Dear diary,

I write to you lovingly today as I wait to attend the online class by Ustad ji, and meanwhile also eat home-made hummus with a sprinkle of black seeds and few olives.

Ah, long time my dearest. So much, so much has happened, i dont know where to begin from. Last time, I spoke to you was in October and it is already April now. As much as clichéd it may sound to you, things kept me busy as life took its twists and turns.

Well, to begin with, I joined an online khadima course at Zaynab Academy Online , and in my aamah year now and subhanAllah, how so much more beautiful has the life been since then.  It was indeed a huge favour and blessing of Allah SWT how I became a part of it, right after one of the very spiritual journeys of my life. Learning hadith, Quran, Fiqh and Arabic are the highlights of my day now. How kareem my Lord is, Allahu Akbar.

Although a naaqis that I am, it is amazing that in the middle of a non muslim country and living amongst non muslims as well,  this corner of my house, at which I am also sitting here currently, has become my mini madrassah. 

There is a small wooden table on which I keep my books, registers, pencil box, stapler and few highlighters, earphones,  spectacles, and right besides it is my madrassah assistant, my very own all-in-one Canon Printer/copier/scanner/fax machine. Oh yes, and a stack of printing papers right underneath the table. And the books are increasing in number every few days to which my husband asks me in my-wife-is-a-nerd tone, ‘in ko rakhogee kahan?’ [where will you keep them]  I have already given a request to my husband for a new book shelf and I will be more than pleased to see my little madrassah on an expansionary phase. If that is not possible any soon, I will resort to plan B in which the window pane will be considered a part of my legal Madrassah boundaries.

This little madrassah is where I spend most of my day. I listen and study from my wonderful ustadhas here and sometimes pray here too.  And yes, right besides this is a small couch which is my Power nap area, AKA Qailullah Area.

Dont be too quick to guess that in this world of my own this world of my own, there aren’t any humans. There are people and there are lots of them.  Besides my teachers, I know all of my class fellows and yes, I think that they also know me somewhat. Although  in different parts of the world, In my class at WizIQ, everyone is sitting in front of white background, wearing black and have very short hair. Everyone looks the exact same, except when they chat, I have different picture of them in my head and different feeling for each of them, emanating from the love of Allah Subhanahu wa tala. My ustadhas are the one who we can hear majority of the time and sometimes, they also let us naqis read the sabaq. Otherwise all of us sit quiet in front of our laptops/monitors and speak through the tapety tap of our fingers. Our favourite word is ‘ji’, [also written as ‘G’] most often found in the classroom chat box.

Our madrassah also has a coffee table except that there are no coffees served, only food for us to get closer to Allah. This is our  online hangout for life outside of the campus and here we share our life stories, our bayan notes, our worries of lagging behind in courses, beautiful nasheeds we come across, class links, Study material we find from anywhere, wedding invitations,  and what not!

All of us also have a mutual friend known as skype which always help usto gather together for a takrar [group study] and quite often help us deliver flowers and hearts to each other. Oh yes, and we also have regular homework, classwork, tests and exams. We have the most flexible times ever so it is  up to us whether we want to attempt the test in the middle of the day or in the middle of the night. The most wonderful thing specially about the tests and exams is that Allah, the All-Seeing,  is our Invigilator.

my dear diary, there is so much that has changed after joining this course and I have only been able to share with very less.  I have learnt that adab is such an important part of the training and it has to be shown to even my books and my pens. I have learnt how much of a blessing  Urdu langauge is, that so much work was done by scholars in Urdu and shaytan tricked us into making us believe ‘English is cool’ .  Honestly I wish if I could talk to you in Urdu too. And also, that everytime I slack, I  look around and find my classfellows and teachers, who are doctors,students, housewives, mothers etc  doing so much mujahida to become  more and more beloved to Allah that I feel embarased at my state.

Dear diary, I hope and praythat Allah ta’ala accepts the  effort all of us do in our mini madrassah inside our homes.

By the way, I think I am going to go for a walk for a while now before my Seerah class with one of my favourite ustadha, Sobia bajee. It starts in about 45 mins and I need some fresh air and exercise to keep me fit and healthy. Will keep in touch with you and will post more to you soon, inshaAllah.

-Zauja Muhammad Ali

 

http://www.calltowardslight.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/IMG_6538-1024x682.jpghttp://www.calltowardslight.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/IMG_6538-290x290.jpgZauja Muhammad AlifeaturedSwindon DiariesAllah,Ammah year,books,CIL,madrassah,my mini madrassah,skype. wizIQ,Urdu,Zauja Muhammad Ali,Zaynab AcademyDear diary, I write to you lovingly today as I wait to attend the online class by Ustad ji, and meanwhile also eat home-made hummus with a sprinkle of black seeds and few olives. Ah, long time my dearest. So much, so much has happened, i dont know where to begin...The Diary of a Muslimah