My 5th Year at Jimas

The word Jimas. I love it masha'Allah. It has served as many turning points for me every year i have attended. You never forget your first year there and you never really tire of it years later. Although admittedly i didn't initially have the build up excitement that i usually have every year. But come Saturday morning the Jimas spirit had once again been ignited within me.

Every year is different, every year you come back with a new resolve and personal improvement programme. This year my favourite bit was the Farewell advice from the scholars. Masha'Allah it was very constructive and targetted diferent areas which we could work on. The gist of it was (the lessons i understand and drew from it)

* Have mercy on one another, excuse each other and work towards unity, don't get overly concerned with minor differences, broaden mind but do not trangress the goals of shariah. -

* Fulfill our roles and responsibilities. Women have an important part to play in Islam, educating our children. Correcting the misconceptions of women in Islam. Rise to the status Allah, subhana wa ta'ala has given us.

* Being a representative of Islam, we must show what Islam is through our actions. What we say and do reflects the whole muslim population, lets not be the reason for a person to reject Islam.

* Educate oneself in the Deen. Invest your time and money to learn this religion as (the story of Sohaila and Farook was given) this is an investment for our Hereafter.

* Identify and utilise talents you may have. Don't waste you time in something which does not benefit you. Have high aspirations, work towards them and excel whatever it is you are good at.

* Corruption has entered the land due to our own actions. We must care for this earth and not commit atrocities which harm it. We are vicegerents on earth and we must carry out our duty in protecting it.

* Islam is Universal. Not limited to only East. It must not be a case of Islam and the West. Rather we need to see it as Islam in the West. We must realise the Greatness of Allah. No matter where you are He is All-Knowing, All-Hearing, All-Seeing. Allah is our protecter, our Friend and He loves us.

* Must implement the knowledge we acquire, otherwise fruitless. Perfect our manners and character because we know it pleases Allah above all. Work on our inner dimensions but at the same time our external practise of Islam must be visible and effective. Build yourself and build relations with others. Must follow the best example - the prophet (salallahu alayhi wa sallam).

I wasn't able to attend many of the lectures as i was doing the creche, but Alhamdulillah i don't mind i got to play Football and jump in the bouncy castle!! The kids are adorable masha'Allah. They would come up to me in the break times and point with their parents 'theres the creche lady!'

There's this one kid i see every year and he's grown so tall now masha'Allah. I look out for him and its lovely to see him and whats more this kid remembers me every year! Very sweet. He's one of the people you just won't forget in your life time. Allah bless him and make him amongst the leaders of the ummah. Ameen.

There's one other particular thing that touched me greatly this year. I was walking an aunty down to the food hall as it is quite far and she uses a walking stick, when this boy about the age of 9yrs did salaam to aunty and then responded warmly to her hug. She told me; the day before he had seen her walking on her own with difficulty and he came to her aid. Nobody pushed him to do this, he acted on his own accord. He carried her chair and kept aunty company the whole way to the food area. And then this boy was with his friends and made the effort to speak to aunty, instead of feeling embarassed or avoiding this old woman he was pleased to see her. When she was telling me this it bought tears to my eyes. I, myself, saw the genuine care in his eyes. I felt so proud of this boy, i felt proud for his parents who have raised such a boy, masha'Allah. He will get so many du'aas and this boy will be honoured bi'idhnillah. When the Day of Judgement comes and insha'Allah if we pass over the sirat, i'm going to look for this boy, because i love this boy for the sake of Allah.

Jimas is usually an emotional experience for me. What really gets me going is Shaykh Suhaib Hassan's recitation in the fajr salah. Masha'Allah, it gives the most serene feeling. I thrive on it every year.

Ok i'm trying to fit my 5 years of Jimas into this one slot, only because i have blog to write about it now!! but i'll stop now and leave the rest to your own imagination or to reminisce the times for yourselves..............