2023 Oct week 6 by Male 16 yrs

MD/Male/16year
10/29/2023

 Today I attended my 6th week at the Greenstairs Academie program. Although this was the 9th, LJ told us that he did not count the days he was in Europe. We arrived at the parking lot around 8:50 and headed to class. Unlike the other days, today LJ asked us to pray 2 rakat. He let us know that whatever we said didn't matter, we just had to do everything we could to have that connection with God. I did my two rakat; it took all the time I needed, even if I admit that it was difficult to concentrate.

 Today we didn't talk about much. The whole class was focused on the tests. After doing the 3 pledges, Teacher R gave us around 10 minutes to revise our paper. I was in a very bad situation because I had forgotten my prayer sheet at home. LJ told me that it was very irresponsible of me and that he wouldn't give me any new, I should do without. Fortunately, I was able to share with a student, and we revised together. To get to the test, I practiced a lot with Teacher R, with whom I was very good, but with LJ, I always forgot some details that caused me to fail. I think it was because of stress. After several attempts, I was finally able to overcome this problem, and I managed to recite the entire sheet without error. LJ said that now I just needed to learn some surah backward, which would be very difficult because it required a lot of control and concentration. Teacher M told me that during his entire career here, only 1 student succeeded in doing this.

 After several tests and attempts, we finally took a break. During this break, LJ told us the story of Surah Al-Ma’un, its origin and for what reason it came down.

In fact, one day a man called Abu Sufyan was slaughtering lambs. A starving orphan asked him for a can; Abu Sufyan became angry and hit him. So generally, the surah referred to mutual aid in society, negligence, and those who show off their prayer, and finally the day of judgment.
Mutual aid in society: Remember that our goal in life was to make the world a better place. So don’t make the mistake that Abu Sufyan made; don’t hesitate to give to the orphan and the poor person.
Speaking of this, LJ made a quick distinction between an orphan and a poor person. He said the definition of an orphan was a person without a mother or father, but you cannot call a man with his family, his car, and his house an orphan. This meant that an orphan was generally a naive and vulnerable child without a mother or father, as in the case of Abu Sufyan. And a poor person could be a child as well as an adult; it was a generalization of a person without means.
Neglect of prayer: This referred to a warning to the Muslim who did not give importance to their prayer.
Those who showed off their prayer: it just talked about the person who prayed for the show. They generally prayed to be seen by others and to have a religious status. These people were considered hypocrites in Islam.
And the day of judgment: We had to remember that this life was just a test, and all the results would be seen. God mentioned these people who did not even think about this day to remind us of and increase our faith. In short, the 5 main points discussed in this surah were: The day of judgment, the orphans, the poor, the neglect of prayer, and those who prayed just to be seen by others.

 He also spoke about Surat Al Asr, which emphasized how the world had become neglectful and misdirected except for those who had:

Belief: Referred to sincere belief in God, the Prophet, and the day of judgment.
Did good deeds: offered sacrifices to God and in case to make the world a better place.
Sought the truth: spreading the truth to establish justice in the world. We knew it was complicated, but it was part of our goal as Muslims.
Practiced patience: emphasized the importance of perseverance, endurance, and hardship.
These criteria were crucial to escape the state of loss and earn success in this life and the hereafter.

 Then, LJ told us about the mistakes we made in some of our metaphors explained in the previous essay. Firstly, the most common error was that of Ahmed Deedat. In fact, a lot of people wrote his name strangely as ‘Didat’ or 'Douda,' but we all remembered the concept. Therefore, LJ asked us a simple but difficult question, 'Why did certain people suffer so much before their death even if they were one of the greatest sheikhs?'

 He talked about khushoo. Khushoo was an important aspect of Islam, as it enhanced the quality of connection with God and led to a more spiritual connection during acts of worship. It also involved focusing on the meaning and significance of the words recited in prayer, understanding it, and establishing a personal connection with Allah.

 Then, he talked about the moon. He said that the moon metaphor referred to destiny. Like each person had a kind of branch that was affiliated with them with a different destiny for each, but this branch could vary depending on the events in your life. The only thing to know was everything that was written on this branch was your destiny. Here you had to go to the moon, and it was written you would go there, unlike if it was not.

 Finally, there was a new F student among us, so he asked some students to stand up and explain the concept of Greenstairs Academy. The two who volunteered to explain mentioned that Greenstair Academy was a program in which we learned to develop our time management, our strong skills, leadership, verbal, and writing skills. But before saying all that, they stuttered a lot because it was the two newest students in the program. Next, LJ asked my sister F to explain to the new student the exercises that we had to complete at the end of each class, which was the writing. We had to write 1000 words about what we discussed in class, and it had to be finished before 8 pm on the same day. It wasn't that easy, but that was how we developed our writing skills.

Ultimately, I was so happy to have been able to recite my sheet in front of LJ without fail, and I hoped that I would be able to do more than that