On Sunday, June 20, 2021, I came to the Masjid a little early for class. I walked in and greeted one of my classmates and the instructor. I started off my day by praying two cycles and then meditated. I was then tested by the instructor to see if I knew how to say my prayer in English. I was struggling a little because I did not come to class prepared so the instructor sent me to the other room to study with my other classmate. When I finished memorizing I came back to class to get tested again. I was also asked what motions am I suppose to do while praying the words. The instructor then asked me to pronounce \u201cBismilahir Rahma-nir Rahim\u201d and to keep repeating it until I got it right. I was then asked to pronounce \u201cAl Hamdu Lillahi rabbil Aalameen\u201d.<\/p>\n
Afterwards we had a break in the class where we ate and presented our Father\u2019s day speeches to one another. The instructor told us how it\u2019s so important to show our Father\u2019s the love and respect we have for them now and to never wait because you don\u2019t want to live in regret. To always say \u201cI love you always\u201d instead of \u201cI love you\u201d because I love you means just for now but I love you always is unconditional love. The instructor told us a quote that stuck to me \u201c A mother is someone you go to when the glass is broken a Father is someone you go to to prevent the glass from breaking\u201d. It\u2019s important to have a strong bond\/ parental relationship with your parents and family especially as you get older because we often forget that they are getting old too. It\u2019s a good thing to at least have family dinner once a week where it\u2019s just about family. As for fathers day in Islam sources say it\u2019s not haram to celebrate as long as it doesn\u2019t promote un-islamic values. A day honoring your father and celebrating him has nothing wrong to it. Although I personally believe every day should be Father\u2019s day and you should show the same love and respect throughout the year not just one dedicated day.<\/p>\n
Then we spoke about dating in Islam and what our thoughts were. Dating shouldn\u2019t be seen as something haram if it\u2019s done the right way. As long as you respect yourself and have a group of people around you and you\u2019re not alone. There are many events that a sister or brother can go to where they can see and meet other people with others around them. It\u2019s a good way for brothers and sisters to meet each other and get to know one another in a halal way. That way you know what you like and what you don\u2019t like in a potential future partner. Another topic that we talked about is something I brought up. I brought up how when I meditate I get into this state of trance and then I start to feel a bit scared and open my eyes. The instructor told me it\u2019s a good thing that you can get to that state because for some people it\u2019s harder. I shouldn\u2019t be scared though because that is shaytan whispering in my ear to stop. The instructor told us that when we recite islamic verses such as \u201cLa illah ila Allah\u201d shaytan doesn\u2019t like that and sometimes wants to mess with out heads. Now that I know this the next time I come to class I want to fight the urge to open my eyes and just flow to wherever my soul takes me.<\/p>\n
I also brought up another topic in class I asked the instructor if someone who goes to jahannam can be saved by their parents or loved ones in heaven. I wanted to know if people in heaven notice when a relative is not up there with them. The instructor told me no there is no intercessors in islam. A parent can not pull their son\/daughter out of jahannam. Which is why it\u2019s so important to do as many good deeds as you can while you\u2019re still alive. Which is what we call \u201cspirtual bucks\u201d the more good deeds you do the more credit you get in the afterlife. I mentioned how I personally feel guilt for being on bad terms with some former friends and how I should probably ask them for forgiveness. For loved ones who have passed away you can help their state in the grave by giving chairty in their behalf. Or just simply doing good deeds in their behalf. Praying for their forgiveness and good deeds can help someone in the grave immensely.<\/p>\n
Another topic we discussed was pride month and what our thoughts were on it if we should celebrate it or be against it? Is it haram to celebrate? I honestly feel like everyone should just respect one anothers holidays and just remain civil. The instructor mentioned how being gay\/ lesbian does not take you out of islam. No one has the right to tell you that you\u2019re not a Muslim because no one is Allah swt. I think it\u2019s wrong for people to try to play god and think they have the power to remove someone from a religious identity. You can be gay and still be a Muslim as long as you don\u2019t act upon your urges and don\u2019t hurt anyone. People should have love and respect for one another. We shouldn\u2019t be so judgemental and live let live. The topic of Juneeth the holiday did come up as well. The instructor told us it\u2019s a holiday celebrated here but really it should be a day of mourning. He mentioned the back story of the holiday and how it\u2019s about slaves sold by muslims to other muslims. We didn\u2019t go that in-depth into the topic.<\/p>\n
I really enjoyed Sunday’s class and felt like many of my questions were answered. My assigned homework is to memorize the prayer I learned in English in Arabic now. I will definitely come to class more prepared this time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On Sunday, June 20, 2021, I came to the Masjid a little early for class. I walked in and greeted one of my classmates and the instructor. I started off my day by praying two cycles and then meditated. I was then tested by the instructor to see if I knew how to say my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":463,"parent":0,"menu_order":170,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"h5ap_radio_sources":[],"_glsr_average":0,"_glsr_ranking":0,"_glsr_reviews":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2023","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenstairsacademy.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenstairsacademy.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenstairsacademy.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenstairsacademy.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenstairsacademy.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2023"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/greenstairsacademy.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2027,"href":"https:\/\/greenstairsacademy.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2023\/revisions\/2027"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenstairsacademy.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenstairsacademy.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}