Mirza Yawar Baig – New Beginnings #2

			A lot of and Rahim Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa salatu salam ala should have been on va even
more saline Muhammad Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam doesn't even consider on cathedra from
Abba to
		

			my brother's sister. This is why first day at this course at the
		

			Arabic language course in Middlebury Arabic schools,
		

			which is in Bennington College in Vermont. And today our language pledge starts which means that we
do not speak any language other than Arabic.
		

			I'm recording this in English because we're told we this is your only
		

			global broadcast and so it should go in English. So I'm doing that
		

			hamdulillah it's a very
		

			new experience for me. I'm going out I have gone back to college to live in a hostel.
		

			After almost 40 years, the last time I was in the hospital was when I was in the
		

			Missouri my master's in management, I'm Ahmedabad
		

			the Indian Institute of Management
		

			and that was in 1985. So there's 38 years ago
		

			so everything is very new.
		

			The initial manual download was far more luxurious than what I have here. The accommodation
		

			but hamdulillah it's nothing to complain about I was the best thing is I was single room to myself.
One bed one table, one chest of drawers, one chair
		

			hamdulillah it shows you how little we actually need to be comfortable with a very comfortable
		

			I had a problem with my mattress because it was too soft.
		

			So I scouted around in the empty rooms in this hostel and I found one mattress which was hard enough
and I
		

			pulled that off and brought it across the building to my room and took my mattress across the
building to that room with permission of course I asked the college people permission for that and
they said yes, you can do that. What did what they didn't tell me that? Yes, you can do that means
exactly that. Yes, you can do that. You and your career, maybe the gym that accompanies you. But my
gene is a is a uncooperative guy, so he didn't help me so I had to do myself
		

			Alhamdulillah this year in the Hijiri calendar, I'm 70 in the Gregorian calendar 68
		

			And I suddenly discovered that I had enough strength to actually pick up this mattress and half
carry have drag it across the building.
		

			So that was a discovery. Second thing is
		

			I'm just sharing with you my my learnings and what I hope will be beneficial. Second thing is that I
discovered this gem here
		

			which is kind of you know,
		

			sweet.
		

			Not the greatest gym in the world, but it's there. And so I'm going there every day hamdulillah
		

			I'm walking, I'm doing that.
		

			So that's the second part of the story. Third and third part of the story of course is
		

			the fourth year is
		

			there's a lot of vegan stuff.
		

			God bless all vegans and robins thanks to them we get a lot of food.
		

			Once in a while they they serve like yesterday with Halal chicken.
		

			I checked, whether it was hand slaughtered Zambia, nobody had a clue
		

			so I have decided I'm not eating any of the of this Halal stuff here. So for two months without meat
Hamdulillah.
		

			Once again, I'm not saying this in any sarcastic way, I am very happy that is the case. So I have a
physical regimen, I have a dietary regimen and studying is 12 hours of classes plus five hours of
homework. So that is the
		

			12 to 13 hours of eight hours, eight hours of classes and five hours almost 12 to 13 hours of study
per day.
		

			Plus there is
		

			no there is opportunity. But the way the opportunity was described to us it sounded more like a
necessity and hamdulillah they're so good that individual one on one teacher attention is also
possible and available. So if you want somebody to individually teach you they do that. At the end
of each day, they give you an assessment of how you're doing
		

			it every day there is homework which must be completed before next morning's class, completed
submitted. So this is the
		

			This is a story.
		

			Another big new for me was wasn't Is
		

			he the other students in,
		

			in the college and this is an American college.
		

			These are American students, and SubhanAllah.
		

			The less said about their dressing the better.
		

			What would, at least in my culture and understanding what usually passes for underwear is formal
class dress here.
		

			So I of course,
		

			not only do I
		

			do I always do that, but here for me, it's a statement. And hamdulillah May Allah accept it with the
class, which is I wear my soul when I wear my trophy. And
		

			obviously, I'm the only one in the entire place who's wearing that.
		

			But Hamdulillah this is very good. And it seems to be NC it seems to be getting a lot of attention
and positive attention. That's another good thing about America, which is, people do what they want,
but nobody comments on anybody else and nobody criticizes anybody else. So Hamdulillah this is, this
is very beneficial. We had Joomla we bridge so that is.
		

			So that's another thing, which is another big thing for me is that
		

			after a long, long, long time,
		

			I am completely anonymous. Nobody knows who I am. Nobody knows what I am. Not that I'm anything
great on and so forth. But we meaning that I have a lot of friends on the lab, a lot of
		

			you know, people who know me and who follow me and so on, but none of those years. So here I am, to
some I'm Mirza to some I am the our depends on, you know, whoever's talking to me, and what name I
give them. So I'm just the algorithm is I'm just That's it. And again, American culture.
		

			What would be highly disrespectful in other cultures is routine here. And the thing to remember and
I remind myself is that they're not doing they're doing this to insult you, that is how they are.
		

			This is a culture where you even call your father by his name. So if somebody who is 1/3 my age
calls me our,
		

			in my culture, I would find that highly disrespectful. And I would be probably very upset, very
angry. But here this is routine. And I know the guy is not being disrespectful. So it is very
important. I'm also I mean hamdulillah cross cultural understanding and cross cultural integration,
I teach, because I learned that in from the earliest time when I was living in Ghana, in Kewanee, I
was the only Muslim only Indian only everything you know, and everybody else was different. So my
grounding in cross cultural understanding is very visceral and very fundamental.
		

			And so here
		

			that is also being tested and humbled I have the theory to fall back upon. And so I remind myself
that I need to keep reminding myself that they don't mean disrespect, this is our life is and it's a
very humbling experience that I say Alhamdulillah the big of the biggest beneficiary that this is a
very humbling experience. Because in terms of language, I mean no matter I think I mentioned this in
the earlier for the mantra, so please forgive me, but you know in in a normal time and space where I
am my surroundings I'm surrounded by people who know me and so on even now I'm the I'm getting
messages from my from the mucheasier whispering field, saying you know chef, you are gone and the
		

			light is off because of because you are not there and you we don't see your smile and we don't see
your your mouth I do have your your heart era and so on so on. So hamdulillah Allah, Allah subhanaw
taala has put over the love for me in their hearts and love for them in my heart, I thank them when
I bless Allah Subhana Allah I bless them and I ask Allah subhanaw taala bless them. And the same
thing of course, for the last four years from my masjid, which will always be my Masjid which is
hmic in other words, and all the people there may Allah bless all of them.
		

			That is my apart piece of my heart is there. So
		

			but here it is, you know, complete strangers so it's very humbling. And no matter what you were and
what you are and Hamdulillah I have done decently well for myself my life.
		

			Here, when it comes to language, I'm practically almost zero, especially compared to my teachers,
I'm zero. So it brings you down, it brings you down to a very fundamental basic level and makes you
humble, or Hamdulillah. I'm very happy that I'm going through this experience. I'm very happy that I
chose to do to go through this experience. Nobody sent me here. Nobody's paying for it. Nobody's you
know, nobody will win.
		

			have done anything but didn't go. So it is a voluntary thing. I'm very happy that I lost Martha
guided me to this, I did this. And I request your dua that Allah makes it easy. Allah gives me as
lucky as me makes it easy for me gives me the ability to do it well and to understand his language,
the language of the Quran, Allah Kareem as a result of which I want to be able to, to understand the
Quran to understand that he's also salam and to practice them.
		

			We ask Allah subhanaw taala I make dua for you may Allah bless you, especially in these YAML marker,
the blessed day as of
		

			tomorrow will be on a lot of Inshallah, ask Allah to accept the hijab all those people who've been
there. They're the man from South Africa who has gone there with 100 I don't know if all the people
went there, but he has 100,000 followers, a Christian preacher who became Muslim and he announced it
in his congregation and they all became Muslim 100,000 People from Durban and this is this is a
confirmed report from Durban from South Africa. So if you get this on WhatsApp, this is one WhatsApp
forward that you can believe handled under smarter blesses where you want and who is the person
where whoever is sincere. And we ask Allah subhanaw taala for his for his blessing in our lives, was
		

			that Allah Allah Allah will carry while it he was me remember I want to get away