Texas Dawah Convention — Day Three: More Notes!
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Here's a brief summary of a few of Sunday's TDC talks, from our “reporter in the field”, Ahmad Al Farsi– Sex Ed., Domestic Harmony and Meet the Shayookh (Sh. Yasir Qadhi, Sh. Yaser Birjas, Imam Johari Abdul Malik) :
Sex Ed., by Sh. Yaser Birjas
A lecture that broke all taboos, to tell things as it is.
The shaykh delivered a MUCH needed lecture on the proper etiquettes of the bedroom for a Muslim couple, going way beyond the syllabus of “Fiqh of Love”, to very explicit details that I won't mention here (I don't feel a blog is the proper place to discuss this). Suffice to say that, insha'Allah, every married couple would benefit from learning the specifics covered in this lecture – specifics that many are too afraid to mention – but should not be afraid to mention, as long as the discussion takes place in the proper setting, with the appropriate conduct.
Domestic Harmony
A good talk addressing the issue of domestic violence; an unfortunate problem in many communities, including our own.
Not to nitpick, but I did have one issue with this talk – not with the topic itself, as we do need this topic to be addressed – but rather, the manner in which it was treated. A video was shown in which the term “waDribuhunna” found in verse 4:34 was mistranslated as “leave them” (according to Laleh Bakhtiar's translation) instead of “hit them (lightly)”. It is unfortunate that the presenter of this video chose to address the problem of domestic violence by resorting to a modernist translation (no scholar in the Sunni tradition has ever accepted the meaning of “leave them” for this verse); I wish they had tried to solve the problem in a more legitimate fashion.
I have full confidence in TDC, and I know that if they had caught this “mistranslation” being propogated in this video, they would not have allowed it. IMHO the organisers should be more careful to pre-screen such material, prior to its presentation at the conference. Allahu 'alam. Despite my criticism, let it be known that I love TDC for the sake of Allah.
Meet the Shaykh — Sh. Yasir Qadhi, Sh. Yaser Birjas, Imam Johari Abdul Malik
Masha'Allah, in this last session, we all got to get up close and personal with these three beloved shuyookh, as they shared their personal lives with us:
- How working in the field of da'wah affects their family lives.
- How our beloved shuyookh met their own beloved wives. For example, Imam Johari literally just walked up to his wife-to-be (after seeking permission from her wali) and said, “I'd like to make you an offer: how about you become my wife and I become your husband?”.
- How Imam Johari loves golf, as – in his opinion – the golf course is the closest thing to Jannah on Earth (with specific reference to “Jannaatun tajree min tahtiha al-anhaar“).
- We learned about the early days in the lives of our shuyookh. Imam Johari and his fellow Muslims used to pay WEEKLY for a plane ticket for Imam Siraj Wahhaj to come down to Howard University and give them a halaqah… now that's devotion, masha'Allah.
- We learned why Sh. Yasir Qadhi is studying Islam at Yale (a non-Muslim institution), and how he plans to combine the analytical skills gained there with the traditional methods of teaching in the Middle-East and East.
Of course, the talk would not have been complete without a jinn story from Sh. Yasir Qadhi :) … and subhan'Allah, the story he related occurred DURING his aqeedah class, in which he taught a session on black magic. I won't tell it, except to say that the 300 or so students who witnessed it directly must have been FREAKED OUT beyond belief! [Note from the Editor - Aww! We want to hear the story too!]
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