Us Are Snoring

We didn’t let the rain and weather dampen our spirits and instead of playing around this week, we helped clean the auditorium.  On top of that, our days were brightened with Quran class (see Quran class recap) and the celebration of:

3 BIRTHDAYS!!! one was turning …another…and another…

the unlucky year.

Inshallah they all have a great year.  To the rest of us a great year into 1389 in Iran!!!

Our day started off with the recitation of the Holy Quran where everyone read pretty well.  We need to work on our speed, eloquence, and synchronization.  Everyone has to pay attention to their Qurans while others are reading and our discussion is always very lively, so keep it up!

We spent most of the rest of the day practicing a nasheed that can be found here: Click here

The text of it can be found here: Click here

Remember, the goal is to listen and be able to put the signs that we learned (a, e, o) on the text.

See you all next Saturday insha….

Our main point was:

Karbala is not an accident, it is a culture.

کربلا یک حادثه نیست یک فرهنگ است

We defined culture as a tree and in order for that tree to live it must have a foundation which is obviously the root of the tree. Then  we discussed, what comes up to our mind when we think of culture which was food, tradition, practices, religion, etc, but  then we learned that these are only the smaller roots in the tree. We symbolized the biggest root which keeps the tree alive, as Islam which Imam Hussein kept alive.

Therefore we concluded the basic cause of Imam Hussein (ع ) not doing ba’at with Yazid.

Eid parties, birthday parties, movies, prizes. jeapordy, charades, and most importantly JUNK FOOD, that was our day in one line.  Check out the album here: EID PARTY

The day began with the reciation of the Holy Quran by Br. Amir O. who recited the first few ayahs of Surah Muzzammil. We then talked about our plan for upcoming weeks and began recaping the month of Ramadhan through the eyes of our members.  Alhamdo… we were very happy to hear of the many spiritual experiences, lessons learned, and good times our members had during the month of Ramadhan.  The nightly Imam Ali (AS) classes were a great success and we thank all those that participated to learn more about their great Imam.  We have lived a whole life and talked a whole month, yet still there is much to learn.  We look forward to seeing what the future holds…

After our times of reminiscing about the month of Ramadhan, we were able to feast on cookies, chips, cake, and drinks (ironic isn’t it?) that were brought for the Eid celebration and the birthdays of Br. Abdolhamid, Br. Leigh, and Ali/Amir O.  Congratulations to all of them on their birthdays, for they have come one more year closer to Allah (SWT).

p>

The evening then continued with an Arabic movie about Imam Ali (AS).  The movie really summed up all of our classes throughout the month of Ramadhan well.  Be sure to check out the link above to watch the movie for yourself.  It is definitely worthwile. 

We then played a quick game of charades to choose our contestants for jeapordy.  Kudos to those folk who were able to act out a mosquito so quickly and had the heart to act like a chicken in front of everyone.  Some of the topics were very hard but masha… we truly have a talented bunch.

We then headed to the masjid to make Salat and hand out the prizes/Eid gifts.  Congratulations to Brothers Mohammadamin, Ali T, Milaad M, Ali Akbar, and Reza B for receiving the special Ramadhan class prizes, as well as to Sisters Alla T, Maryam S, and Parinaz for receving the prizes of making the best use of the month!  May Allah (SWT) always keep you all as well as your team on the right path…

The night was supposed to end on a high note with a great game of jeapordy, but unfortunately, all we can say is ”FAIL!”  The guy trying to run the show (wink wink) kept forgetting to hit the “Begin” button and assigned points to the wrong folk.  Insha… next time we’ll have the real Alex Trebek there so that this dude can retire.  But Kudos to all those that played the game, thanks for not yelling at me …

EID MUBARAK TO ALL!

Congratulations on the Birthday of Imam Hassan(a.s). This week we started our class with another discussion on the topic of Usool-e-Deen( look under Islamic Debate Section) for more details. Nice job to Dori, she was able to count and say what the Usol-e-deens are. We also had a nice discussion on other various topics that day. The girls were full of energy, they asked a lot of good question and we were able to look and examine some of them. After discussion, we started Quran, the advance Quran girls read the meaning of Sura-Al-fath and as they were reading the meaning of this chapter, they recalled the story of “the peace treaty of Hudaybieh” . They were trying to match the verses in this sura with the event of Hudaybieh. Now that the girls knew the story of Hudaybieh, Alham… it seemed this time they had a better understanding about the meaning of this chapter, and the verses made more sense to them. After Quran, we joined our Mohebban brothers to continue the recitation of Duaa-Iftitah and also a nice program about Imam Hassan(a.s).

We began the day by continuing our discussion of different Akham rules in Islam.  Last week we had discussed some of the important rulings that governed fasting, and this week we shifted to something a bit more general, namely IJTIHAAD.

We defined the word and listed some qualities for a person to be a Marja’ Taqleed.  The list of Maraje’ can be found here:

LIST OF MARAJE’

Just as we go to doctors when we get sick, or go to teachers to learn, or go to a sports coach for exercise, we need to turn to these people who have dedicated their lives to studying Islam for our spiritual questions.

We continued our day by reciting the 8th Juz of the Quran.

To end our day, we welcomed back our dear Brother Abdolhamid from his trip to Najaf, Karbala, Samerra’, Kazemeyn, and Mashad.  He enlightened us with his experiences and some of the sites he was privileged to visit.  All we can say is…

اللهم ارزقنا

We ended our night by throwing him a great welcome back party.  Truly, we welcome you back, Ey Za-ere Imam Hussein… Check out the album here.

What a great trip!  To end the month of Sha’ban and all of its celebrations, to reward the efforts put forth by all the members for the play in Fatemieh and the carnival last week, to have a great ending to an already fun-filled summer, Mohebban-e-Fatemeh (SA) headed out to King’s Dominion.

Instead of coming and completely recapping our trip, I will live that open to all of the attendees to leave their comments on their favorite ride, favorite moment, worse ride, and other comments.  Personally, I think the best ride was the “Volcano!”  and all of those who think differently, you should ride it again…

Check out our album here: King’s Dominion Album

We would like to thank all of the parents and chaperones who came out to help support the trip.  Without your help, this trip would not have been possible.  Sorry to all of those members who could not make it, this was the last Saturday before Ramadhan, so it was either go now or get stuck until next summer.  Insha… we will try and make it up to you …

All I can say about the trip is:

Congratulations to all on the birthday of Imam Mahdi (AJTFS).  What a great day!  Mohebban-e-Fatemeh planned and organized their first ever carnival that included a bake sale, lunch, and games such as doghnut bobbing, three-legged races, bowling, football, soccer, fish pong, a moon bounce, and one of the biggest attractions:

A DUNK TANK!!!

Mohebban-e-Fatemeh (SA) members prepared the food, ran the stations, gave out the prizes, set up the day of, made the posters, and pretty much did everything for the carnival.  Great job to them…

You can check out some great pics from the day here: Carnival Album

We ask Allah (SWT) to hasten the reappearnce of Imam Mahdi (AJTFS) and hope that all these efforts put forth by our members to celebrate his grand birthday are accepted by him insha….

In addition, mah had prepared a powerpoint presentation of facts for the day.  These facts were used as part of the dunk tank game to quiz the throwers before they tried to sink the “victim.”    Click here to download the presentation.

اللهم عجل لوليك الفرج و جعلناه من انصاره و اعوانه

What a looooooong day, but not in that sense of the word.  We probably accomplished in 4 hours what most do in their whole week.  Let’s begin…

Our day started off with Quran as usual.  Haj Amin was not able to make it this week so we combined both groups.  We had a very nice discussion about a few ayahs in Surah Hud, see the Quran Recap section.

Our day continued with Caputre the Flag. This was no ordinary game of capture the flag.  It took a while to prepare because it included water guns and water balloons, but OH MAN WAS IT WORTH IT!  My bad on the scheduling though guys.  My mistiming on the Quran kinda took away from the water fight, but that just means you all need to practice even harder.  That way when I mistime things, your reading should be fast enough to undo that .  Insha… we’ll definitely have more of these in the very near future.  People played along very well and I was very happy with the outcome.  The shot of the day was Mohsen getting me in the back when I was about to grab the flag, and then (as promised) I got Abbas write in the stomach while he was trying to shoot me with his pee wee water gun.

After getting into some dry clothes we came inside and were joined by the sisters for a panel discussion on Camp Taha.  All of the members that had the opportunity to attend spoke of their memories, what they liked the best, the people they met, the things they did, and are all looking forward to going back next year insha… .We ask Allah (SWT) to help us take our whole team down to the camp next year.

Following our panel, we were enlightened by a discussion by Sr. Naemeh on the importance of dua.  She said many of us find it hard to actually sit and talk to God, let Him know of our wants, but we don’t realize that He is so close to us.  We unfortunately concentrate our lives on other things and programs and do not set aside time to really reflect upon ourselves.  She explained a line from the Ziyarat of Imam Ali that Imam Ali comes and calls himself Motahayyer (one that is confused and lost) and is in constant search of Allah (SWT).  As our role model, we to need to go after Him.  Following the short talk we continued the next few pages of Monajat-e-Sha’baniye and discussed their meanings with some funny stories and experiences.

Our day ended with a birthday celebration for Abbas, Ali Akbar, and Ali Tofigh.  All of their birthdays were within the last two weeks and so we combined all of them together, with one big cake, a group photo, and plenty of birthday liks.  Happy Birthday GUYS!