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!!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
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
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Eid Mubarak to All
Salaams everyone, Eid Mubarak to all. The Holy Month of Ramadhan has sadly come to an end, and we pray that everyone's prayers and fasts have been accepted by Allah SWT, iA.
If you have been reading our blogs, you wil know that last Eid was fantastic here. It made up for the fact that Ramadhan wasnt packed with the same feeling as it normally is back home, due to the community atmosphere that is lacking here. But anyways, Eid last year made up for it. This year, not quite :)
So there is a story to all this. Eid was either supposed to be on Wed or Thur. Our school is normally off on half of Thur and all of Friday. If Eid was on a Wed, we would have to come to school for half a day on Thursday. The Institute did not want to give us that half a day off :) LOL, everyone tried, from teachers to students..lol... but we have to obey the rules.. anyways, much more to the story...
So as we got closer to the date, it was still unclear when Eid was going to be, however it was clear that the Country of Syria had confirmed that Eid was going to be on Wed. Because it is a govt holiday, the Inst. was forced to close its doors. That meant that we had Wed off for sure. There was a catch though, if our Eid fell on Wed, we didnt get that Thursday off.... basically a two in one kind of holiday. We waited patiently Tue night to find out when our Eid was going to be, and at midnight we received a message that Ayatullah Sistani declared that Eid would be Thursday, you know what that means, a 3 day weekend :) wed, thurs, and friday :-)Well deserved for both students and staff. We were in class from 9-5, 5 and a half days a week while fasting... not an easy task, though rewarding :)
However, ther was a catch to having Eid on Thur.. all other Maraja's declared Eid on Wed, therefore the formal Eid prayers that take place at the Haram was on Wed and we missed out on it :( We had a small eid prayer gathering at our school, where Sheikh Mohammad Ali Ismail lead the prayers and us students were there. Alhamd it was nice but not the same as last year... oh well, cant win them all:)
One of the couples at our school has started a photo diary, this way you can view pictures of happenings, he doesnt mind that we put it on our blog, so cut and paste the link below to view pictures.
http://picasaweb.google.com/JAMIL.BANDALI/JamilFatimaSYRIAPhotoDiary
Thats it for now, much more to come in the upcoming weeks :)
Salaams
If you have been reading our blogs, you wil know that last Eid was fantastic here. It made up for the fact that Ramadhan wasnt packed with the same feeling as it normally is back home, due to the community atmosphere that is lacking here. But anyways, Eid last year made up for it. This year, not quite :)
So there is a story to all this. Eid was either supposed to be on Wed or Thur. Our school is normally off on half of Thur and all of Friday. If Eid was on a Wed, we would have to come to school for half a day on Thursday. The Institute did not want to give us that half a day off :) LOL, everyone tried, from teachers to students..lol... but we have to obey the rules.. anyways, much more to the story...
So as we got closer to the date, it was still unclear when Eid was going to be, however it was clear that the Country of Syria had confirmed that Eid was going to be on Wed. Because it is a govt holiday, the Inst. was forced to close its doors. That meant that we had Wed off for sure. There was a catch though, if our Eid fell on Wed, we didnt get that Thursday off.... basically a two in one kind of holiday. We waited patiently Tue night to find out when our Eid was going to be, and at midnight we received a message that Ayatullah Sistani declared that Eid would be Thursday, you know what that means, a 3 day weekend :) wed, thurs, and friday :-)Well deserved for both students and staff. We were in class from 9-5, 5 and a half days a week while fasting... not an easy task, though rewarding :)
However, ther was a catch to having Eid on Thur.. all other Maraja's declared Eid on Wed, therefore the formal Eid prayers that take place at the Haram was on Wed and we missed out on it :( We had a small eid prayer gathering at our school, where Sheikh Mohammad Ali Ismail lead the prayers and us students were there. Alhamd it was nice but not the same as last year... oh well, cant win them all:)
One of the couples at our school has started a photo diary, this way you can view pictures of happenings, he doesnt mind that we put it on our blog, so cut and paste the link below to view pictures.
http://picasaweb.google.com/JAMIL.BANDALI/JamilFatimaSYRIAPhotoDiary
Thats it for now, much more to come in the upcoming weeks :)
Salaams
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Cant believe how fast the Month of Ramadhan has gone
Hello all,
Start off with the customary apologies for not blogging enough, but our trips to the internet cafe have been far and few this year, as opposed to last year. Probably having to do with the Month of Ramadhan, as our nights are busy along with our days. We cant believe how fast this Holy Month has flown by, only 5 or 6 more fasts to go, unbelievable. We ask Allah SWT that he accept our fasts and prayers, and IA give us and opportunity to do the same, but better, next year.
Our school organized Aamal nights (prayer nights) for us at our school, and all the students came along with some other students from England who are studying here. Sheikh Mohamed Ali Ismail delivered some very nice lectures and then they had an Arab lecturer come and recite the Masaeeb portion of the Martydom of Imam Ali AS. After which we had our Aamals. It was nice to do it in a group environment, and since we have more students this year, it was a really nice atmosphere.
Quick mention that last time we blogged, we mentioned that one of the couples is from Peterborough, but it turns out they are from Portsmouth... (have no idea about the spelling ...) so we are sorry about that mistake :)
We went to the Haram on the day of the Martydom of Imam Ali AS, and it was amazing. We got there about 20 minutes before the time of Fajr prayers and the Haram was packed. Alhamd we got a place to sit and recite our prayers... Right after the prayers, they had set up a Minbar (pulpit) inside the Haram and a lecturer got on to recite the Gham.. it was amazing, to be in the presence of Sayyida Zainab AS and to be hearing about the tragedy of her fathers death, was really moving. Right after the Lecture, they removed the barrier between the women and the men, and a taboot (coffin) representing our Imam was carried in from outside and it went around the actual Tomb a few times... Truly amazing, it was like a wave, Jaffer got caught in the wave and it moved him without him having to walk... really amazing... and then they had Matam outside in the Sahan for an hour and everyone then went home. Another great experience in Seyyida Zainab AS :)
Anyways, thats it for now... iA we will have more to write about in the near future....
Take care and remember us in your prayers!!!
Start off with the customary apologies for not blogging enough, but our trips to the internet cafe have been far and few this year, as opposed to last year. Probably having to do with the Month of Ramadhan, as our nights are busy along with our days. We cant believe how fast this Holy Month has flown by, only 5 or 6 more fasts to go, unbelievable. We ask Allah SWT that he accept our fasts and prayers, and IA give us and opportunity to do the same, but better, next year.
Our school organized Aamal nights (prayer nights) for us at our school, and all the students came along with some other students from England who are studying here. Sheikh Mohamed Ali Ismail delivered some very nice lectures and then they had an Arab lecturer come and recite the Masaeeb portion of the Martydom of Imam Ali AS. After which we had our Aamals. It was nice to do it in a group environment, and since we have more students this year, it was a really nice atmosphere.
Quick mention that last time we blogged, we mentioned that one of the couples is from Peterborough, but it turns out they are from Portsmouth... (have no idea about the spelling ...) so we are sorry about that mistake :)
We went to the Haram on the day of the Martydom of Imam Ali AS, and it was amazing. We got there about 20 minutes before the time of Fajr prayers and the Haram was packed. Alhamd we got a place to sit and recite our prayers... Right after the prayers, they had set up a Minbar (pulpit) inside the Haram and a lecturer got on to recite the Gham.. it was amazing, to be in the presence of Sayyida Zainab AS and to be hearing about the tragedy of her fathers death, was really moving. Right after the Lecture, they removed the barrier between the women and the men, and a taboot (coffin) representing our Imam was carried in from outside and it went around the actual Tomb a few times... Truly amazing, it was like a wave, Jaffer got caught in the wave and it moved him without him having to walk... really amazing... and then they had Matam outside in the Sahan for an hour and everyone then went home. Another great experience in Seyyida Zainab AS :)
Anyways, thats it for now... iA we will have more to write about in the near future....
Take care and remember us in your prayers!!!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Finally a day off... kind of :)
OK... so after a nice and long week, a week that we really found productive, we have finally come to our first well deserved weekend break...lol, and if you have been reading our blogs from before, you will know that it means one day off! but its ok, we kinda used to it after going through it last year. We have received information that some of the Coordinators of the course are coming down this weekend, or that they are already here, and they are hosting a student seminar that begins, yup, you guessed it, on our day off...but really, its all good, iA it will make our fasts go by that much faster. The really good part is that the seminar will go into Saturday and Sunday, so we will miss two days of classes. So it all works out :)
We got a message on our blog from someone wanting to know where the other couples are from. One is from Peterborough, one is from Ottawa and one is from Dar. Good variey and mix,and Alhamd all are really nice. But besides the students, there are a whole bunch of new teachers for the 2nd year students, and being really honest, they are all fantastic. So far, we have a few that are our favorites already, our teacher for Fiqh (Islamic Jurispudence), our teacher for Mantiq and Aqaid (same teacher for these two classes) and our teacher for Tafseer. Amazing people!!
Besides that, we had half a day of class today, so we along with another couple went to Sayyida Ruqaya AS to pay our respects to her. The weather is still hot but its definitely better then when we first arrived last week. We have nearly unpacked all of our luggage, to be honest, Sabiha has done most of it, while Jaffer has been relaxing...lol... moreso because Jaffer knows Sabiha will do it better....:)
So besides that, the Holy Month of Ramadhan is already 1/3 over, amazing how fast this Great Month comes, and how fast it goes. We pray that all of us make the most out of this Month, and that you remember us in your prayers.
If you want us to write about something in particular, let us know by leaving a message.
Take care
We got a message on our blog from someone wanting to know where the other couples are from. One is from Peterborough, one is from Ottawa and one is from Dar. Good variey and mix,and Alhamd all are really nice. But besides the students, there are a whole bunch of new teachers for the 2nd year students, and being really honest, they are all fantastic. So far, we have a few that are our favorites already, our teacher for Fiqh (Islamic Jurispudence), our teacher for Mantiq and Aqaid (same teacher for these two classes) and our teacher for Tafseer. Amazing people!!
Besides that, we had half a day of class today, so we along with another couple went to Sayyida Ruqaya AS to pay our respects to her. The weather is still hot but its definitely better then when we first arrived last week. We have nearly unpacked all of our luggage, to be honest, Sabiha has done most of it, while Jaffer has been relaxing...lol... moreso because Jaffer knows Sabiha will do it better....:)
So besides that, the Holy Month of Ramadhan is already 1/3 over, amazing how fast this Great Month comes, and how fast it goes. We pray that all of us make the most out of this Month, and that you remember us in your prayers.
If you want us to write about something in particular, let us know by leaving a message.
Take care
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)