Ilm Summit 2010 (AlMaghrib Institute) Recap: July 23

Published

July 26, 2010

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

I arrived at my hotel after a peaceful and surprisingly enjoyable 27 hour bus ride from Chicago to Houston. I’ve had mixed feelings about this year’s Ilm Summit – one week less, Shaykh Yaser Birjas on paternity leave, and Wisam Sharieff MIA until Monday. Would Ilm Summit III captivate me the way the previous two had?

At this point, it’s hard to say. Maybe my role in this year’s Ilm Summit contributed to my complicated feelings. There was no Belal Khan this year to capture our days in high def. Instead, there was just me with a 5.0 megapixel Droid camera, which makes for an awesome phone, but a terrible memory keeper.

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Fast forward to 6:00pm, more than a full hour before the first session and already, the competition for front row has begun. And as maddening as the competition can be, it was a good sign that Ilm Summit 2010 would continue it’s tradition of pushing the students and teachers to give their best, leaving it all on the table, come what may.

Opening Act: Shaykh Uthman Khan of al-Shatibiyyah Institute

Whoa, no Ustadh Wisam yet, but Shaykh Uthman? Sweet! We began with a recitation of the Qur’aan by Shaykh Uthman and alhamdulillaah, the opportunity to experience hearing his recitation is a special blessing of its own. Check out the video at the end of the post to enjoy some of it, insha’Allah.

The Class Welcome: Shaykhs Yasir Qadhi and Waleed Basyouni

It’s easy to underestimate the value of traveling for knowledge, but our teachers would not let us forget the significance of our travel. Can you imagine being mentioned in the same breath as those great scholars of the past who traveled seeking knowledge? I certainly can’t, and we could never be compared in significance to what those scholars achieved with their travels, and the benefit they brought, but we nonetheless, we were reminded that we are seeking knowledge, and that the blessings of such an undertaking were tremendous.

Who’s Teaching This Year’s Ilm Summit?

If there was ever a time to turn into an absolute head-over-heels islamic studies teacher fan boy, this is it. Besides the teachers I’ve already mentioned, we have Shaykh Jamal Zarabozo visiting us to teach 10 classes on Fiqh al Buyu’ – transactions, investments, and money matters. And if you want to add more fan boy awestruck geeky wonder upon geeky wonder, Shaykh Salah as-Sawy will be in the house, covering the Constants and Variables of Islamic work, insha’Allah.

More to come this tomorrow, insha’Allah. Check out the photos and video below:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UOla3fO8yc[/youtube]

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Related Topics:AlMaghrib ilmsummit IlmSummit 2010 IlmSummit2010 waleed basyouni Yasir Qadhi

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Ilm Summit 2010 (AlMaghrib Institute) Recap: July 24-25

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Siraaj Muhammad

Siraaj is the Executive Director of MuslimMatters. He's spent over two decades working in dawah organizations, starting with his university MSA and going on to lead efforts with AlMaghrib Institute, MuslimMatters, and AlJumuah magazine. He's very married with wonderful children

11 Comments

Olivia

July 26, 2010 at 10:42 PM

nice recap, honey. concise and had your personal touch. keep up the good work, inshallah =)

Reply
- Amad
  
  July 26, 2010 at 11:49 PM
  
  First time for me to meet Mr. Honey, Siraaj. I recognized him as soon as I entered the room!
  
  Also met Abu Noor, Ify, Imam AbdulNasir (awesome!) and many other brothers who checked out my badge and asked if I was “Amad from Muslimmatters”. Each time I wondered if I should just say “sorry, not me”, fearing what would come next :) *humor alert*
  
  On a serious note, it was awesome meeting some of our readers (Mohammed Sabah, Arif Kabeer to name a few), and great to see such devoted/motivated brothers & sisters as MM readers. That is what makes this all so worth it.
  
  Oh and I did grab dessert with Shaykh YQ sahib for good ole times sake! For intellectual stimulation, we took Abu Noor with us, who for the record, promised many new posts :)
  
  Reply
asawb

July 27, 2010 at 10:45 PM

I went in 2008, and I’ve missed it since. I was hoping that I could go this year, but unfortunately, things didn’t work out. Next year inshallah…

Reply
QasYM

July 28, 2010 at 12:11 AM

wow no YB?! That’s gotta hurt.

Reply
abu Abdullah

July 28, 2010 at 7:17 AM

daily recap? I can imagine Siraaj going to the gym in between classes, during the breaks, making the most of his time at the amazing ilmsummit experience. Do not worry, I will not hold it against you (unless you share some of your h********** notes :) i am so missing the third time going there, alhamdulillah ala kulli haal. Nevertheless, i am glad you are trying to make the most of it and sending the feedback.

may Allah reward you for the update and Adeeb, for sharing notes.

Salamualaikum.

Reply
Jibran

July 28, 2010 at 10:16 AM

you had to mention the DROID didn’t you?

Reply
kd

July 28, 2010 at 10:28 PM

ai hai memories…

Reply
JadedWayfarer

July 28, 2010 at 11:30 PM

asa,

thank you so much for posting this.

I wondered how I was going to hear all the amazing stories from this years ilm summit.
JAK, for the pics and vid. Inshallah, this years experience is exceptionally awesome for all the ilm summit participants.

Future Ilmsummiter inshallah ~

Reply
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abuabdAllah Tariq Ahmed

August 2, 2010 at 5:45 PM

as salamu alaykum. just a note to let people distinguish among the various fathers of the various ubayd-Allah.

during the breaks Siraaj was almost as active a photographer as the official videographer, mashaAllah.

tariq

Reply