Mohebban Fatemeh

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.

Our class started with a nice indoor soccer. Once again we played something that looked like soccer but it was not exactly soccer.

After our “soccer game” we went to class for a discussion about Haj (Pilgrimage). As you know right now, we are all in the month of Dhul-Hijjah which is the month of Haj. So, we started talking about what the concept of Haj is and what is it that Allah (SWT) is teaching us throughout this journey. We spoke about what Haj is like really like and every single person came up with a different perspective about Haj. Throughout this journey, Allah (SWT) teaches each of His servants a different lesson, according to the needs of each individual. At the end, every person who returns back from Haj, returns with a new lesson and a new experience that is useful for his life. The challenge for us is to remember that lesson and try to apply what Allah (SWT) taught us throughout this journey in our lives. Haj is like real life and for us to live in this life ( to be alive), it requires us to be dynamic beings. And to be dynamic, it requires to understand the importance of our existence and our responsibilities in the world.

After our discussion, we joined our Mohebban Brothers for our Imam Hassan’s(a.s) presentation. Next week is our sisters turn to present; so, we all are looking forward for this Saturday to come. So far, our mohebban girls performed an amazing job on their presentations. Nice Job !

At the end, we finished our class with reciting Quran and its Tafseer. Look under Quran class recap for more details.

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).

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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).

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

Next week Mohebban is hosting a carnival to celebrate the Birth of our holy Imam, Imam Mahdi (S.A). Therefore this week, Mohebban girls were working on the posters for the carnival. Nice job to all of them, the posters turned out to look really nice. When the posters were done we started our Quran classes as usual. Alham…this week we saw more improvement in the girls recitations. The advanced Quran also read and finished surah Al-Insan’s translation. We talked about why Quran was sent to the holy prophet in gradual steps as it says in verse 23 of this chapter. The girls mentioned that all the verses in the Quran were revealed after an incident or an event; this way people were able to have a better understanding of the purpose of the verse and the law given to us. We also talked about night prayer which has been highly recommended in the Quran as is mentioned in verse 26 of this chapter “And during night, prostrate yourselves to Him, and glorify Him a ling night through ( 76:26)”. We said that despite what people think about night prayer, as to be hard and long… this prayer will most likely take about 15-20 min and the only hard part is just to get out of our cozy warm bed, and that’s it. But instead there is so much value in night prayer that Allah(S.W.T) says in surah Al-Israa ” may be your lord will raise you to a position of great glory (17:79)”

The last few verses of this chapter says that “Verily, this (chapter) is a reminder, so whosoever wills, let him take a Path to his Lord”. So we said that at the beginning of this chapter Allah(S.W.T) reminds us of our creation and all the mercy He has given us, hearing, sight , guidance, and also how he made the Quran in gradual steps to make it easy for us to understand, all of these verse are reminding us of how merciful Allah is. And at the end, the Quran will say that this chapter is indeed a reminder for us….

After Quran, we had a surprise Goodbye party for sis. Sara who helped us so much during the Fatemiyeh play and during the time Sis Hoda was traveling out of the country. We wish her success and best achievements in life as she’s leaving Mohebban for her educational purposes. surely we will all miss her.

At the end we joined our young Mohebban brothers for a short panel discussion about Taha camp and also to continue on our ‘Monajat Shabaneyeh” that we started last week. keep in touch with God everyone …..

First and foremost congratulations on the Birth of Imam Hussein and his brother Hazrate Abbas (AS) and his son, Imam Sajjad (AS)  to all the lovers of Ahlul beyt(S.A)

There are narrations that claim Hazrate Zahra(S.A) had seen Karbala in a dream. So she cried and went to the holy Prophet(PBH). The Prophet Muhammed(PBUH) told her not to cry, “there will be a time that throughout history Hussein’s name will be remembered for many generations and generations to come”. Also, there is another famous saying of the prophet which says that: “Hussein is from me and I am from Hussein” showing how honorable Imam Hussein is, that the blood that imam Hussein, Hazrate Abbas and all other companions shed in Karbala was the reason that kept Islam alive till today.

So peace be upon Imam Hussein and all his companions the day they were born, they day they were martyred and the day they will all be resurrected.

So our classes started outside, with a water ballon fight… we used water balloons, water bottles, and any other container filed with water for this fight… What a fight!!!

After having fun outside, we started our Quran classes (look under Quran class recap for more details). The advanced people also read and talked about the meaning of Sura Al-Insan ( Al-dahr).. Allah (S.WT) begins this chapter with the creation of human being… reminding us of His mercy, giving us this beautiful existence when we were nothing….. The Quran moves on by mentioning how Allah created us and how He gifted us with hearing and vision. And after giving the tools “hearing and sight”, he showed all human beings the right path “verily, We have shown him the way, whether he is grateful or ungrateful 76:3)”. As the Quran says some of us will be grateful and some ungrateful; shows that we have the ability to make our own decisions. Then the Quran talks about the circumstances of those who follow this right path and those who reject it. Allah also mentions the signs of the believers who do good deeds only to please Him “we only feed you(the orphans and poor) for the sake of Allah… (76:9)” and also how Allah rewards people for their patience…as we mentioned Hazrate Zynab as one the best examples of a person who had the most patience in life, as she proved it after the tragedy of Karbala.

After Quran, sister Hoda continued her discussion on respecting parents. Last week we talked about some problems we all have with our parents, this week we were looking for a solution to how to overcome those problems. Sis Hoda, mentioned that the problems we have with our parents it’s a trial and a test from Allah, to see how patient we are with them. She said this is why there is so much emphasize in the Quran about respecting parents, because Allah knows it’s hard …and that’s exactly why Allah wants us to be patient and respectful with our parents as our parents are with us. We discussed that there were many occasions that our parents tolerated our misbehaviors, but the difference is that our parents our more patient with us than us being with them. Sis Hoda also brought the story of a man complaining to the prophet that how his son mistreats him. And the holy prophet asked that man how did you treat your father when you were young? The man replied that I also mistreated him, but not to the extent that my son is mistreating me. The reply was if you mistreat your parents when you’re young, your children will do the worse to you.

So we got to the point that there are many times parents ask us to do stuff and eventually we will do it for them but at the same time we show attitude. So the suggestion was that next time let’s try not to show that attitude while we’re doing something for them. The final question asked for this discussion was that now why it is good to treat our parents with respect. Parinaz replied “for them to pray for us”, and that was the best answer… parents prayer has so much value in it in the sights of Allah, so as conclusion patience is the key for all the problems including respecting parents.

“There is nothing seen by your eye but it has a lesson in it.” Sayings of Imam Musa Al Kazim (A.S)

Finally after couple weeks, Mohebban got back to class. We played soccer in the soccer field, or in better words we played something that looked like soccer; but it was not soccer…. However, we had this new soccer ball and we were so excited about it….

After our “soccer game” we went to the Masjid, and we started our Quran class (look under Quran recap for more details).

Then sister Hoda start talking about Imam Musa Al-kazim’s martyrdom and the Birth of prophet Muhammed (PBH). So, she asked the girls some questions about Imam Musa’s biography such as who was his father, who was his son, how was he martyred etc. Nice Job to Mahsa and Melika, they were giving up most of the answers… so we continued on this topic as we said that Imam Kazim the son of Imam Al-sadegh(A.S) was born in medina and he was well known for his patience. Imam Musa Al-kadhim (AS) was imprisoned in the time of Bani-Abbas for 14 years, he was then martyred and his holy body was buried in Kazemain a city in Iraq. Imam Kazim has a lot of beautiful sayings as in one of his Hadith he says that “ An hour reflection is better than hundred rakats of prayer”. Meaning that if you pray without knowing your God; knowing who you’re prostrating to, and why you’re prostrating, that prayer has no value. Instead if we spend an hour increasing our knowledge about Allah and thinking about him, it has more value in it and that moment of reflection can make us closer to Allah than a prayer that although its long, but has no intention and wisdom in it.

After our talk about the Ahlul-beyet, Sis. Hoda opened a new discussion about respecting parents. Since Islam emphasizes so much on respecting and appreciating parents and we see throughput the Quran that Allah (S.W.T) mentions a lot about honoring parents. As He says “We have advised the human being be kind to your parents. ..(29:8)” . Everyone mentioned a time where she had mistreated her parents. However, we didn’t get to complete our discussion that day; we decided to elaborate more on this topic next week and try to find a solution to improve our behaviors toward our parents.

Our class started with reciting the holy Quran, as advanced people recited surah Al-Hujurat and beginners recited Surah Alagh. After our recitation we read the meaning of Surah Al-hujurat( chapter 49); this surah is all about social life and peoples interactions with each other. After reciting Quran, we went outside for a little break and after that we started our debate class ( look under Islamic debate section for more details). That day Mohebban girls had a sleep over camp at IEC, so everyone was excited for the night to come….

So for the IEC sleep over we all had dinner together, and then we played indoor soccer and ghost in the graveyard while we turned off all the light s in the auditorium.

After playing, we sat for a talk about life and sticking together. As we mentioned the story of a friend who was left behind from her good friends and she got attracted to the wrong people. Unfortunately she lost her faith and today shes so different from what she was before. We said that how association with the wrong crowd can lead us astray, and we need to stick together and support each other, we need to teach good things and constantly remind each other, as the Quran says “remind each other, reminding is good”. We continued with reciting Duaa_rajab and we sat a prize for anyone who memorizes this duaa by the end of month of Rajab.

We spent the rest of the night watching a movie and talking to anyone who was able to keep herself awake….but interestingly about 5 girls were able to stay awake the entire night. We also had a congregational morning prayer and 3 of our girls did their night prayers as well…mashallah to all 3 of you!!!

It was a fun night, and we all enjoyed being with each other. Hoping that all the mohebban girls will always keep their friendship with each other and will never leave each other alone.