Retreat!!!
"Nothing is real until it is experienced"This is what the sign read above the main cabin at the campgrounds of our retreat this past weekend.
Obviously this statement is contradictory to many points in our aqeedah but it definitely had me thinking the entire weekend about exactly what defines 'experience' and what exactly is 'real'.
There is something about driving a distance to a secluded camp site in the woods that just adds a different level of focus that can not be compared to a hotel room at a conference. You are downgrading your normal everyday lifestyle to a subpar standard of living, solely to gain Allah swt's pleasure and to reach a maqam closer to the Most High.
When we arrived to the site Friday we got prepared to pray Maghrib and the ameer of the retreat made a suggestion that definitely set the tone of the retreat. He reminded everyone of the need for khushu' in our salaah and recommended everyone to take a couple of minutes before the salaah started to just reflect on Allah swt silently and to prepare for the salaah as if it is our last. Subhan Allah the silence of the room was extremely tranquil as everyone was focused on the salah to come. One brother later described how he noticed that the ranks were naturally straight and the 'ameen' after surah Fatihah was in such a unison that it seemed as though we timed it perfectly. The brother continued and made the point that many say the uniformity of the 'ameen' after surah fatihah is a rather accurate measurement of the brotherhood in the jamaa'. Everyone was on que and on key, and this seemed to be a sign of good things to come for the weekend.
After Maghrib we made the adhkaar of the evening as was the Sunnah of the Prophet PBUH. It always surprises me how we possibly think we can be close to Allah swt or be on the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammed PBUH when we do not remember Allah in the morning and evening as is instructed in the Quran.
Saturday was scheduled to be a very long day so we went back to our cabins to sleep and energize for the day to come.
After Fajr we all went to the soccor fields and began doing warmup stretches and exercizes. We did this one old football drill we used to do when I played for my high school called Oklahoma's where you jog in place until the leader yells out 'HIT!' upon which you have to hit the floor ASAP doing a pushup and coming back up to your feet and jog. I was made to be the model of how this 'Hit' is supposed to look and of course when I heard the command, I hit the ground so hard that I almost knocked the wind out of my self. Im still feeling the soreness in my ribs.
Next we played the classic game of all camps: Square of death.
There are two teams and a rectangle is split in half evenly. One player from each team must venture across the divide and try to tag one of the players on the other side and get back safely without being tackled by the other team. If the player makes it back safely, then everyone he touched will be out. Our team went down 3 games to nill until I valiantly (and rather fortunately) nominated myself to go and tag the others, ran straight at one of the opposition without hesitating, and dragged ~4 of them on my back across the line mashallah. This energized my team to win the next 4 games until we finally tied in the 8th. Was probably the best game of SOD ive ever played, and I got the bruises and cuts to prove it.
Now let me skip forward a bit because I am boring myself with all the nitpicky details...
I was in charge of setting up the entertainment portion of the retreat and I got a bunch of bros/sisters from the camp to perform nasheeds/poetry, etc but I unfortunately had to miss the event as I had a wedding to go to.
***TANGENT ALERT!!!***
The wedding was for the only sister in our circle of family friends (other than my sis) who grew up with us and who I have known since day as far back as I can remember.
I could not help but feel weird when we went over to the girls side to take pics when I noticed her decked out in dulhan gear. She was really getting married! I remember playing basketball with her and playin video games, and now she was getting married. Her mother and aunts were all emotional during the ruksati and I couldnt help but look at their faces and remember them 15+ years ago when we are all little rugrats causing mad trouble.
Truely time is ever ticking...
***TANGENT OWWER***
I got back to the campsite after fajr Sunday and when I got there I noticed that the mood of the camp had definitely changed since id left. After the entertainment session there was a campfire during which some reflective activites had taken place and these activities really seemed to be affective as I noticed something in the air when we had breakfast, an even stronger sense of brotherhood than before.
At the end of the camp we had our normal conclusion which entails the brothers making a circle with the brothers and the sisters with themselves respectively, and going around to each person and allowing them to reflect on something they benefited from during the weekend.
Subhan Allah, the most profound thing I heard was probably something that the kid did not even consider profound, yet it really summarized what retreats and halaqaat are for us. The kid made an analogy between the retreat and playing tag. He said that when you play tag you are being chased by someone, and you have to try and avoid them and you do everything you can to not get caught, and then there is a base. When you get to base its safety for a certain amount of time like 10 or 15 seconds, and then you have to go out and run away from the tagger again. He said that retreats and halaqaat are like base for him for when Shaytaan is chasing him cuz he knows he is safe there, and then after this time runs out he has to go back to reality of avoiding the tagger.
I always told everyone who ever asked about my intentions when I go to things like retreats and conferences, that my number one intention is to network with the brothers. At retreats it never fails that I develop a genuine love for a brother for the sake of Allah, simply by being around them and noticing their demeanor. As the ameer of the retreat put it, I just hope that at events like this, people that I meet only once at this retreat and then never see again, I see them on the day of Judgement under the shade of Allah swt when there is no shade but his, and I am honored with this shade because of the love that we shared for the sake of Allah swt at the retreat.
May Allah make us among those whom He loves...ameen
posted by Iboo LaL @ 9:06 PM
Comments: 3
