Back to the convention

Sorry, got a little sidetracked there with my life.. naughty me :P

So I finished on the end of day 1 I believe, so saturday.. we all woke up a little later than hoped due to the late late night but alhamdulilah we managed to park up befre 10am so we were only a little late. I had wanted to make this lecture desperately so alhamdulillah we got there on time, so a backwards 3 part lecture starting with Sheikh Yayha Rhodus masha'allah with the second part of his lecture about Surah Hujurat. It was nice to walk into this lecture, hes got such a nice voice masha'allah strong, yet soft and appealing to the ears. We managed to get quite a front row seat for this group of lectures so I was happy. After Yayha there was a lecture from Dr Jamillah Karim, a first generation african american muslim, would i say first generation? her parents were converts, so I think thats the right term to use insha'allah. Anyways, my friend turns to me and says 'I dont like this lady too much' when we hadnt really heard much from her, but I guess some people only need to hear a smidge to form opinions, but by the end of the lecture she was smiling and glad to have stayed masha'allah. The speaker gave a little intro and talked about how her mother had gotten through some tests for being a muslim and black in the years of her life.. masha'allah, was also nice to hear that this sister is the first black professor of religion at the school where she teaches alhamdulillah. She discussed how to raise spiritual children which I thought was a bit strange after she told us that she wasnt a mother. I mean.. i can give all the advice of child rearing from books and stuff, but until you have experienced it i really dont think i would be the best person to listen to. Then we had mufti muhammed again masha'allah talking about managing sibling squabbles, as much as I should have listened to this I was sort of, I mean.. im not a sibling so I couldnt really relate to much. However, I did like how he also talked about how the children treat their parents in times of these squabbles which was good to listen to. As you can probably tell this wasnt one of my taking notes moments :( I noted down a few of the stories he told which were really nice..
"Muhammed (saws) said to Aisha (RA) once that he knew when she was displeased with him, she asked how and he told her that when she was displeased with him she would say 'by the Lord of Ibrahim' whereas when she was pleased with him she would say 'by the Lord of Muhammed' she smiled when realising that he was correct and told him 'I may say by the Lord of Ibrahim, but this is on my lips, in my heart and my head your name never leaves me"
Subhanallah.. I remember letting a little tear shed at this.. for someone to say this to another human being, their connection must have been so strong. I remember all the people who say that their union was not right in todays society and even call it horrible names.. but surely this proves the love and respect she had for her husband masha'allah. He also discussed the matter of inheritance and mentioned this story
"There was a man who passed away shortly after receiting the shahada (testimony of faith) Everyone in the room was making duaa that the man will see paradise and meet his creator. One person turned off the lamp and the whole room was plunged into darkness, when everyone asked why he had done it he replied that 'the lamp was the mans in the living world and now he was dead it belonged to his relatives and inheritors. Until they had been given permission by all of them it was haram to use the lamp" I thought this was pretty amazing, very respectful of the man and his belongings, and to use such a strong word as haram showed how disliked it was. Unfortunately he didnt give references for these stories so I can only tell you what he said in a like minded way (ie, this wasnt written down word for word)

Next Dr Jamal Badawi gave a short talk on the assumptions held by society pertaining to the role of women in the muslim family. Masha'allah it was very informative with a little powerpoint, which they wouldnt keep on for long enough to make notes on but oh well. He discussed inheritance and women quite alot in this sectionto show the things that we are given because of this wonderful religion. He said there are 2 primary sources of Islam, the Quran and authentic sunnah (ahadith) and that the ahadith must be understood and interpreted in light of the Quran. To deal well and understandably with the quran we must have knowledge of the great book that has been passed on through the years, we must remember that the quran explains itself.. it is us that reads it as confusing sometimes. Also, we should be aware of the occasion of revelation of the different verses to have a somewhat full understanding of the lifes of the people when these verses were sent down. Dr Badawi talked about the connection with protecting right of orphan girls in the quran and he touched on the fact that monogamy is the norm, of course this issue had to be addressed in this topic ;P It should be seen by everyone that Islam limited polygamy, not introduced it.. and the quran gives us many verse to show the apparent discouragment of the practise telling the men if they cant be just to more that 1 then to marry just 1 woman. He also touched on many women including the fact that they wish to not be involved in a polygamous relationship, into the marriage contract. This was interesting for me... I asked h2b about this issue awhile ago and while now I know that it isnt something he feels he has to do I mentioned it to a sister who said it was wrong to put this in the contract, she said... how can u make something haram for your husband that has already been made halal and that I can understand. So whats best? to find out whether he wants to before you marry? but then what if he changes his mind and wants it.. does that give u enough reason for a divorce if you cant live in that situation?? hmm... interesting... He also mentioned that in some situation that women can inherit equal amounts and even more than the male which I think is something that has to be researched as Ive never come across any explanation of certain situations. The whole 2 women equals 1 man for testimony was also discussed, he said that in the quran this was only mentioned in a finiancial situation 1 ayah in the whole quran!! (I havent quoted the whole ayah)
"2:282 O ye who believe! When ye deal with each other, in transactions involving future obligations in a fixed period of time, reduce them to writing Let a scribe write down faithfully as between the parties: let not the scribe refuse to write: as Allah Has taught him, so let him write. Let him who incurs the liability dictate, but let him fear His Lord Allah, and not diminish aught of what he owes. If they party liable is mentally deficient, or weak, or unable Himself to dictate, Let his guardian dictate faithfully, and get two witnesses, out of your own men, and if there are not two men, then a man and two women, such as ye choose, for witnesses, so that if one of them errs, the other can remind her."
He told us that being created from a bent rib is not a degrading situation as god knows that we are completely different to men, we were blessed with more sensitivity and emotion than any man can ever imagine.

The point about women being the majority in the hell fire was also discussed, the professor went on to say this wasnt a general statement about women, it was connected with negative behaviour not gender. He mentioned a story about the prophet asking Aisha to fetch him something from the mosque, she told him she couldnt go in as she had her menses and he told her 'your menses is not on your hands, go!' doesnt that tell us something? Masha'allah.

Next was prayer and lunch.. I think i spent more time running around during this 'break' than anything else, the problem with this convention is that they always try to squeeze so many things in and give us little or no break inbetween.. being a university student I know that they arent giving everyone the chance to gain the most out of this weekend from doing this, and its such a shame because there is alot to gain from it. My phone battery was dying and at its worst on this day, and my stepdad kept phoning me to tell me the most stupid things.. my mum was in UK at this point.. so i think he was getting bored with noone to talk to.

There was a lecture on pornography next which I was going to go to, but decided against it. There was a warning read out to everyone that this wasnt for children, I was interested to hear a little of it but then from the reviews from people who went Im glad I didnt. I was surprised to see that the lady who was speaking wasnt selling her book at the convention booth.

Anyways Ive just realised the time.. Im off to bed. insha'allah ill write more soon before i forget the main points. Take care