THE 5th ANNUAL ISLAMIC SYMPOSIUM !

Sheikh/Dr. Bilal Philips

Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips was born in Jamaica, but grew up in Canada, where he accepted Islam in 1972. He completed a diploma in Arabic and a B.A. from the College of Islamic Disciplines (Usool ad-Deen) at the Islamic University of Madeenah in 1979. At the University of Riyadh, College of Education, he completed a M.A. in Islamic Theology in 1985, and in the department of Islamic Studies at the University of Wales, he completed a Ph.D. in Islamic Theology in 1994.
Abu Ameenah taught Islamic Education and Arabic in private schools in Riyadh for over ten years and for three years he lectured M.Ed. students in the Islamic Studies department of Shariff Kabunsuan Islamic University in Cotobato City, Mindanao, Philippines. Since 1994 he has founded and directed the Islamic Information Center in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (which is now known as Discover Islam) and the Foreign Literature Department of Dar al Fatah Islamic Press in Sharjah, UAE. Presently, he is a lecturer of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the American University in Dubai and Ajman University in Ajman, UAE.

Sheikh Ziaullah Khan

Iman Ziaullah Khan is Director of the Centre For Islamic Development in Halifax, Canada.
The CID is a community-oriented outreach organization. The Centre was established with the intent of providing a social support and educational outlet for the Muslim community, to understand Islam, and thus to defend it. The Centre provides Islamic courses on comparative religion and other areas of Islamic law, jurisprudence and understanding. A Qur’an memorisation program is available five days a week for men, women and children; these and other functions help Muslims living in the West keep their Islamic indentity. Another focal point of the Centre is countering the adverse and distorted views put forth on Islam and Muslims, through the media and otherwise. At the Centre, special efforts are made to promote and disseminate accurate information about Islam.
Imam Ziaullah is also the Friday Prayer leader for the Muslim Student’s Association at Dalhousie University.
He is also host of a local radio show “Salam Halifax.” This show is aimed at presenting Islam to non-Muslims. As well, the show covers various social and political issues, geared at generating awareness of information not readily available through mainstream media.
Imam Zia Khan is a speaker throughout Canada and Britain, as well as other countries. His travel engagements involve lectures for engaging with non-Muslims, education for Muslims, and T.V. and radio interviews.



Sheikh Yassir Fazaga was born in Eritrea in Northeast Africa and moved to the United States at the age of 15. Upon graduating high school, he pursued a Bachelor’s Degree in Islamic Studies from the Imam Saud University Institute of Islamic and Arabic Sciences in Virginia. He has finished work for a Master’s Degree in Psychotherapy at California State University - Long Beach. Currently, he is teaching Islamic studies at American Open University in Alexandria, Virginia. Mr. Fazaga is Imam at the Orange County Islamic Foundation in Mission Viejo, where he teaches religious education classes, leads the youth group and participates on behalf of the foundation in many
outreach and interfaith events.

And we all know
Sheikh Said Rageah from good ol' calgary...so no need to put up a bio for him
(i couldn't find his bio "anywhere" on the net..lol....i give up..if i ever find anything..ill post it up)


Some things in their bio. may not be too accurate...but you get the idea...just letting all of you know what you'll be missing if u dont go :)
I'll also be selling tickets so just let me know if u would like some....
as soon as i get them....

A modern hijab poem

Baby, it's all good!

Author unknown

What do you see when you look at me
Do you see someone limited, or someone free
All some people can do is just look and stare
Simply because they can't see my hair
Others think I am controlled and uneducated
They think that I am limited and un-liberated
They are so thankful that they are not me
Because they would like to remain 'free'

Well free isn't exactly the word I would've used
Describing women who are cheated on and abused
They think that I do not have opinions or voice
They think that being hooded isn't my choice
They think that the hood makes me look caged
That my husband or dad are totally outraged
All they can do is look at me in fear
And in my eye there is a tear

Not because I have been stared at or made fun of
But because people are ignoring the One up above
On the day of judgment they will be the fools
Because they were too ashamed to play by their own rules
Maybe the guys won't think I am a cutie
But at least I am filled with more inner beauty
See I have declined from being a guy's toy
Because I won't let myself be controlled by a boy

Real men are able to appreciate my mind
And aren't busy looking at my behind
Hooded girls are the ones really helping the Muslim cause
The role that we play definitely deserves applause
I will be recognized because I am smart and bright
And because some people are inspired by my sight
The smart ones are attracted by my tranquility
In the back of their mind they wish they were me

We have the strength to do what we think is right
Even if it means putting up a life long fight
You see we are not controlled by a mini skirt and tight shirt
We are given only respect, and never treated like dirt
So you see, we are the ones that are free and liberated
We are not the ones that are sexually terrorized and violated
We are the ones that are free and pure
We're free of STD's that have no cure

So when people ask you how you feel about the hood
Just sum it up by saying, 'Baby its all good'

Now this...is my kind of poem.

30 days as a muslim in America

"Guy becomes muslim for only 30 days to experience the in-depth of Islam."


-Morgan Spurlock...remember him? The guy from the documentary "Super size me"..well..he does this show called "30 days".
30 days as ...w/e the producers choose...so they came up with "30 days as a muslim" using this guy that's a hardcore christian...watch it...its pretty interesting stuff.

Turning Muslim In The UK

Wow...that lady has courage for wearing the burqa/niqaab...also considering the fact that she just entered islam not so long ago.

Its funny because most converts that I have met (in T. and Edmonton)always seem more intertwined with their faith....while the muslims born into this religion are running away from it...maybe its because they found the truth for them selves while "we" were told what to believe, and decided to beleive it without the effort of researching the truth for ourselves....maybe because "we" take this for granted and blindly follow the crowd like a flock of sheep, not knowing what it is that we
believe or why....

Things like these is what puts a smile on my face....seeing it live is a 100 times better though (i know...i'm a bit wierd) :D

Bukhari narrated on the authority of Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) said:
"Whoever wronged his brother with regard to his honour or any other matter, should seek his forgiveness today, before there are no longer any dinars, or dirhams; and if he has any righteous deeds, they will be taken from him, in accordance with the wrong he did; and if he has no hasanaat, some of the sayi`aat of his counterpart will be taken and added to his burden.” [Bukhari: Kitaab al-Mazaalim, Baab man kaanat lahu mazlamah `inda rajul, Fath al-Baari, 5/101]
This person whose hasanaat are taken from him by the people, and then has their sayi`aat placed on his own back, is the one who is bankrupt, as the Messenger (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) called him. Muslim narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) said:
"Do you know who is the one who is bankrupt?" They said, "The bankrupt is the one who has no money and no possessions." He said, "Among my ummah, the one who is bankrupt is the one who will come on the Day of Resurrection with prayer and fasting and zakah (to his credit), but he will come having insulted this one, slandered that one, consumed the wealth of this one and shed the blood of that one, and beaten that one. So they will all be given some of his hasanaat, and when his hasanaat run out, before judgement is passed, some of their sins will be taken and cast onto him, then he will be cast into the Fire." [Muslim: 4/1998, hadith no. 2581.]
If a debtor died when he still owed money to people, they will take from his hasanaat whatever is in accordance with what he owes them. In Sunan ibn Maajah it is narrated with a saheeh isnaad that Ibn 'Umar (radhiallahu `anhu) stated: The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) said:
"Whoever dies owing a dinar or a dirham, it will be paid from his hasanaat, for then there will be no dinars or dirhams.” [Saheeh al-Jaami' as-Sagheer, 5/537, hadith no. 6432.]


I was checking out some blogs and found this....very interesting stuff.
I didn't know blogs could be so informatif :)
(I should start paying back some of my friends.... I owe a few people : S )

The Slanderer & the Backbiter

In the name of Allah the Most Beneficient The Most Merciful.

-Wail to every slanderer and backbiter
(Soorah Al-Humazah, verse #1)
{That is, they will be in a river in Hell-fire wich is composed of the pus and purulant discharge of the people of Hell. The slanderer disparages people while the backbiter speaks ill of them behind their backs, thus angering them.}

-Behold, you received it on your tongues, and said out of your mouths things which you had no knowledge; and you thought it to be a light matter, while it was most serious in the sight of God (24: 15) {Many of us back bite and gossip without thinking. We think it is minor matter, however God reminds us to be careful and even though we think we are doing something little it is in fact very big in the sight of God!}

-And why did you not, when you heard it, say? "It is not right of us to speak of this: Glory to God, this is a most serious slander" (24:16)
{Many people are so busy spreading the slander they hear that they do not even stop to think if it is true or not.}

-Prophet Muhammad said :"Do you know what backbiting is?" They said, "God and His Messenger know best." He then said, "It is to say something about your brother that he would dislike." Someone asked him, "But what if what I say is true?" The Messenger of God(pbuh)said, "If what you say about him is true, you are backbiting him, but if it is not true then you have slandered him." (Muslim)
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After friday's halaqa, as any other friday evening, I had gone over to my friends house. Another friend of mine decided to join me, and so we walked together for awhile. We spoke of many things, she's a bit older than I am, so everything I would tell her she would completely understand having gone through it already. We talked about school, our interests, our lives before edmonton, our goals ...our friends. Things started to get a little more personal and I mentioned a friend of ours. I told her that she wasn't always the way she was and that her pick of friends is the main cause of "who" she has become. Before I could finish my sentence I looked up at her in awe... her hands were on her ears as she was shaking her head. "Are you o.k ?" I ask.
She looks at me , hoping that she had not hurt my feelings. "I'm sorry... I just hate it whenever people talk badly about each other...it doesn't make any sense...its nothing but trouble...I just hate it...I hope I didn't hurt your feelings, I just..." I looked at her for a while, then smiled.. the biggest smile and told her that not only am i "not" hurt by what you have just done...but I am so thankful that I have a friend like you. Thats definitely the first time someone has done something like this to me. I told her that I always encourage my friends to tell me whenever I do/say something wrong, but they always tell me "after" I've already done it...while she had stopped me in the process of making a great mistake (thankfully)
Its true...I hate it when people gossip, sometimes a little may slip out unknowingly...but for those who sit and watch the wrong doing.. knowing that you "could" have stoped it from happening...just rememeber...you will also be questioned
" And why did you not, when you heard it, say? "It is not right of us to speak of this: Glory to God, this is a most serious slander" (24:16).

So the one who listens to the backbiting/slandering could be just as bad as the one who commits it. Yes, yes, i know not everyone is capable of just "stopping" the act of backbiting, lets just be aware of what we say...and how we say it. (Rome wasn't built in a day :) )
This past year, every single fight (concerning the girls...that I have witnessed) either verbal or physical was caused by this...the act of satan.


What will we do the next time we are tempted to backbite or hear slander in our presence
hmm...?

Masha'Allah

We definitely need more like him :) .
masha'Allah, and he is only 4 yrs old (so I've heard)

If only I could understand...

Verily, the prayer is a preventative deterrent against human tendencies towards doing what is wrong.