Aishah Siddiqah Institute

Situated in Bowmanville, Ontario, Aishah Siddiqah Institute of higher learning is a full-time boarding school for Muslim girls providing all facilities required for a productive and comfortable stay.

Nestled in a quiet community, 30 minutes drive from Toronto, Canada, this secluded residential campus offers 105 landscaped acres and 14 buildings (including a gymnasium and an indoor swimming pool), equipped with the latest technology totaling approximately 80,000 square feet.

The complete course will contain the following modules:
1. Tajweed and Qiraah (Mastery over Quranic Recitation)2. Arabic Nahw (Grammar)3. Arabic Sarf (Morphology)4. Arabic Adab (Literature)5. Arabic Balaghah (Rhetoric)6. Mantiq (Logical, Rational, Deductive and Rhetorical Analytical Methods)7. Aqeedah (Islamic Doctrine and Theology)8. Usul al Fiqh (Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence)9. Fiqh (Jurisprudence)10. Usul al Hadeeth (Principles of Hadeeth Interpretation)11. Hadeeth (Prophetic Traditions)12. Usul al Tafsir (Principles of Exegesis of the Noble Quran)13. Tafsir al Quran al Kareem (Exegesis of the Noble Quran)14. Seerah (Biography of the Holy Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam)15. Meerath (Islamic Inheritance)16. Islamic History17. Journalism18. Sociology19. Arabic Calligraphy20. Memorization of Select Surahs/Chapters

Secular Education:
DR. MUHAMMAD SAEED (PRINCIPAL)Dr. Saeed is a certified teacher from Ontario College of Teachers. He has been teaching Math and Science intermediate and senior divisions for the last five years in Ontario public, private and Catholic boards. He holds B.Ed., D.V.M., M.Sc. (Honours) and Ph.D degrees from Canada, America, Pakistan, Austria, and Poland. His 15 years of research and teaching experience in different countries of the world makes him a well rounded competent teacher in his profession. We are delighted to have Dr. Saeed as our principal and we hope and pray that he remains with us for many more years to come.
If you have any questions regarding the secular school subjects offered to the students of Jamiah Aishah Siddiqah, please contact Dr. Saeed at:e-mail: principal@ashrafschool.com
Tel: (905) 623-7226
Classes will commence in late August, 2006.

For further information, you can contact me at info@alimahprogram.org

Aishah Siddiqah Institute

Situated in Bowmanville, Ontario, Aishah Siddiqah Institute of higher learning is a full-time boarding school for Muslim girls providing all facilities required for a productive and comfortable stay. Nestled in a quiet community, 30 minutes drive from Toronto, Canada, this secluded residential campus offers 105 landscaped acres and 14 buildings (including a gymnasium and an indoor swimming pool), equipped with the latest technology totaling approximately 80,000 square feet.

The complete course will contain the following modules: 1. Tajweed and Qiraah (Mastery over Quranic Recitation)2. Arabic Nahw (Grammar)3. Arabic Sarf (Morphology)4. Arabic Adab (Literature)5. Arabic Balaghah (Rhetoric)6. Mantiq (Logical, Rational, Deductive and Rhetorical Analytical Methods)7. Aqeedah (Islamic Doctrine and Theology)8. Usul al Fiqh (Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence)9. Fiqh (Jurisprudence)10. Usul al Hadeeth (Principles of Hadeeth Interpretation)11. Hadeeth (Prophetic Traditions)12. Usul al Tafsir (Principles of Exegesis of the Noble Quran)13. Tafsir al Quran al Kareem (Exegesis of the Noble Quran)14. Seerah (Biography of the Holy Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam)15. Meerath (Islamic Inheritance)16. Islamic History17. Journalism18. Sociology19. Arabic Calligraphy20. Memorization of Select Surahs/Chapters

Secular Education: DR. MUHAMMAD SAEED (PRINCIPAL)Dr. Saeed is a certified teacher from Ontario College of Teachers. He has been teaching Math and Science intermediate and senior divisions for the last five years in Ontario public, private and Catholic boards. He holds B.Ed., D.V.M., M.Sc. (Honours) and Ph.D degrees from Canada, America, Pakistan, Austria, and Poland. His 15 years of research and teaching experience in different countries of the world makes him a well rounded competent teacher in his profession. We are delighted to have Dr. Saeed as our principal and we hope and pray that he remains with us for many more years to come. If you have any questions regarding the secular school subjects offered to the students of Jamiah Aishah Siddiqah, please contact Dr. Saeed at:e-mail: principal@ashrafschool.com Tel: (905) 623-7226 Classes will commence in late August, 2006.

For further information, you can contact me at info@alimahprogram.org



I wanted to share with my visitors what’s been going on in this blessed month of Ramadhan with regards to Taraweeh prayers.

Before I get to that though….. Let me rant and rave a bit on this buffoon who called me today at 5:30 in the morning to ask me if he should keep his 14 year old daughter in Karachi, Pakistan or bring her back to Toronto, Canada. Buddy….what were you smoking in the morning…it was frigging 5:30 AM! Even though I gave the guy a hint that I just woke up for his call and I haven’t had my suhoor/sehri yet…but NO! The guy had to go on and on and on for what seemed like eternity! Just amazing dude…just amazing! What really irritated me even more was that I went to sleep really late last night cause this Masha Allah amazing Moroccan Qari lead 20 Rakats at our Masjid. He didn’t take long at all. He started at 8:30 PM and finished at 11:10 with a 15 minute break after 4 Rakats for a fund raiser. 2 hours and 40 minutes. Buy the time I got home it was 11:45. By the time I hit the bed it was like 1:00 in the morning. And at 5:30 AM the father calls me from 1500 miles away even though in the city of Toronto, there are over 50 scholars. Thanks buddy! You really make me feel important.

With that off my chest….

On to the Taraweeh part. The Huffaz who lead Taraweeh usually don’t eat much food at Iftari (time when fast is broken) cause we have to lead the Taraweeh prayers. Unlike the non-Huffaz who pig-out come Iftari time. Please remember us when you are downing and devouring those amazing Samoosas folks. Which Hafiz would want to feel like letting out a repulsive stench by burping in the middle of the last Ayah of Al-Fatiha? The burp would be amplified by the microphone and be heard by the whole congregation. And if there is a mean Hafiz behind you, he'll say loudly Ghayril Maghdhubee just to make you look bad! Also, the time between Iftari and Esha is crucial for us. We have to get so many things done in that period including taking a bath and going over our portion of what we will recite in Taraweeh. That’s why I politely refuse all food invitations in the month of Ramadan. There just isn’t much time. And once in a while….. some crazy things happen in that brief period. Like take for example the other day…..

I mistakenly lock from the inside the door to the bedroom. All my clothes are in that bedroom. There is no key to the door and the door is locked from the inside. It’s 8:00 PM and in 30 minutes Esha will start! Dude man…..I start sweating….I just have my T-shirt and my pants on. The doorknob has a little hole in it to slide something thin to somehow unlock the door from the outside. Now….all the screwdrivers and stuff like that is in the locked bedroom. I try to push some knives in there but the hole in the door knob is not wide enough.

I quickly run out to check the bedroom window with the hope that it just might be open, but no luck there as well. Then I quickly run to the other bathroom and find a hair plucker. I frantically start pushing the instrument but to no avail. The lock just won’t open. 30 minutes left and I still have to go to the bathroom and I have to take a shower as well. Some crazy ideas are racing through my mind. Maybe I should use the other bathroom and just go in these clothes….I’m like….helllll noooo…..I’ll wear my wife’s Abaya….no way buddy….lol….I know what….there are two Muslims living right across our crib. I’ll go and borrow some clothes just for Taraweeh prayers… .lol A big resounding no to that as well…it’s too late for that….I’ll wear my winter jacket!....no way…I’ll get roasted in the Texan heat….so I’m fiddling with the door knob …8:06…….8:07……8:08….. 8:09…..8:10…only 20 minutes left and the door is still not opening….8:11….and then…. I hear a sweet noise… CLICK!.....and the door opens…..I quickly relieve myself and jump in the tub for a quick shower…turn on the taps…and……AAAAAAAAGH…..I let out a scream…A scream which was heard half way around the world I mean the house. It was the water. It was sooooo friggin cold the first couple of seconds… usually…I turn the shower head away from me for a couple of seconds…but not this time…don’t you just hate those first couple of seconds?....so I quickly run out and I look at the clock and it’s only 8:17! How in the world was I out in six minutes? Unbelievable! At 8:20 I’m heading towards the Masjid. At 8:27 I enter the Masjid prayer hall all coolly and calmly as if I just came from a stroll in the local park and nothing’s happened the past 27 minutes. :)

Our Esha/Taraweehs/Witr prayers are usually taking about 2 hours long. I’ve always been used to finishing Esha/Taraweeh/Witr in an hour and 15 minutes. By the time Taraweeh is finished, I’m knocked out literally. Just today I heard a person snoring behind me in the break after 4 Rakats. Insha Allah, in my next post, I’ll put up a Taraweeh clip and also rave and rant about these longer than 2 hour Taraweehs. I bet if the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihe Wasallam was around, he would never have taken so long in Taraweeh prayers. I mean..don’t get me wrong…..He was very harsh on himself by staying up all night long on his own. But when it came to the general public, he never led such long prayers. The first couple of days, I was at my usual pace of completing 4 Rakats in 10~11 minutes. But then I got shot down by some brothers who kindly said to me that I read too fast so I’ve brought it up/down to 4 Rakats in 15 minutes.

I usually like to lead the last Rakats of Taraweeh prayers. Something like a closer in a baseball game. The starting pitcher takes it to 8 innings and then the closer comes and pitches some 100 MPH fastballs and blows away the opposition. Same here.... Previously... I would lead the last Rakats averaging 4 Rakats in 10 minutes and Surah Fatiha in one breath. But those days are gone now....

The toughest thing about Taraweeh prayer is no matter how good I’ve memorized it and no matter if I’ve said my portion with no mistakes countless times, but as soon as I’m there leading…it’s a whole different ball game….White Sox

I'm so proud of my boy ^ ^ ^ ^ Rayhan

Alhamdulillah Rayhan (above) finished today the book titled Quran Made Easy. Hence from today onwards he will be able to recite the Quran fluently with very few mistakes. At four years and two months, Alhamdulillah, I think he progressed through the book at a very good pace. It was only three months ago that he had started the BEST book out there to teach Quranic recitation not knowing any letters of the Arabic alphabet, but with the hard work of his dedicated father.... ahem...sorry...after getting a slap...i have to change that....actually...by the hard work of his amazing biryani cooking mom...he finished the book and now he has reached such a level that if I open up the Quran from anywhere...he will be able to recite it....Good work Rayhan (and mom)...I'm proud of you ma boy....So, he's standing beside me right now and looking at his pic says, "Heyyyy...that's me when I was small in Chicago....".... Any time I tell someone he's only four years old, he gets sooo angry....lol.... sometimes I think....where did we go wrong :)
Other good news is that, in the last ten days, I've shed ten pounds : )...and talking about Chicago...dude I miss Tahoora so much....Chicagoans....you have it all up there....(including the Saeed family : ) NEVER move out of that great city...

Hajj Post- Part 2

Loved by some.....HATED by others

Mina-The Tent City:

On the way back home from Hajj, we flew from Jeddah to Amman, Jordan and we stayed over for a couple of days. In our Hajj group, there was a brother from Toronto who was originally from Jordan. So we hooked up with him for a day and went down to the Dead Sea and also to check out the Cave which is mentioned in Surah Kahf. And the amazing thing about this guy is like he took us around to all these different places throughout the entire day, and then in the evening we stopped over at a house. There were about ten people there. Next thing you know, the guy is getting married!....like...wow....that was soo amazing......like the judge came and did all the I accept stuff and whatnot.....the walima and the big party was gonna be a week later or whatever...but still....like that is what I call hospitality.......

-When we were flying out from the airport, this counter guy gave us soo much trouble....cause since our journey commenced from Toronto to Jeddah...we were allowed 60Kilos per person. From England to Jeddah is 20Kilos ...so when the guy weighed our luggage, he said we have extra luggage and we will have to pay for the extra kilos which was like 70kilos! I go to myself....hellll noooooo....I ain't paying for all that....so politely I told him that since our final destination is not London, the London rule does not apply to us. The guy just didn't wanna hear us out. I tried explaining to the guy.....and he rudely ignored us....Then I told him that I wanna talk to the manager....he refused initially...but when we didn't take off our luggage from the scale, he picked up the phone and called the manager. Little did he know that I could understand everything what he was saying. And since he didn't phrase the question properly, the manager said we had to pay for the extra luggage. But I still didn't budge. So we had to stand there for like over ten minutes. Then this junior manager came and asked what was going on. I explained to him the problem and said that since my final destination was Toronto, we were allowed 120 kilos. Then the manager went about doing his business.

But being the bad guy that I am.......I didn't let it end there. Cause I was at a minimum expecting a sorry from the guy....but the guy carried on with his work. So I go to the guy that aren't you at least gonna say sorry.......then the guy started saying stuff like...since we are arabs and we speak the arabic language which is the language of the ppl of jannat...therefore we are gonna go to jannat...so i don't need to apologize to you!!!!!!I was like did you really say that!!! Did I really hear that!....He then repeated it again...I told him that....I speak arabic as well fluently.....but he didn't wanna hear me out...and he kept going on about how arabs are kind of like 'god's chosen people'....i was like...hey...wait a second....isn't that the same complaint you have with the jewish people that they think they are god's chosen ppl?......and now I'm hearing it from you as well.....he kept on going...I stayed quiet ...the guy didn't even know that each haji is allowed a drum of zamzam water for free and it's not counted as extra luggage......so....yeah....the guy was downright arrogant.....from the beginning.......so I met two contrasting ppl in jordan.....one amazingly hospitable...and the other...amazingly arrogant and rude.....

-One of the hardest things in Hajj is to control the gaze. Seriously....especially in the Harum of Makkah and the five days of Hajj. And even the first gaze sometimes is soooo detrimental....Whereas Madianh was total bliss....cause the genders are totally segregated in the HUGE masjid which can accomodate over 1 million people!....so it's much easier to worship and recite the Quran in Madinah than in Makkah. Alhamdulillah, I was able to finish two Qurans....I have never recited so much in soo little time in soo many years....

Hajj Posts

Makkah how I miss thee......and stalking Shaykh Sudais.....

Alhamdulillah, I had the blessed opportunity of performing Hajj this year. I wanted to share with you all some posts I put up on on a discussion forum whilst I was in Makkah.

Posted on: Jan.-10-2005

I guess not doing excersise since whenever is coming back to haunt me. Alhamdulillah I got to touch and kiss the Hajr Al-Aswad (The Black Stone) the other day. Insha Allah I'll share some tips when I come back. But let me tell you. It took me over an hour to reach it. It was like being in a grinding stone. Every muscle of my body is killing me! I can't remember the last time I was on our treadmill Folks, if you wanna come for Hajj, jump on the treadmill at least a month before, cause even the tawaf is quite a distance.

astaghfirullah...i'm at Hajj and on the internet....
k...gtg...salam

Posted on: Jan.-13-2005

Alhamdulillah I got to touch/kiss the black stone for the second time. This time it only took me ten minutes Alhamdulillah. A group member picked up on the tips and reached it very quickly as well.

I don't know for whatever reason, the cantthinkofausername name, keeps on popping up in my head when I am making dua. Oh well.....about being unfit....yeah...I admit it ....I usually go for tawaf and stuff early morning like one or two and there are not as many people as in the day time....but the tawaf (7 circuits) on the first floor takes about 50 minutes altogether if a person walks briskly.....I can't remember the last time I walked for 50 mintues....plus trying to touch the black stone for the first time really took it's toll on me...it's like playing footie (soccer/football) after a long time....the body aches for the next couple of days....but alhamdulillah.....the ache has gone now....it's worth it though.....

Alhamdulillah, the king of qurra(recitors), Shaikh Sudais, has been leading Fajar prayers for the past two days. Two days ago, after fajar prayers, I see some guards escorting someone out of the Masjid, so I'm like wondering who could that be? And I see the person walking right past me, and omg...omg....it's Sudais! Then he disappears ahead of me in the crowd. A minute later, I see a car pulling out of the king's parking lot....and my sixth sense starts tingling...I go....that's sudais in there fo sure.....and then his car moves ahead slowly in the same street where I am walking. Cause it's immediately after fajar, so the streets are packed with ppl. Then his car passes ever soo slowly on my right hand side. There was a kid sitting in the back, so I asked him, is that Sudais, and he goes yeah. So I quickly sprint forward two meters and I'm out of breath(lol). Then, I peer from the windshield towards my man Sudias, and with the motion of my hand, I say Salam, and to my surprise, he raises his right hand and says salam!.... And then his car disappears in the darkness of the early morning.

But it doesn't end there........That was yesterday morning.....today morning....I feel like a stalker....lol.....He leads prayer again. So I'm like waiting for him in the same place and I make sure I reach there before his car reaches there. When his car comes up, like yesterday, I did Salam to him gesturing with my right hand. But today (being the cheeky (british slang) guy that I am, I also did a major bidah....and made him do it as well...lol......after saying salam by gesture, I brought all my five fingers together, took them to my lips, and kissed them, and kind of like motioned them towards my man Sudais...lol.....

The arab people, when they wanna say you are soo sweet, that is the same thing they do and they say, "Anta Hulw", which means you are sweet. I'm sure I caught him by surprise....so a second later, sudais, does the same thing, and then he gestures with his hand and throws it back at me with a smile on his face.....lol.....then I look towards the driver and he has a big smile on his face as well....I gotta pull another stunt tomorrow morning....any ideas anyone?.....

I guess one of the hardest things for me in Hajj is to constantly hear my wife calling me (jokingly) a talko (baldie)...lol......that's really cold to us zulfa loving ppl...oh well....it's life....

You are all in my duas. Please remember me as well.
Salam,
The Stalker in Makkah

BRAIN FREEEEEZE

It was a boiling Texan night. I drove up to the gas station and filled up gas. Since I paid for it by using my card, there was no need for me to go inside the 7-11 store. I closed the door of my Mercury Villager, and I was just about to turn the key to rev up my ride, when I saw it through the driver side window. It was a picture of a slurpee. It was a long time since I last had one. Many fond childhood memories flooded back.

A bunch of Muslim kids from the Madinah Masjid-Danforth Ave. (a.k.a. Greek Town) hood would get together to play hockey every afternoon in the hot Toronto summer days. Immediately after the game, we would rush to the local 7-11 store and run to the Slurpee machine. We would let the machine run for a bit and then fill up the slurpee cups. Oh the sensational cooling feeling of that Slurpee was better than the adrenalin rush of hockey game itself!…….

The flashing of my childhood days infront of my eyes made me change my decision. I pulled the key out and closed the door silently behind me. I realized that I had started drooling….I was walking in a trance. Love is blinding. Oblivious to the surroundings around me, I walked up to the 7-11 store door, opened it ever so quickly and quickly made my way to the Slurpee machine. Old habits die hard. I turned the handle and let it run for a few seconds and filled up my cup with three different layers after slightly banging it a couple of times to maximize my slurpage. I slurped it……and in less than a second,….. I experienced a brain freeze. I felt the first slurp going down my parched esophagus. I felt it cooling down my stomach. I felt the coolness running around every fiber of my body. For a second….it was just me and my slurpee….and no one else…..One of life’s finest pleasures…Walked up to the cashier, paid for it and walked over to my van.

And the (cowboy) Maulana, belovedly clutching his slurpee, galloped away into the darkness of the hot, dark, and muggy Texan midnight……..

Why all the hate?

A friend once told me this really heart breaking story about how he was hated on by his mom because his mom was 'fair skinned' and he was 'dark skinned'......

The mother decides to go shopping one day. This is way way back in the days when there were very few migrant Muslims in North America. She is fair skinned and he is dark skinned. She is ashamed of having him around her and doesn’t want to be seen with him. She parks the car, puts her little child in the shopping cart, enters the store and leaves the cart with the kid in it by the entrance because she doesn’t want to be associated with the dark skinned little innocent kid. She finishes her shopping and picks up the kid at the entrance and carries on with her life.

Throughout his life, he was always made to feel inferior. The kid had turned out like his dad and he was hated because of that and even beaten up countless times. She was obsessed with her skin color and didn’t even want to be seen with her dark skinned husband. She was earning a six-digit figure salary per annum.

Yeah…So Why all the hate? Just because a child is not ‘fair or white skinned’ doesn’t give a parent any right to treat a child with contempt and animosity. I’ve seen it many times how parents have a sad look on their face because their child is dark skinned and not as white as the other person’s kid.

Islam is a colorless religion. Allah does not decide a person’s fate because of their skin color in this world. Those who will enter paradise, their faces will be shining and handsome and those who will enter the hell fire, their faces will be devoid of any light and will be horrible looking.

I wanted to write up a bit more on this topic …Like at marriage time how people make decisions based on skin color and even like when Desi people see fair skinned kids and how they react with them and how they react when they see dark skinned kids….… but I’m just soo busy with stuffs…So I’ll drop it here….

Have you been hated on by your parents or relatives because of your skin color? Do you think that is prevalent in the Desi community in particular and Muslims in general? Do you think parents feel inferior because their child is not as cute as the other kid?