BACK FROM RIS

Toronto this year was AMAZING, Alhamdulillah .The weather was unbelievable! No snow! Can u believe it? But oh god, it’s hard to breathe the air in downtown Toronto and I’ve never seen that many homeless people in my life. Some of them were living in little cardboard boxes at intersections. Subhan’Allah. What a sad sight.
But It was so much calmer and there was less drama compared to last year’s trip. Actually there was no drama whatsoever this year, well...except for when we beat up Smeagol LOL =P
We started off the trip with some shopping and awesome restaurants. We also went to Niagara Falls. It wasn’t all that special for me...since I used live there. But on our way there I saw this brown rusty looking fence on the highway that went from T. to Niagara Falls and that’s when memories just kept hitting me, and it hit so hard. All I could hear in my head was “hey! I remember that, and that, and that!” “That’s where so in so used to live!” *sigh*good times, good times... memories kill :S
As for the Sheyukh at RIS, they were astonishing, my all time favourite Sheikh is Abdul Hakim Quick. Wow. That Sheikh can really catch your intention. He always uses all these specific facts and statistics to back up everything he says...Wow. And Sheikh Tariq Ramadan is remarkable. He cried during his last speech...some people had no idea why he was crying, but just by watching the sorrow on his face most began to cry quietly. The funny thing was that someone on my right told me his father passed away and that’s why he was crying. On my left they told me his friend died. I was so confused lol. It was clarified the next day, majority said he was crying because he wasn’t able to really interact with us...and to him, that was the essential aspect of being the scholar and preacher that he is. There were always bodyguards and so he was forced to spend most of his time isolated. Later on, after that speech, he was found in the main lobby walking around with a whole bunch of young men. To my surprise one of the brothers from Edmonton was *actually* holding hands with Sheikh Tariq Ramadan! Almost as if he was consoling the Sheikh or perhaps they were just talking ...as friends do. :o
I took some notes and Alhamdulillah I benefited from them a whole lot. It kept me awake during the Conference lol. We (the girls in our hotel room) hardly slept during that week so my head kept falling back even though I wanted to listen eagerly. Uncle Alami caught me with closed eyes once and all I felt was a gust of air coming at me. He was using a piece of paper to fan me with and he was moving the paper side to side really fast to wake me up and I jumped up and everyone was looking at me :S that taught me a lesson....if I want to sleep ...sit away from Uncle.lol jk. Naw, I’m actually so grateful he woke me up...I was going to miss one of the greatest sheikhs in America, Sheikh Siraj Wahaj! Alhamdullillah i was awake to hear his speech! That Sheikh is hi/la/ri/OUS. Lol. He’s #3 on my list of favourite sheikhs. So yeah, the conference went really really well. I heard about 15 thousand people attended the conference. Masha’Allah! And I’ve never seen so many niqabi’s in my entire life!! I was so amazed! Can u believe it?! 16 yr old girls not only wearing hijab, not only wearing jilbab...but niqab! Wow! Subhan’Allah. I’m merely estimating their age because I saw a few niqabis with their friends and they looked around my age, and by the way they spoke they were definitely teenagers. And there were so many men wearing thobes. It was just.. *wow*
The concert was something out of this world. There was Nazil Azami, Hamza Robertson, Ehab Tawfiq(straight from Egypt) Aashiq Al Rasul and OUTLANDISH. Some of them were so lip sinking lol. One of them “pulled an Ashley Simpson” as Omi describes it to be. LOL.
The behaviour of the girls during the Outlandish performance was disgraceful. There was yelling, cheering and whistling. It made me sick. Seriously speaking, RIS= Reviving the Islamic Spirit. Geeez. Yelling “I LOVE YOU” isn’t going to revive much my sistas in Islam...
And on the last day of the conference (the day before yesterday) a woman converted to Islam with the help of Sheikh Tariq Suwaidan. AllahuAkbar! It was miraculous. Alhamdullillah. :’)
I met up with some of my old friends too but i didn’t spend too much time with them because i came for the conference not to socialize. I told them that next year I’d try my best to stay in T. for 3 weeks that way we could have 4 yrs to catch up on isha’Allah.
I still can’t get over how fast it went. I haven’t felt so at ease with myself for awhile. The conference was definitely what I needed. My islamic spririt has been "revived" lol. God I miss Toronto....already! Most people don’t like how crowded it is, but I *LOVE* it. You can’t walk like 500 meters without seeing a Muslim. No joke! I’m really considering going to the University of Toronto or the University of Ottawa to continue with my French...i dunno yet. But thats almost 2 years away(1 yr and a half to be exact) so I have some time to think about where I want to go. Allahu a3lam.

For those who didn’t go to RIS, I’m not gonna lie...You missed out BIG TIME. Lol
I’ll put some pictures up and some clips of the concert (I know it’s totally illegal and all ...but all you need to know is that “I” wasn’t the one filming lol)

Insha’Allah everyone is having a nice break.

PS: don't forget about the mosquers yall :D