Salaams all,
Alhamd, we are doing well. IA all of you are doing well. Its thursday evening and we will be going to our school soon for our Thursday programs. The students take turns in reciting Dua, Quran and Ziyarat, and every other week one of the students gives a lecture in Arabic. Its nice, this way we get to practice public speaking but more then that to practice our arabic. After the program, we go to the Haram for a little while, we cant overstate how nice it is to be in the proximity of the Haram.. Alhamd... we really feel fortunate.
School is going well, busy, we have taken some extra classes on our own, without going through the school, just easier that way, less questions. We got a teacher to teach us this extra subject and then at home we are listening to a series of lectures on Akhlaq. That is a class on its own, and ALhamd we are taking it seriously, good routine we have going ALhamd, please pray that we can maintain it iA.
We just want to say that even though things are not ideal, but thats life, we are not that frustrated, and even though we may sound like it at times, overall we are quite happy... will tell you a secret: sometimes when we want things to change or certain things to happen we put it on the blog, just incase there are some ppl who have influence can read it. :)
OK, thats it for today, we will write more later on iA.
Take care
Salaams
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
The weekends go by too quickly
Salaams all,
sorry for the long delay in writing, but the truth is we dont think anyone is reading..lol.. oh well, we will try to write as much as we can.
so we have completed a full week of school plus two days... the classes are going well, not at all as hectic as last year, we mentioned in our other blogs about the changes that have taken place so no need to repeat it.
the classes we are taking this semester include: Usul al-Tafseer, Arabic Morphology and Grammar, Fiqh, Arabic in the Media, Akhlaq, Ulum al Hadith and Aqaid. Not a bad load, and then we do have our Masters class...so pretty busy, but because the schedule has changed, we are in school from 7-1 instead of 8-5, we have lots of time in the afternoons...
sad news about on of our teachers, his grandson, very young, passed away due to some inhalation of gas... really sad, lets pray for them iA.
Besides that, our apartment is nice, we are still waiting on our school to give us a new stovetop, we have been waiting for a while, patiently, ALhamd, while others' problems are getting fixed before ours... but thats ok, lol, just wanted to write that incase there is someone who is reading, LOL...
anyhow, thats it for now, we will write back later iA. please remember to pray for us!!
sorry for the long delay in writing, but the truth is we dont think anyone is reading..lol.. oh well, we will try to write as much as we can.
so we have completed a full week of school plus two days... the classes are going well, not at all as hectic as last year, we mentioned in our other blogs about the changes that have taken place so no need to repeat it.
the classes we are taking this semester include: Usul al-Tafseer, Arabic Morphology and Grammar, Fiqh, Arabic in the Media, Akhlaq, Ulum al Hadith and Aqaid. Not a bad load, and then we do have our Masters class...so pretty busy, but because the schedule has changed, we are in school from 7-1 instead of 8-5, we have lots of time in the afternoons...
sad news about on of our teachers, his grandson, very young, passed away due to some inhalation of gas... really sad, lets pray for them iA.
Besides that, our apartment is nice, we are still waiting on our school to give us a new stovetop, we have been waiting for a while, patiently, ALhamd, while others' problems are getting fixed before ours... but thats ok, lol, just wanted to write that incase there is someone who is reading, LOL...
anyhow, thats it for now, we will write back later iA. please remember to pray for us!!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Eid Mubarak!!!
Salaams all...
Eid Mubarak to each and everyone of you. iA this Eid was truly an Eid where we returned to ou orginal sinless state. Ameen
As usual, there was always controversy with Eid.. I heard ppl did it on sunday, monday and i believe london might be doing it on tuesday...lol. Here is Sayyida Zainab AS, Khameini and Fadhlullah did it on sunday while the rest did it on monday. We went for Eid salaat this morning and it was nice ALhamd.
We were supposed to start school tomorrow, but they postponed it and are giving us a few more days off until saturday iA. As we mentioned they changed a few things with the syllabus, however now they want to make sure its the correct thing to do, so Sheikh Muhammad Khalfan is coming today, he is in charge of the Hawza studies. IA things go well.
If things are still slightly watered down, then we will see if we can get a few extra classes from different places, teachers and hawzas. Just want to make something clear, the classes are ok, but we want more. Alhamd, we have that thirst to constantly want to strive harder and faster. Alhamd this is a gift from Allah SWT. He has let us taste knowledge and we are thirsty for more. ALhamd.
Ok, its almost namaaz time, better get going. We will write soon iA.
Salaams and remember to pray for us.
Eid Mubarak to each and everyone of you. iA this Eid was truly an Eid where we returned to ou orginal sinless state. Ameen
As usual, there was always controversy with Eid.. I heard ppl did it on sunday, monday and i believe london might be doing it on tuesday...lol. Here is Sayyida Zainab AS, Khameini and Fadhlullah did it on sunday while the rest did it on monday. We went for Eid salaat this morning and it was nice ALhamd.
We were supposed to start school tomorrow, but they postponed it and are giving us a few more days off until saturday iA. As we mentioned they changed a few things with the syllabus, however now they want to make sure its the correct thing to do, so Sheikh Muhammad Khalfan is coming today, he is in charge of the Hawza studies. IA things go well.
If things are still slightly watered down, then we will see if we can get a few extra classes from different places, teachers and hawzas. Just want to make something clear, the classes are ok, but we want more. Alhamd, we have that thirst to constantly want to strive harder and faster. Alhamd this is a gift from Allah SWT. He has let us taste knowledge and we are thirsty for more. ALhamd.
Ok, its almost namaaz time, better get going. We will write soon iA.
Salaams and remember to pray for us.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Nearing the end of the Holy and Blessed Month
Salaams all,
Its hard to believe that the Holy Month of Ramadhan is nearing to an end... IA the month was spiritual and benefitial to all. As we know the blessings of Allah SWT are abundantly flowing during this great month, its up to us to maximize the intake...
This Holy Month has been really good in Sayyida Zainab AS. Last year we were holding programs at school so we didnt get a chance to go out at nights to participate in the lectures.. but this year there are not that many students, lol, so we go out every night.. we still recite dua together at school after Iftar which is nice, everyone gets a chance to recite and then we go out to different centers where they have Majalis... its a nice feeling... some places even recite dua before the programs and they do have amaals, we thought they didnt before, but they do have it, however the ones that we have attended, they only do the Qur'an aamaals....but Alhamd, its a nice feeling.
The 23rd night of the Month of Ramadhan we spent a good portion of it at the Haram, and there was a special and nice vibe that you could feel throughout the haram.. we truly are blessed to be here and are trying to capture as much as we can before our time runs out.
Last blog entry we mentioned a bunch of changes that took place at our school, something else they have done is given us the last 10 days of this Holy Month off. It was a nice surprise but they said they wanted us to focus on our ibadat and spirituality... and because they like to be involved in ALL facets of our lives, they gave us an assignment...LOL.... no such thing as a free lunch i guess... so our project is to attend a lecture every night and then write a paper about our spiritual progression during this month and how the lectures helped us become more spiritual..or something like that... it was really annoying to be honest... cause we were planning to attend lectures anyways but now they made it a burden... so instead of willingly attending lectures now we are forced...lol.. i know we are complaining, but we dont understand the need to try and dictate our lives... oh well..
besides this, im sure there are other things that we will write about in the future... until then Eid Mubarak and please remember us in your prayers...
Salaams!!
Its hard to believe that the Holy Month of Ramadhan is nearing to an end... IA the month was spiritual and benefitial to all. As we know the blessings of Allah SWT are abundantly flowing during this great month, its up to us to maximize the intake...
This Holy Month has been really good in Sayyida Zainab AS. Last year we were holding programs at school so we didnt get a chance to go out at nights to participate in the lectures.. but this year there are not that many students, lol, so we go out every night.. we still recite dua together at school after Iftar which is nice, everyone gets a chance to recite and then we go out to different centers where they have Majalis... its a nice feeling... some places even recite dua before the programs and they do have amaals, we thought they didnt before, but they do have it, however the ones that we have attended, they only do the Qur'an aamaals....but Alhamd, its a nice feeling.
The 23rd night of the Month of Ramadhan we spent a good portion of it at the Haram, and there was a special and nice vibe that you could feel throughout the haram.. we truly are blessed to be here and are trying to capture as much as we can before our time runs out.
Last blog entry we mentioned a bunch of changes that took place at our school, something else they have done is given us the last 10 days of this Holy Month off. It was a nice surprise but they said they wanted us to focus on our ibadat and spirituality... and because they like to be involved in ALL facets of our lives, they gave us an assignment...LOL.... no such thing as a free lunch i guess... so our project is to attend a lecture every night and then write a paper about our spiritual progression during this month and how the lectures helped us become more spiritual..or something like that... it was really annoying to be honest... cause we were planning to attend lectures anyways but now they made it a burden... so instead of willingly attending lectures now we are forced...lol.. i know we are complaining, but we dont understand the need to try and dictate our lives... oh well..
besides this, im sure there are other things that we will write about in the future... until then Eid Mubarak and please remember us in your prayers...
Salaams!!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Big changes at our school
Salaams all,
Hope all of you are in the best of health... tonight is a big night, the beginning of many big nights, please remember us in your prayers and iA we will do the same here is Sham... cant believe how fast time has gone, already 18 days have past in this Great Month, hope each of us feel a sense of progression in our lives iA...
Life here in Damascus has been good... finished the first week of school and oh myyy... many many changes. before we mention the changes, one thing is important, that we all remain positive. The course is new and for some reason people are skeptical, but if you are going to read this blog, then you cant be :)
For one thing, there is no new intake of students... i know, i know.. really sad, we are really sad about it as well, because for the perception of success of this course, there has to be intake of students. what happened? we dont know... we heard rumors that there were no new students before we came, but it was confirmed when we got here...
2 couples dropped out... i know i know... really sad... they both had good reasons iA and we pray for their success... they are really nice people, so no bad feelings towards anyone... we become like a family last year so its sad to see them not here. but this more then anything has been the hardest thing for us to get over..we had a nice community atmosphere here last year, and it is unfortunate that it will not be the same this year...
Sheikh Sami - the director of education - is no longer here with us... this is huge, supposedly he was let go because his position was taken over by new roles which were assigned to others... people dont understand what a big impact this move has..... as far as most of the students are concerned, Sheikh Sami was the rock of the Institute. His akhlaq, conduct, advise, smile were always there and things are no longer the same at our school... For people who dont know, it was Sheikh Sami and Jaffer D. who raised this institute from zero... this one was hard to get over.
They also changed the schedule.. instead of being in school from 8-5, we are in school from 7-1.. big change, frees up our afternoons and this way the complainers have no reason to complain anymore.. last year, there was quite a bit of complaining from students that the course was too difficult, it seems they have catered for them this year and have not done much for those who said the course was fine or even too easy (us) lol....
Have more to say about other things, however the Azaan is going and we have to go.
Take care!!
Hope all of you are in the best of health... tonight is a big night, the beginning of many big nights, please remember us in your prayers and iA we will do the same here is Sham... cant believe how fast time has gone, already 18 days have past in this Great Month, hope each of us feel a sense of progression in our lives iA...
Life here in Damascus has been good... finished the first week of school and oh myyy... many many changes. before we mention the changes, one thing is important, that we all remain positive. The course is new and for some reason people are skeptical, but if you are going to read this blog, then you cant be :)
For one thing, there is no new intake of students... i know, i know.. really sad, we are really sad about it as well, because for the perception of success of this course, there has to be intake of students. what happened? we dont know... we heard rumors that there were no new students before we came, but it was confirmed when we got here...
2 couples dropped out... i know i know... really sad... they both had good reasons iA and we pray for their success... they are really nice people, so no bad feelings towards anyone... we become like a family last year so its sad to see them not here. but this more then anything has been the hardest thing for us to get over..we had a nice community atmosphere here last year, and it is unfortunate that it will not be the same this year...
Sheikh Sami - the director of education - is no longer here with us... this is huge, supposedly he was let go because his position was taken over by new roles which were assigned to others... people dont understand what a big impact this move has..... as far as most of the students are concerned, Sheikh Sami was the rock of the Institute. His akhlaq, conduct, advise, smile were always there and things are no longer the same at our school... For people who dont know, it was Sheikh Sami and Jaffer D. who raised this institute from zero... this one was hard to get over.
They also changed the schedule.. instead of being in school from 8-5, we are in school from 7-1.. big change, frees up our afternoons and this way the complainers have no reason to complain anymore.. last year, there was quite a bit of complaining from students that the course was too difficult, it seems they have catered for them this year and have not done much for those who said the course was fine or even too easy (us) lol....
Have more to say about other things, however the Azaan is going and we have to go.
Take care!!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Back in Sham - Year 3
Salaams to all our readers...Ramadhan Kareem to all.
Sorry for the long hiatus of not blogging, but last year there wasnt much to blog about but will iA blog more this year, hopefully there will be someone who will be reading :)
Our flight here was good ALhamd, we invested in a luggage weight scale, so we can know exactly how much our bags weigh before we go to the airport... GREAT INVESTMENT...even the lady at the checkin was impressed... so after that, our bags were checked in from TO all the way to Damascus, so we didnt have to worry about it. The flight from TO to London was not the most comfortable, if the person infront of you reclined their chair, the TV was in your face, almost literally... lol.. but we managed, then had a 3 hour break in London, where we stalked up on Dairy Milk and then made our way on BMI to Damascus... the plane was kind off empty so we both were able to sleep.
We landed in Dam around 945, went through immigration without any problems, Alhamd and got all our bags, ALhamd!! Then we took a taxi from the airport, they have raised the prices even higher... charged us 2000 pounds, over $40, because they said we needed a van, assuming that a smaller car would be cheaper... then we went to our new flat... its nice, much smaller then our old apt but nice... our old place was 3 bedrooms, however this one is 1 bedroom, living room and a small kitchen... both the bathroom and kitchen are quite small... the bathroom is such that the shower head is right ontop of of the toilet, kind of right on top, but no shower curtains, so when you shower, the entire toilet gets wet... will have to figure out a good system for that one!!
Just went to the Haram to greet and pay our respects to Sayyida Zainab AS.. that felt really good Alhamd... then came to the internet cafe to talk to family and update the blog... iA we will be doing it once a week, IA!!
It looks like there are A LOT of changes with our school this year, once we get some concrete details, will let you guys know, because it would only be fair :)
Please remember us in your prayers...
Salaams
Sorry for the long hiatus of not blogging, but last year there wasnt much to blog about but will iA blog more this year, hopefully there will be someone who will be reading :)
Our flight here was good ALhamd, we invested in a luggage weight scale, so we can know exactly how much our bags weigh before we go to the airport... GREAT INVESTMENT...even the lady at the checkin was impressed... so after that, our bags were checked in from TO all the way to Damascus, so we didnt have to worry about it. The flight from TO to London was not the most comfortable, if the person infront of you reclined their chair, the TV was in your face, almost literally... lol.. but we managed, then had a 3 hour break in London, where we stalked up on Dairy Milk and then made our way on BMI to Damascus... the plane was kind off empty so we both were able to sleep.
We landed in Dam around 945, went through immigration without any problems, Alhamd and got all our bags, ALhamd!! Then we took a taxi from the airport, they have raised the prices even higher... charged us 2000 pounds, over $40, because they said we needed a van, assuming that a smaller car would be cheaper... then we went to our new flat... its nice, much smaller then our old apt but nice... our old place was 3 bedrooms, however this one is 1 bedroom, living room and a small kitchen... both the bathroom and kitchen are quite small... the bathroom is such that the shower head is right ontop of of the toilet, kind of right on top, but no shower curtains, so when you shower, the entire toilet gets wet... will have to figure out a good system for that one!!
Just went to the Haram to greet and pay our respects to Sayyida Zainab AS.. that felt really good Alhamd... then came to the internet cafe to talk to family and update the blog... iA we will be doing it once a week, IA!!
It looks like there are A LOT of changes with our school this year, once we get some concrete details, will let you guys know, because it would only be fair :)
Please remember us in your prayers...
Salaams
Sunday, October 19, 2008
We have Internet!!! pretty fast too
Hello all, hope you are doing as well as we are over here, busy but we doing good Alhamd.
Just wanted to inform you guys that we have internet, at pretty good speed at our school. Alhamd... its high speed and wireless, but kinda wireless, only 2 computers can access the internet at one time... first time we are hearing about this new method, but Alhamd :) Now we have to come up with a schedule that all the students can use it without any problems...lets see how it works....
Ok, we will write more, pray that once we get to our house, it works over there too...
Take care
Just wanted to inform you guys that we have internet, at pretty good speed at our school. Alhamd... its high speed and wireless, but kinda wireless, only 2 computers can access the internet at one time... first time we are hearing about this new method, but Alhamd :) Now we have to come up with a schedule that all the students can use it without any problems...lets see how it works....
Ok, we will write more, pray that once we get to our house, it works over there too...
Take care
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)