My Best Ramadan Ever

It has been my best Ramadan ever like the ones before this. I found a place where besides offering Traveeh, Quran can be understood in a contemporary way. 

Without any qualms with those who attend Traveeh congregations, it beats the logic of Islam that we listen to the Quran but make no endeavor to understand it. And without any disregard to importance of Quranic recitation & its acoustic value, speed reading in order to 'finish Quran' in hurry has always been beyond my ken. Solely for this reason, I shifted from Hizf-e-Quran to Fahm-ul-Quran for my kids. It is practicable and workable. Just sit together with your family & discuss few Ayahs of Quran daily or few days of the week. It works like magic because this is the only way everyone would understand their role & duties to Allah & each other.

River Hills- Save Mart

The place is Al Shajr House in Bahria Town Phase 7 at 6th floor of River Hills above Save Mart. Google pin:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/CtehX9q2ALuRVbv98

Mr Ehsan & his wife Mrs Zubia Ehsan are the owner & sponsor couple of Al Shajr House. The couple holds important positions in Bahria Town. May Allah accept their efforts. 

Brother Abid Ishaq leads eightn rakahs traveeh nawafil. After Farz prayers there is a ten minutes interactive session on crux of Ayahs to be recited in next four Rakahs. It also includes collective remembrance of Duas therein. Number of Ayahs (roughly couple of Rukus) is foretold on whatsapp group of Al Shajr. Having consulted same Ayahs in own time does wonders to developing better understanding. Then a second ten minutes interactive session on Quran is followed by two cycles each (four Nawafil) in slow, understandable & clear voiced recitation of same Ayahs. Key is quality not quantity. Idea is to take away some Quranic understanding this Ramadan. Lastly, three Witr & dispersal. The activity starts sharp 2100 hrs & ends sharp 2230 hrs daily. Its open house, so everyone's welcome. Separate arrangements for ladies have been made. The activity is very subtly titled MBRE (My Best Ramadan Ever), so is this blog entry. 

Lastly, few words on Brother Abid Ishaq who was raised in UAE & moved to US at the age of sixteen. After pursuing The American Dream for some time, he was intelligent & blessed enough to understand the futility of western ways of life. By 2002, within five years, a spiritually barren person became Imam at Islamic Society of Edmond. That is some progress folks. He was destined for even better things. He moved to Pakistan & worked on good positions from Froebels School Superintendent to Regional Development Manager of Edexcel/ Pearsons. And from writing Islamic columns in Khaledj Times to running his own international educational consultancy, he made some profitable ventures. However, there are better things in life than making good money & chosen ones get to play those roles. After a very sad demise of his loving parents within seven months in 2013-14, he devoted his full time to Quranic Teachings (free of charge). 

خيركم من تعلم القرآن وعلمه. 

Coming across such effort by such people, it was an obligation to acknowledge, encourage & share the good work taking place at Al Shajr House. It is being modeled on the concept of mosque cum Islamic Center and we need many more of these. Would that, every mosque in this country turns into an Islamic Center instead of a particular sect center. Mosque is not just a prayer place, it has to be given a central role as community center & Quran the book of choice. We have to keep pace with world by keeping Islam relevant to modern thought. We have to free our next generation from inhibitions on authenticity, relevance & value of our way of life i.e. Islam. That is our only hope. 

There are other programs at Al Shajr including Sarf, Nahwa, Tajweed & advanced Quranic learnings for all ages by learned scholars in both genders. Interested can contact via text message at whatsapp on this number 0305-5559803. May Allah reward everyone involved. 

Only Allah knows the whole Truth.