The Sacred Scrolls event is coming soon and features Sh. Yasir Qadhi and Imam Suhaib Webb. I’m very excited myself. Here’s the description from the site:

AlMaghrib Institute is Overjoyed to Bring You…
Sacred Scrolls: 40 Hadeeth Nawawi
A single weekend degree seminarLessons from the timeless collection of hadeeth compiled by Imam AlNawawiJoin hundreds of students for a weekend long seminar taught by two Powerhouse AlMaghrib Instructors:

Shaykh Yasir Qadhi
Our resident Dean of Academic Affairs who has been inspiring our students for some time now with his knowledge packed seminars: Light of Guidance & Light Upon Light.

And for the first time ever…

In his history-making debut, In his long awaited debut:

Imam Suhaib Webb!

Come see for yourself what all the hype is about!

Learn about one of the most blessed and practical collections of hadeeth: The 40 Hadeeth of Imam Nawawi is a profound and comprehensive collection, summarizing the teachings of Islam and the character of the Prophet (S).

“Everyone who desires and looks forward to the Hereafter must be familiar with these hadith because they cover the most important aspects of the religion and they offer direction to all forms of obedience to Allah. This is clear to anyone who ponders these hadith.” - Al-Nawawi’s introduction to his Forty Hadeeth

I WANTED IN!!! Almaghrib Institute is hosting an awesome, but exclusive, two week retreat in August called “Ilm Summit” and I didn’t want to miss it. I was especially excited about it when I saw some of the topics that were going to be discussed. The only problem was that there was an application and admissions process.

I am not normally fond of admissions processes because you in effect subordinate yourself to another’s judgment and validation. Every time you apply for something like this you are saying “please let me in” and open yourself to a an arbitrary “hell no.”

I also had another problem. Based on the criteria for admission posted on the AlMaghrib Forums and the questions in the application, I didn’t stand a good chance of getting in.

What to do, what to do.

Well, I figured if my chances of being accepted were low anyway and I didn’t like humiliating myself via the application process, I would turn to my old friend “unorthodoxy.” Let it be known that unorthodox methods are a crap shoot. You are banking on being unique and original enough to attract attention to your application and hoping that the guy on the other side doesn’t have the tightwad reaction where his chin retracts into his neck and says “I am not impressed.”

Anyway, I decided to do what I do best. I wrote a mediocre poem about how they would miss out big if they don’t invite me. Now I will share that poem with you: Enjoy.

What is a Poem Worth?

What is a poem worth?
Can it as an application serve?
If it inspires in you mirth
a shot it surely does deserve.

Without being too uncouth
I’ll bluntly tell you the truth …

Your gathering is in poverty
without my linguistic harmony,
and so i offer quite candidly,
by declaring my interest openly
an opportunity to avoid a calamity
in excluding me and my poetry,

This is my vanity
which I admit wholeheartedly.
The choice is yours, but in all sincerity
excluding me would be a gross catastrophe.

the Man Of Few Words

I guess I wasn’t clear about this but I did get accepted with this poem in my application. Several people asked me if I got in or not. I thought the title of this post was self explanatory but apparently not.

Get your film on … get your marketing on … register to Message Mastery. Check out the video, it has an awesome animated intro.

Bismillah arRahman arRaheem

In an event consisting of an all star cast of speakers it was ironic that the most poignant, defining moment of the entire two days was when no one was speaking at all. Before a rapt audience of 1000 American Muslims stood the very icon of American Islam, Imam Siraj Wahhaj, teary-eyed and too overtaken by emotion to speak. In an event whose theme was American Muslim identity it was fitting that Imam Siraj was the one to give the final speech about his journey as an American Muslim. What drove him to tears, you ask? Read on.

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