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