Zaynab Ansari – SeekersRetreation 2012
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AI: Transcript ©
Assalamualaikum
Assalamualaikum.
Welcome to
our webinar
for the seekers guidance Appalachian retreat inshallah to
be held
June 25
through June 30. I apologize if there's any
background noise, but I'm at home with my
family.
I'm really excited about, the upcoming retreat,
and I want to encourage everybody who is
attending this webinar to please help spread the
word,
about this retreat. Insha'Allah, we are at this
point,
about 8 weeks out.
So this is I think a good time
to start to promote the Appalachian retreat to
your family, to your friends, to your
list serves, to your communities.
So,
I wanna speak very,
briefly about
the, importance
of seekers guidance retreat in terms of,
some of the things that I've noticed.
Having attended and taught at the retreat for
the last,
for the last 2 years.
Again, I hope everybody can hear me.
My son
asks every day if he can go to
the seekers guidance retreat.
And,
just to give you an indication of how,
significant that is,
my son,
is a special needs child and,
there are a lot of things that we've
been struggling to get him to learn and
to remember and to retain.
But one of the things that my son
is excellent in
retaining and recalling
are those memories that
were sort of that were created at the
seekers guidance retreat, for the last 2 years.
This just to give you a little bit
a little bit of background information.
The seekers guidance, as you know, is an
online
educational initiative that has seekers have an on-site
location,
in Toronto. A seekers guidance was founded by
Shef Faraz Rabani
and,
other students of knowledge who had a background
of going overseas to study,
sacred law and to come back to the
west and teach. It's a really excellent initiative.
Recently, seeker's guidance courses have been
made available tuition free. And really the concept
behind seekers guidance is to sort
of create community. So to sort of go
beyond
online course offerings, which are an excellent idea
in and of themselves and sort of bring
people together in person.
Because it is really kind of in these
gatherings of people
where we're able to sit with our teachers
and our scholars
and,
and take from them
that I think we're able to really internalize
what it really means to be a Muslim
today
and to sort of practice Islam,
on an excellent level.
And just to reiterate the importance of community
and being around sort of like minded people,
people who are striving,
people who are struggling hard
to live,
lives of piety and purpose.
I just finished researching a very extraordinary,
African Muslim
who,
lived in coastal Georgia
in the early 19th century. He died sometime
in 18/59. His name was Bailali Muhammad.
And he actually left, a text,
that at the time,
was thought to be some type of journal
and was later discovered to actually be kind
of a text of Maliki.
Sacred law according to the Maliki
School of Islam.
And what's really remarkable about Ghilali Muhammad is
that,
he was part of a community of Muslims
in coastal Georgia. That was actually the biggest
Muslim community in the United States at the
time.
Incredibly remarkable.
And he managed to practice Islam and to
transmit,
his legacy to his family,
in the face of overwhelming odds. Remember, this
person was enslaved.
And I really believe that
when Muslims
gather
in the 21st century,
at places like the retreat,
the Seekers Guidance Appalachian Retreat, when we have
all these people coming together
from different backgrounds, different,
sort of,
stations in life.
You know, the as we're kind of united
in that aspiration of seeking
the countenance of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and
seeking His pleasure.
I really believe that when Muslims in America
in the 21st century are gathering in places
like like this to pray and to read
a Quran and to learn
that this is truly the prayer,
the supplication of someone like Balaam Muhammad,
coming true. I think that there are people
who prayed for us. Who prayed that inshallah,
Islam in America will be revived. And it
really is through gatherings
like the Seekers Guidance Appalachian Retreat.
So
I just wanna encourage everybody again that to
think about, this retreat. This is not your
ordinary sort of get together or conference.
It really is kind of a gathering of
hearts.
It's not,
the type of event where, you just kind
of sit and take kind of like dry
lecture notes and go home, but it really
is life changing.
You know, there Alhamdulillah, there are friendships that
that come from this, this particular
gathering.
People kind of make,
sort of resolutions
to improve certain aspects of the religious practice
or how they're relating to the family.
It's really really amazing.
People have met spouses at the retreat. I
don't know if I'm supposed to say that,
but that's something that, you know, in terms
of community building.
And most importantly, the retreat is an opportunity
not just for the students, but certainly for
the teachers
to
attend and to,
un to unplug.
I mean, really, subhanAllah, it is such a
unique environment. I mean, we're set in the
sort of in the mountains, the Appalachian mountains.
And, a part of the United States that
chef Amar Firdup Abdullah told us last year
is very important in terms of its Cherokee,
its native American spiritual,
heritage.
And we're in the we're in the, you
know, we're outdoors. We're enjoying
the signs of Allah in terms of pristine
nature,
beautiful activities for the children, and most importantly,
no internet. And this is ironic because I'm
sitting here broadcasting on my wireless at home,
but there's no internet. So, you know, cell
phones don't work. Computers don't work.
And it really is a time to go
back to basics, to begin on guidance. And
that's the theme
of our retreat. It's beginning with guidance.
This retreat honestly is absolutely
therapeutic for everybody who's there. Like I said,
the students, teachers,
the families, husbands, wives, children, everyone. So please
do your best to attend.
And consider this something that I think,
is praiseworthy
to sort of save money for to attend.
Because
attending to one's spiritual needs is just as
important as attending to one's worldly needs. And
you can't sort of function competently on a
sort of day to day level
taking care of your affairs if you're spiritually
kind of drained and sapped.
InshaAllah, attending the retreat is a way to
recharge
that spiritual battery
and inshaAllah
move forward
with purpose in life and with the pleasure
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
So
inshallah, I want to thank everybody for listening
to my presentation.
And again, I encourage you to go to
seekersguidance.org/retreat
where you can learn all about how to
register for the upcoming seekers guidance Appalachian retreat
from June 25
to June 30,
in Coker Creek, Tennessee. Insha'Allah ta'ala. I'll see
all of you there. Jazakumullah.
Assalamu Alaikum.