Discussion Topics NTI meetings-Glasgow

Assalamu alaikum - thanks for your comments, these are really useful to us mashALlah.

We will discuss these and add them to our topics insha'Allah

Hi,

I just wanted to write as a new muslim I was dissappointed with wednesday 27/10 new to islam meeting.  It took a lot of courage for me to attend this meeting particularly as the weather was horrific and I live 20 miles away.

I did not feel it was a particularly friendly atmosphere. No one introduced themselves to me other than Sasha.  I had to ask 4 sisters their names, one of whom walked away from me right after.

I also found the partition in the prayer hall very difficult culturally to deal with as from my understanding their was no partition in the prophet's mosque (saw).

Furthermore, being a dog owner myself which should be expected in a new to islam group, I took offence at the brother's opinion that dogs are unclean and have worms. (cats have worms too).  This is not the opinion of the jurist, Imam Malik and this should have been alluded to in the talk.

I absolutely do not intend to insult anyone or appear rude.  I believe that many people have gained benefit from attending these group meetings.  I wish you success and may Allah (swt) reward you for your efforts and your contribution to dawah and islam.

amina

Assalamu alaikum Sister

JazakAllahu Khairan - thank you and may Allah swt reward you for taking the time to give us your feedback through our website. I am pleased that you came to our meeting, although of course I am disappointed to hear that you did not feel that you had a good experience. In all honesty, the majority of people who come to our meetings are pleased with the way they are welcomed and with the relationships that the sisters have with each other in the mosque, so it's sad that you did not feel at home.

Often taking a first step into something new can be a challenge - sometimes, as you say, it can take some courage and effort to attend a meeting in a mosque - especially when it seems far away from home. We understand this personally as Sister Sasha and I both live a similar distance from Glasgow and appreciate the effort it can take to just get there. We often get participants coming from places like Carluke, Hamilton, East Kilbride and have in the past had visitors from places like Dunoon and even the Isle of Lewis. Our communities in Scotland are sometimes spread out a little which makes things more challenging, but as you may know, when we leave home to seek knowledge (even just a little) we get rewarded for every step we take, so perhaps this is actually a blessing in disguise for us all.

In the same way, we should really all bear in mind that perhaps there are other people who attend our meetings who also have their own similar personal worries or concerns - having themselves braved the horrible weather and taken a degree of effort/courage to attend. With this in mind, perhaps some were not at that time comfortable with speaking to someone unfamiliar when they were hoping for help/advice themselves. My understanding was that Sasha met you in the hallway and spent some personal time welcoming and speaking to you and showing you round SUMSA – making sure you were ok before taking you to where the sisters were as the talk began. Sasha tends to be very supportive of all sisters in this way and spends a lot of time making sure that people are ok and looked after. After the reminder/talk is the time when we have tea/biscuits and a bit of a general chat, when most of any socialising etc gets done. Sasha would have  introduced you to all the sisters at that point, however she didn't really get the chance as she found you had left by that time and you hadn’t left any contact details for us. Indeed after the talk, some of the sisters were asking where you were as they had noticed you were not there. Perhaps the next time you are our guest, insha'Allah things might be a bit easier.

The Barrier, or Screen is there as the main talk is normally conducted in the Brothers area of the mosque. the barrier itself is not a complete wall but covers just over halfway across the width of the mosque to provide a degree of privacy for both men and women. The Committee of the Mosque itself prefer this as we are using the Brothers area and being a New Muslims group, often there are sisters who attend who may not have their heads covered or be dressed in a 'modest' way. Whilst the meetings are happening, the normal attendees of the mosque are coming and going to pray, and it is understandable that we need to be considerate to all when using this sacred space. Additionally, many of the sisters prefer the barrier to be in place, especially if they are new as they feel a wee bit shy and the barrier gives a degree of protection. If our meetings were elsewhere, then the barrier would not be entirely necessary, however in the mosque setting, it is required at present. You are of course quite right that the Prophets Mosque (pbuh) in His time, did not have this divider - however there was a distinct division between the sisters and the brothers in the mosque and a great deal of strength in the people at the time. We are less in strength these days unfortunately. The Prophet pbuh warned against anyone forbidding sisters to attend the masjid - however he was clear where he said that the best place for women to pray was in their homes, ie in a private space. So to make a private space in the mosque so sisters can take part is not really an alien introduction to Islam - and it was Umar Ibn Khattab,one of the foremost of the Companions who introduced separate facilities in the Prophets mosque, so we cannot say that we are wiser than he was in our time today. It was in fact Umar (ra) who narrates one of the hadith about not forbidding women to come to the mosque. (see Musnad Ahmad) We also need to remember that there were no carpets or lights in the Masjid in the time of the Prophet pbuh, but we don't want to remove them now. I believe Sasha explained this to you when you spoke in the mosque. Most sisters, convert or otherwise, dont mind - some prefer it to be there, however I am sorry that you were unhappy with the barrier.

With regard to the comments about dogs - I apologise if these offended you, this was not my intention at all. You are quite right in your comments about a Maliki opinion that dogs are not najas. My own comments on the night were based on the views of the Hanafi and Shafi'i schools that dogs are considered najas/impure due to hygiene etc. I was aware of the Maiki opinion, however I know very little about that particular opinion and did not comment as I rarely do so without being able to articulate or give references for the opinion. My understanding is that although the Maliki madhab does not consider them to be impure per se, it is still disliked for them to be in the home. The questions themselves were about Angels not entering a house with dogs present (which is clarified in Hadith) and this led to the question about why dogs are not allowed in the house. I've had 3 x dogs in the past before I became Muslim and I can appreciate the bond that a person would have due to their loyalty and character. Its easy to get attached to them - and not so easy to detach. They have many good qualities and the other madhabs allow for them to be kept outside of the home, used for hunting and so on. We do not have hatred for dogs as they are after all Allah’s creatures, but as with any aspect of our lives we believe in trying to find the best way to do things. Anything which was said during the evening that was not good was from myself, whilst anything good was from Allah swt.

Umar Ibn Khattab (ra) made a du'a for those who pointed out faults or areas for improvement as in reality, they gave him the opportunity to become a better person - so again thank you for your sincere, constructive comments and please do not worry about causing offence by giving us your thoughts. I'd like to apologise for the poor experience you clearly feel you have had and hope that you will not be put off joining us again in future, where I hope insha'Allah you will feel happier and we can improve on our efforts as well.

We would still like to help you if you feel that we can. Please do feel free to PM either Sasha or myself through this website and we will pass contact details if you would like to discuss. You're always welcome.

Br AbdulAzeem

Assalamu Alaikum,

I attended the meeting this wed for the 1st time and just wanted to say MasAllah it was really good!

I learnt so much and really liked the interactive format  :-)  InshAllah i will be a regular

Shazia