Youth from Our Times....

This is a continuation of my journal entry in Istanbul... "Finding Our Way to the Light" ...

I was oblivious to any signs of life around me until I caught sight of the Imam in a halqa (circle) with three young boys. They were reciting verses from the Quran while the Imam was correcting their pronunciation. He acknowledged our presence with a warm “Assalmo Alaikum” and very invitingly asked us to sit in his circle. He seemed very young and spoke perfect Arabic since he had completed his religious studies in Saudi Arabia. He looked very different from the stereotypical Imam of the Gulf region as he wore gray pants with a white shirt and had a starched white “kufiah” on his head. Masha-Allah, his eloquence was very impressive as he spoke to us quite elaborately about Islam in modern-day Turkey. He welcomed our endless questions with the sincerest of smiles and a face that bore the unrelenting serenity of a Muslim…

He then introduced the three young boys sitting beside him … They were his students. I wouldn’t give them more than 20 years of age. All of them were European-looking, dressed in very trendy Western attire. If they were to be seen anywhere in Bahrain, we would definitely think they were recent converts to Islam struggling to produce phonetic sounds that their tongues were unaccustomed to. But the truth was they were born Muslims just like me. They worked as journalists at a Turkish newspaper during the day and spent many of their evenings at the mosque reading the Quran. During our entire conversation with the Imam, all we could exchange with them were nods and smiles since none of them spoke Arabic or English. Subhan Allah, this was enough, however, to develop a sense of camaraderie like no other… a brotherhood in Islam that we all understood even in the absence of words… Then I began to feel even more at home among a group of boys who would seem like strangers, completely unrelated to me, to the eyes of an outsider… This kind of chemistry, I am convinced, exists only in Islam…

It was starting to get late and we had to leave since we were afraid that we would miss the last ferry boat from Uskudar. Yet I remember how difficult it was to extricate myself from this whole dreamlike experience. Even as I left, however, the faces of the youth remained imprinted in my mind. All I could think of were Ashab Alkahf, as if history was repeating itself. Here were three young good-looking boys who came to this Masjid after a long day’s work to learn the Quran from this young Imam and had left behind them all the temptations of one of the most avant-garde cities in the world… a city where the sky’s the limit… everything and anything is at your fingertips from night life to sunny beaches… Just like Ashab Alkahf who gave up their youth to flee from the “kufr” (disbelief in Allah) of their times to a cave where Allah protected them as He turned it into their peaceful sanctuary... (Halo describes this in her post "Little Did They Know…") These young men had also managed to find refuge between the walls of the beautiful Sakirin mosque at the hands of this compassionate Imam…

It was very comforting to know that there are still those of us who realize that we can seek protection from Him alone and find refuge at halqas (circles) where the Holy Quran is studied. More importantly, however, I couldn’t help but smile on my way back because, in this case, they were youth from our times…

نَحْنُ نَقُصُّ عَلَيْكَ نَبَأَهُم بِالْحَقِّ إِنَّهُمْ فِتْيَةٌ آمَنُوا بِرَبِّهِمْ وَزِدْنَاهُمْ هُدًى (Ayah 13 Surah 18 - Al Kahf)

"We relate to thee their story in truth: they were youths who believed in their Lord, and We advanced them in guidance" (Ayah 13 from Surah 18 - Al Kahf THE CAVE)

Then I had reflected on all our memories together at our Quran Club gatherings. We too are youth from our times (more or less) that sought and insha-Allah will continue to seek His guidance through the Quran. I then realized how much I had missed all the Quran Club girls and our gatherings… and how much I longed for us to meet again at our sanctuary, Faith, M.D’s basement…

I pray that Allah continues to bless our halqas and the halqas of all Muslims and I pray, once again, that He continues to guide us to His Light…