Al Salam 'Alaykum wa rahmatu Allahu wa barakatu.
May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you.
Welcome to my blog.
This blog is about my trip to Tarim, a small town in Yemen. As is mentioned here:
May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you.
Welcome to my blog.
This blog is about my trip to Tarim, a small town in Yemen. As is mentioned here:
Tarim is a historic town situated in the Hadhramaut Valley of eastern Yemen. Tarim is widely acknowledged as the theological, juridical, and academic center of the Hadhramaut Valley. An important locus of Islamic learning, it is estimated to contain the highest concentration of descendants of the Prophet Muhammad (sayyids) anywhere in the world. The city is distinguished for producing numerous Islamic scholars, including Imam al-Haddad.
I traveled to attend the summer Dowra, an intensive 40 day course in traditional Islamic sciences. Like one of my teachers said, we got the opportunity to study blessed topics in a blessed city.
I've tried my best to recount the experience as it was, though of course my account by no means does it justice. The experience needed someone who could wax poetically over it, and unfortunately I was not up to the task. Because of time constraints and our intensive schedule, I haven't been as articulate and thorough as I could have been, so forgive me if some entries seem choppy.
Any mistakes are completely my own, and if you were with me on this Dowra, please do let me know if I've misquoted someone, gotten something incorrect, or mentioned you and you'd like the mention removed. It was an honor to meet you all, and please forgive me if I somehow offended you or caused you any kind of distress.
This blog took up a lot more time than I thought it would when I began, so I hope it is beneficial to those of you who were with me, those of you who are thinking of traveling to Tarim, and those of you who want to know what life is like in a place where Islam is truly a way of life.
I've tried to split up my posts according to the topics I address in them in order to make the blog easier to browse through, since I've written quite a lot. But to get the real 'feel' of the experience, I'd advise you to bookmark the blog and read it from beginning to end.
I've also tried to include as many photos as I can to convey what I can't in words. If you use any of them, please do credit me as the photographer.
One last note: this blog is in no way affiliated with Dar al-Mustafa, Dar al-Zahra, or anyone of the Dowra administration. It is simply an account of my journey and my reflections.
I'll end this blog in the way the Dowra administration has been answering my emails to them for the past three years:
Please overlook my shortcomings, and keep me in your du'uas.
