MIST 07 reflections...
So its been a week since MIST has ended, and subhan Allah all week I have been thinking about the tournament and how amazing the weekend was.As I sat there on the day of the awards banquet, listening to the chatter and anticipation of all the children and seeing the sheer joy on their faces, i couldnt help but choke back tears, as I have done every year, just from the thought of this being the next generations of muslimeen in America ready to carry the banner of Islam. I see children who are no doubt better than me, children who are more skilled than me in writing, more knowledgeable than me in deen, and more ready to do islamic work than i will ever be. Every year at the end of MIST on the day of the awards banquet I sit there and look around at the children and choke back tears and I remember the fact that I am behind, I am wasting time, and I am getting older by the day and Allah swt has an entire generation of children just waiting for their chance to change the world, children ready to lap me on their way to Jannah while i sit idle doing nothing to change the world.
To me, this is why MIST is the most important organization and tournament that exists in the US, as I have been quoted as saying here in the muslim link. When I came out of high school i had no idea what Islam was, I had no experience with how organized Islamic work worked, and I didnt even know what the purpose of an MSA was. All of these children participating in MIST are exposed to all of these things, gaining an advantage over their predecessors as they come into the college MSA scene running instead of crawling like us.
Usually, my team (Team Taqwa) does very well placing in the top 3 for all but one year since the tournament began (if my memory serves me correctly) but unfortunately this was not our year. But regardless of the outcome, I looked at the faces of my kids and subhan Allah, I remembered what it was like to actually be around a large group of muslims from your generation for the first time and it gave me goosebumps. The majority of these kids struggle with their Muslim identity in public school settings and for one weekend they are in an environment where its all Muslim all day, and like the hadith of our beloved Prophet Muhammed PBUH states and I will futilely attempt to paraphrase, if you are in the blacksmiths place of work, you will come out of it with soot and smell upon you no matter how involved you are with the blacksmith work. And this one weekend their imam increased from being around their brothers and sisters, from intending to benefit their iman, and for competing and striving against each other in pleasing Allah swt.
Anyone who is around those who organize MIST, or is involved in MIST in any level be it organizational or otherwise, has to testify to the fact that these children show great promise for our Ummah. Its not just that they are practicing Islam and implementing it in their lives as early as middle school, but those that have never been exposed to Islam seriously are being exposed to it in a great environment of competition and gaining a great love for the deen. I was a panelist at a session about majors and this one kid asks me how he can become an Islamic Scholar. Subhan Allah I almost teared up at the sheer notion that this kid at an early age was interested in the sciences of Islam and how to be proficient in them to a level where he wanted to not only be a scholar of deen but a Doctor as well so that he could benefit the people greatly. I looked into that youth's face and I saw a great want and desire to benefit those around him and I pray that Allah swt grant him the best in this world and the next.
In conclusion, MIST is that fire that is lit up under me every year. People say ISNA motivates them to do good works and of course Ramadan does for me and everyone else, but MIST has its place in what motivates me to do better and strive harder in everything im doing for the reason that there are little kids fast approaching at my heels ready to pass me and grab the torch of Islam, and if I want to keep up im gonna have to work harder.
May Allah swt bless all those who organized MIST!
May Allah swt bless all the coaches, judges, speakers, and volunteers!
May Allah swt bless all the participants in MIST, make all the good that they heard this weekend be a means by which they shall enter paradise!
Ameen
posted by Iboo LaL @ 9:31 PM
Comments: 3
