A Night of Qur'an "Turning to the Light"

Salam
Yesterday at the mosque there was an event for people who converted to Islam recently. I was surprised to see that most of the converts were from Latin America. I met a lot of nice people at the event. Many people including me shared their testimonies about how they found Islam. It was a very inspiring experience. After this event, there was another one about the Qur'an. It went until midnight with Qiyyam ul-Layl which is an 8 rak'at, late night prayer. There was a special guest who recited from the Qur'an too. We had a class about the Qur'an as a cure or remedy. Allah's word has healing powers. It was comforting to know that Muslims also believe that we have authority over sickness through the power of Allah. I learned that Muslims can lay hands even on themselves when they are in sickness or pain and recite from the Qur'an for healing. Faith is just as significant in Islam as in Christianity or Judaism. Faith is fundamental as is love. It was a wonderful Sunday. While I was at the event for converts, I picked up a few reading materials in Spanish for my family in Guatemala. They were curious about Islam. I'm excited to send it to them.

My trip to Guatemala

I finally went to Guatemala to see my family. It was the first time I had seen them since I became Muslim. They were so open to it and they were all very happy. I made du'a and recited Al-Fatiha for my grandparents at the cementary too. The trip was sooo nice. It went by too fast. I saw all four of my cousins. I love my family so much. Everyone is so sweet and admirable. I miss them so much. Guatemala is absolutely beautiful. The culture is amazing as well as the people as well as the food. I can't wait to go back. It had been so long since I last visited. We visited the mosque there. It is breathtaking. You can see my photos of my family and Guatemala at http://maryam.photoblog.com/
Be forewarned, most are just of my family cuz I was so excited to see them, I almost forgot to take pics of the country itself!

Quiz Show

Salam! My mom came with me to an Islamic event for the first time. I took her to a knowledge competition for Muslim college students. It was a lot of fun and the whole community was there. We watched as the students competed by answering tough trivia questions about Islamic history, Qur'an and Hadeeth. My mom and I both learned a lot. I also got the chance to introduce her to my imam, Sadullah Khan. It was a nice Mother's day. She really liked the experience.

It is Finished

Salam brothers and sisters,
I completed the reading of the entire Qur'an last night. Interestingly, I finished it the night before my big job interview which will involve one the biggest decisions I have made in my life. I have been offered a job as executive assistant to the head of a very respected company in Beverly Hills, California.

As I mentioned in a prior post, I set out to read all of the Qur'an. I finally finished it and it feels great to have taken that step. It helped me to get a more pure idea of what Islam is all about. Before reading all of the Qur'an, I had read many individual verses and chapters out of context, which was helpful and insightful, but I felt I was missing something by not first reading all of the Qur'an in order to get the whole picture. After reflecting on it, I realized there were many misconceptions I had about Islam.

Although the Qur'an is a very long book, it is written in a way that when you read all of it, you get the main tenants of Islam stamped into your heart. This is probably because it is very repetitive. Much of the Qur'an is just repetitions of a small group of main themes. It was different from the bible in that when you read all of the bible all the way through, you remember bits and pieces but since not much is repeated in the same way and it contains so many detailed stories and messages, it does not stick in your mind except for some key stories or strong verses. While when you read the Qur'an from start to finish, the messages are carried and interconnected throughout the entire course of the book, so you can bring up with pretty precisely certain key elements of Islam.

Some of the themes that are touched upon very repetitively in the Qur'an are:

• Salat
• Zakat
• Not ascribing partners to Allah
• Paradise
• The Disbelievers
• The People of the Book (Jews, Christians, Muslims)
• The Pious
• The story of Moses and the Pharaoh
• The story of Nuh (Noah)
• The Story of Lut (Lot)
• The importance of belief in one God and good deeds
  
• God knows what we do in secret and in public
• God is merciful
• Repentance
• A story about a she-camel
• Those who reflect
  

At any rate, these are just some of the topics off the top of my head from my memory. I was not expecting the Qur'an to be this way. I expected it to be more like the bible with millions of different messages, parables, and stories, each surah very different from the next. Yet, in a way, the repetitive messages throughout the suwar just seem to be a system for how the Qur'an is put together and to express key points about Islam with consistency so we truly grasp them. While on the surface, many of the suwar may contain similar messages, they each have a different angle and a wealth of many messages if one just reflects. I think that is the difference between one who just reads to read or just skims the surface of life, and one who truly reflects and digs deeper.