ssaint louis universityaint louis university mmuslim ... · th e importance of the quran in a...

Saint Louis UniversitySaint Louis University

Muslim Student AssociationMuslim Student Association

Presents:Presents:

Guidance from the Quran:Guidance from the Quran:A Manual for MankindA Manual for Mankind

Program GuideProgram GuideFri. January 23rd. - Sun. January 25thFri. January 23rd. - Sun. January 25th

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Table of Contents

Map of Busch Student CenterProgramSpeaker BiographiesSponsors

Note:All sessions will be held in the Busch Student Center.Prayers will be held in teh Wool Ballrooms 173. Meals will be in Wool Ballrooms 170 & 171. Th e Hospitality Room and Vendors will be held in Wool Ballrooms 171 & 172. Babysitting is available in BSC 351.

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Notes:

Notes:

Rooms in use include:

BSC 253BSC 351-353Wool BallroomsSaint Louis Room

All rooms are outlined in red on the map.

Map of Busch Student Center

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First Floor

Second Floor

Th ird Floor

Time Event5:00pmBSC Lobby

Check In

5:20pm - 5:40pmWool Ballrooms

Prayer: MaghribIqamah at 5:15pm

5:45pm - 6:30pmBSC 253

Speaker: Shaykh Rami Nsour

Th e Importance of the Quran in a Muslim’s LifeTh e Quran is the exact word of Allah (S.W.T.), and it is the physical guide Muslims have to follow. It is the manual Muslims need in order to know how to act and live our daily life otherwise we would not know what Allah (S.W.T) would want us to do. Muslims should recite it daily even if it’s a single Ayat. Constantly seeking knowledge to learn it and apply it is our duty as Muslims.

6:45pm - 7:30pmSTL Room

Speaker: Shaykh Hamzah Maqbul

Life of a Muslim vs. Life of a HedonistAs Muslims, we are honored slaves to Al Khaliq (Th e Creator), S.W.T, but what about those who live their life of desires? Th e rules Allah (S.W.T) has set for the Muslims are the best rules which He (S.W. T) loves; however, living a life of desires and ignoring those rules leads to negative consequences.


Prayer: Isha and SnacksIqamah at 7:40P.M.


Speakers: Muft i Min-hajuddin Ahmed and Ustadh Majed Mahmoud

Keynote: Deceptions of Shaytan - Dealing with the DevilProphet Adam (A.S.) and Hawwa (A.S.) were the fi rst to deal with the devil, but were tricked by his lies and disobeyed Allah’s (S.W.T) command. We all know that Shaytan is our open enemy and is determined to take us into the hell fi re but what are we doing to protect ourselves from becoming his next victim? Come attend this session to learn about the three pronged attacks of Shaytan and how with the Fadhl of Allah S.W.T. we can outwit the Devil at his own game.

9:05pm - 9:20pm Snacks/Break

9:25pm - 10:00pmBSC 253

Speakers: Shaykh Hamzah Maqbul and Shaykh Rami Nsour

BSC 352/353

Speaker: Dr. Rania Awaad

Parallel Sessions:Rights and Roles: Being a Muslim ManWhether you are a husband, father, son, or brother, you all have rights expected from your family, but you must also fulfi ll your roles towards them. Fulfi lling roles and giving rights to others will strengthen family relations, but at times we can forget these rights and roles which cause confl ict. For ages 15+.

Rights and Roles: Being a Muslim WomanWhether you are a wife, mother, daughter, or sister, you all have rights expected from your family, but you must also fulfi ll your roles towards them. Fulfi lling roles and giving rights to others will strengthen family relations, but at times we can forget these rights and roles which cause confl ict. For ages 15+.

Friday

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Time Event9:00am - 10:30amVarious Locations

Speakers: TBA

Offi ce Hours with speakers at 15 minute blocks.Th is is your chance for one-on-one Q&A with one of these speakers. Persons will be allowed a single fi ft een minute slot to ask whatever he/she wants. Only 5 slots will be available for each speaker. Slots will be scheduled at a fi rst come, fi rst serve basis. No one will be allowed to book more than one slot. Anyone who has to leave will lose his/her slot. No exceptions will be made.

9:30am - 12:30amLocation: TBA

Speaker: Ustadh Majed Mahmoud

Deen Intensive: Among the Few, Inspirational and Practical Benefi ts of Appreciation and Gratitude.*Prior Registration is required to attend

10:30am - 11:15amBSC 253

Speaker: Muft i Minhajud-din Ahmed

Prophet Ayyub: Dealing with HardshipTh e famous story of Prophet Ayyub, (A.S.) and his journey in the north eastern corner of Palestine. Th roughout his life, Prophet Ayyub (A.S.) faced disease, calamities, betrayal, deceit, and the death of his family. However, his faith never faltered. Follow his story and learn how to apply the teachings of the prophet and integrate it into our personal lives.

11:25am - 12:10pmSTL Room

Speaker: Shaykh Rami Nsour

True Friendship: Forgive and ForgetFriends and those whom we love have a direct infl uence on our lives from both spiritual and natural point of views. Forgiveness is a major tenet of Islam, and nothing in this materialistic world is worth breaking the bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood.Th e Quran explicitly explains in several places the concepts of friendship and forgiveness, and how critical they are. Th is lecture discusses the importance of having good company, the evidences of how infl uential friends can be and the guidelines of choosing the right group to hang out with. Furthermore, the blessings, virtues, and rewards of forgiving people are discussed, and the talk is capped with real life inspiring stories from the Quran & Sunnah of those who were absolutely wronged and hurt, yet realized the reward and fi nally forgave.


Prayer: Dhuhr and LunchIqamah at 12:35pm

1:35pm - 2:20pmBSC 253

Speaker: Ustadh Majed Mahmoud

A True StoryOut of the billions of stories and events that Allah witnessed from His creation He chose a very few of them to be mentioned in the Quran. More than 1/3 of the Quran consists of stories, history & tales. Allah, Th e All-Wise, through these truthful stories allows the Quran to be applicable for every time and age. Th is lecture discusses and stresses on the importance of how Quranic stories aren’t only meant for entertainment and for the younger gener-ation. Rather, it is a manual which when summed up targets all aspects of one’s life and provides practical solutions for diff erent kinds of problems. In addition, it drives towards strengthening one’s relationship with the Quran regardless of the language barrier. Nothing beats a beautiful, true, practical, eloquent story that is narrated by Allah.

Saturday

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Time Event2:25pm - 3:10pmSTL Room

Speakers: Muft i Minha-juddin Ahmed, Shaykh Ibrahim Zidan, and Muft i Asif Umar

Issues within St. Louis – Social JusticeDue to the shooting of Michael Brown and its consequences, the national spotlight has hit St. Louis. Ferguson has faced the brunt of the social impact, as well as looting, protests, and fear on a massive scale.Listen to the discussion on social justice and the issues within our society, and ourselves, as we examine how we as Muslims should react to this matter.

3:15pm - 3:35pm Social3:40pm - 3:55pmWool Ballrooms

Prayer: Asr and BreakIqamah at 3:35pm


QA SessionYou have questions and, insh’Allah, speakers have answers.Speakers: Muft i Minhajjudin Ahmed, Ustadh Majed Mah-moud, Shaykh Hamzah Maqbul, and Shaykh Rami Nsour


Prayer: MaghribIqamah at 5:25pm


Speaker: Shaykh Hamzah Maqbul

Keynote: Anatomy of a Muslim - Quranic IdentityWhat makes us Muslim? What defi nes the identity of our Ummah? Our identities are defi ned by our social interactions with our family, friends, and the acquaintances. Th e values that we show our family and others represent our Islamic identity to others. Th e Prophet (Peace be upon him) is the best example for Muslims to follow; he is even described as a “walking Quran.” Learn how a Muslims character should be from the Quran’s perspective.


7:05pm-7:40pmBSC 253

Speaker: Dr. Rania Awaad

Parallel Sessions:Dinner

You Can Have It All: Muslim Women in a Professional World (Women Only)As young Muslim women, it is sometimes diffi cult to fi nd positive role models for both our careers and personal lives. We face a variety of infl uences and messages about who we should be, whether it is from our faith, parents, friends, the media, or culture. All of these confl icting views can sometimes make it dif-fi cult to explore what we truly desire. Muslim female youth are invited to this panel discussion and workshop which will address the challenges faced by modern Muslim women in pursuing and achieving their dreams.


Prayer: IshaIqamah at 7:45pm


Special Guest: Dr. Yvonne SeonToday, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the United States, and an increasing number of Americans are choosing Islam as their religion and way of life, the majority of them being women. Dr. Yvonne K. Seon, the fi rst African American woman ordained minister for the Unitarian Church, tells the story of how she and her family came to Islam, and shares her unique and captivating experiences.

Saturday Cont.

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Speaker Biographies Cont.Dr. Rania Awaad Raised in the U.S., Ustadha Rania Awaad began her formal study of the tradi-tional Islamic sciences when her parents permitted her to travel to Damascus, Syria at the age of 14. Her desire to continue studying the Deen resulted in multiple trips back to Damascus, interspersed between her high school, college and medical studies. She was honored to receive Ijaazah (authorization to teach) several branches of the Shari’ah sciences at the hands of many renowned scholars, including many female scholars. She has received Ijaazah to teach Tajwid in both the Hafs and Warsh recitations from the late eminent Syrian scholar, Shaykh Abu Hassan al-Kurdi. In addition to completing several advanced texts of the Shafi ’i madhhab, she is licensed to teach texts of Maliki fi qh, Adab and Ihsan. Currently, Ustadha Rania teaches online and local classes for Th e Rahmah Foundation, Rabata, and is on faculty of Zaytuna College where she teaches courses in Shafi ’i fi qh, women’s issues in fi qh, and has helped develop and co-direct the Tajweed and Hifz progam. Ustadha Rania also a medical doctor with a specialty in Psychiatry. She complet-ed her Psychiatric residency and fellowship training at Stanford University where she is currently on the faculty as a Clinical Instructor in the Stanford Psychiatry and Behav-ioral Sciences department. Her medical interests include addressing mental health care concerns in the Muslim community- particularly that of Muslim women and girls. She has been awarded grants from the NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) to conduct research on this topic and has presented her fi ndings at several medical conferences. Oth-er on-going endeavors include the compilation of manuscripts addressing female-related mental health and medical issues from a fi qh-oriented perspective. She currently serves as the Director of the Rahmah Foundation, a non-profi t organization dedicated to teaching Muslim women and girls traditional Islamic knowledge. In this capacity she also heads the Murbbiyah Mentoring Program which trains young women how to teach and mentor Muslim girls and teens. Ustadha Rania is both a wife and a mother; she has been coun-seling and teaching women classes on Tajwid, Shafi ’i Fiqh, Ihsan, marriage and raising children since 1999.

Dr. Yvonne Seon Born in Washington, D.C., on December 20, 1937, Yvonne Seon graduated as salutatorian of her class at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C. Seon received a B.A. with honors from Allegheny College in 1959. She attended the American University as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and in 1960 earned her M.A. in political science. Th at same year, she met Patrice Lumumba, leader of the newly independent Congo, on his only visit to the United States. Th e dynamic African leader off ered Seon a job in his new government. Profi cient in French, and with a keen interest in Africa, Seon accepted and served as secretary of the Inga Dam project for two years. She also served in a State De-partment delegation to a UNESCO conference in Paris. In 1966, Seon attended the First African Festival of the Arts held in Dakar, Senegal. While in school at Union Graduate School, Seon became the fi rst director of the Bolinga Black Cultural Resource Center at Wright State University. She returned to Wash-ington, D.C., in 1972 to work for Congressman Howard Diggs. She became one of the fi rst contributors to Africare, an American-based aid organization to Africa. By 1977, Seon was the fi rst woman to serve on Africare’s board of directors, and in 2002 she became its fi rst vice chairwoman. When still a graduate student, Seon was drawn to the Unitarian Universalist Church, and was later ordained as a minister. Seon currently works as an associate professor of history at Prince George’s Community College in Largo, Maryland, and resides in Cheverly, Maryland.

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Time Event10:00am - 10:40amBSC 253

Speaker: Muft i Minhajud-din Ahmed

Subhanallah! Is Everything a Sign of God?Stop and think. When you look at the sky or think about how your heart pumps every second, we can never praise Allah (S.W.T) enough. Learn how we can see the signs of Allah (S.W.T) in His creation so we can increase our reminder and worship of Him.

10:50am - 11:25amSTL Room

Speaker: Shaykh Ibrahim Zidan

Al Haadi and Ar RasheedAl Haadi, He is Th e Guide, and Ar Rasheed, He is Th e Guide to the Right Path. Even though Allah (S.W.T) has many names, these two names are part of His 99 most beautiful names. Learn these names, call upon Allah (S.W.T) with them, and ask for His guidance.

11:35am - 12:05pmBSC 253

Speakers: Shaykh Rami Nsour and Shaykh Hamzah Maqbul

Keynote: Gaining Guidance from the QuranHow can we please Allah (S.W.T) to gain His guidance? Th e more we read the Quran, the more we remember it, and the more Allah (S.W.T) guides us. Allah (S.W.T) says, “And continue to remind, for surely the reminder profi ts the believers (51:55).” As human beings, we forget things if we don’t constantly use the knowledge regularly, so let’s make sure the Quran is part of our daily schedule even if it’s an Ayat.


Prayer: Dhuhr and LunchIqamah at 12:15pm.


Speakers: TBA

Q/A Session with closing remarks from co-presidentsHave Questions aft er listening to the lectures? Come get them answered here, and leave the day question free.

Sunday

Please note: Saint Louis University Muslim Student Association reserves the right to make changes and adjustments to this schedule as necessary.

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Majed Mahmoud Majed Mahmoud Majed was born in Saudi Arabia where he studied the basics of diff erent Islamic sciences for 9 years which was part of the Saudi school curriculum and then he immigrated to Canada during high school. Majed graduated with a Bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Windsor and took 50 courses including theology, Islamic jurisprudence and Quranic sciences with Al-Maghrib Institute and a few courses of tajweed & tafsir with Al-Bayyinah Institute. Majed also completed a Master degree in Business Administration from Wayne State University. During this period he completed his memorization of the Quran. Majed has also traveled around the world lecturing about diff erent aspects of Islam and has completed a TV series with Huda TV & Peace TV. He is currently pur-suing a bachelor degree in Islamic Jurisprudence & Legal Th eory from Al-Madinah International University while working as a Mechanical Engineer.

Minhaj Uddin Ahmed Muft i Minhajuddin Ahmed serves as the director of DarusSalam Founda-tion. He was blessed with the memorization of the Holy Qur’an by age 10 and later received formal authorizations in the sacred Islamic sciences at the culmination of an eight-year alim and ift a program at Darul Uloom Zakariyya in Johannesburg, South Africa. He also received authorizations in various recitations (TenQira’at) of the Holy Qur’an from the Qiraat Master, Qari Ayub bin Ibrahim Ishaaq. He studied hadithand ift a under one of the greatest scholars of our time, Muft i Rada-ul-Haq. He served as the imam and director of the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis in St. Louis, Missouri from 2006 to 2011.Muft i Minhajuddin handles many of the day-to-day functions of the masjid, such as delivering khutbahs, leading prayers, conducting ed-ucational programs, etc. He teaches introductory Arabic, tajweed (Quranic pronunci-ation), aqeedah (Islamic beliefs), seerah (the prophetic biography), and intermediate usool al-fi qh (principles of Islamic Law).

Rami Nsour Rami Nsour Rami Nsour was born in Amman, Jordan and moved to the United States at the age of 9. During his college years, he attended Zaytuna classes taught by teachers in the San Francisco Bay Area, notably, Shaykh Khatri bin Bayba, Shaykh Abdullah bin Ahmedna and Shaykh Hamza Yusuf. With their encourage-ment, Rami embarked on a journey to study at the well acclaimed mahdara (college) of Shaykh Murabit al Hajj bin Fahfu in Mauritania in 1998. Th ere, he was blessed with deep studies with beloved and respected teachers such as Murabit Muhammad al-Amin bin al-Shaykh, Murabit Ahmed Fal bin Ahmedna, Shaykh Abdullah bin Ahmedna, Shaykh Tahir ibn Murabit al Hajj and Shaykh Sa’d Bu among others. Rami completed studies in the various subjects of Qu’ran, ‘Aqeedah (Belief), Fiqh (Law), Nahu (grammar), Ihsan (spiritual purifi cation), and adab (manners) and received tra-ditional teaching license (ijaza) to transmit what he learned. Within the area of Fiqh, he also completed the fi nal text of Maliki fi qh, Mukhtasar Khalil, with memorization and has been granted permission by his shuyukh to teach.

Speaker Biographies

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Speaker Biographies Cont.Rami Nsour Cont. In addition to his extensive study of fi qh, he was aff orded the unique oppor-tunity to attend one-on-one sessions with his teachers where he would engage them in countless hours of discussion on the application of fi qh in general and specifi cally for those living in the West. He was also aff orded the opportunity to learn practical applications of Islamic law (fi qh) during an extraordinary ‘in-residence’ experience. Rami has translated traditional Islamic texts from Arabic to English, including vari-ous works on Maliki fi qh and several works of the great Mauritanian scholar, Shaykh Muhammad Mawlud. Rami has dedicated much of his time in teaching, conducting seminars and counseling. He eventually co-founded the Tayba Foundation, which is currently the only organization off ering a distance learning program in Islamic Ed-ucation to incarcerated men and women. In addition to traditional teaching licenses (ijazah), Rami holds a B.A. in Human Development with a focus on Early Childhood. Rami resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, is married and has two children.

Hamzah Maqbul Shaykh Hamzah Wald Maqbul was born in Whittier, California, and lived in Southern California until the age of ten when he moved to Blaine, Washington. Aft er graduating from Blaine High School, he went on to attend the University of Washington and in 2004 completed a Bachelors of Science in Biochemistry and a Bachelors of Arts in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. During his study at the university he was active on campus, serving as the president of the UW Muslim Students Association, which was and is one of the largest and most active student groups on campus. Aft er 9/11 he was also listed by the University of Washington as an expert on Islam and was invited to address various groups from all walks of life from universities to high schools to community groups as well as all forms of media (TV, Radio, Newspaper, Internet). Aft er graduation Hamzah went on to pursue traditional Islamic studies, which took him to a number of countries, including Syria and Egypt where he studied the Arabic language, Morocco, Mauritania, and UAE, where he studied the madhab of Imām Mālik, grammar, usūl al-hadīth, and the two renditions of the qira’ah of Imām Nafi ‘, Warsh and Qalun, and fi nally Pakistan where he had the oppor-tunity to tafsīr, usūl al-hadīth, hadīth, ‘ilm al-rijāl and Hanafī fi qh. All of these studies culminated in him receiving an ijāzat al-tadrīs, literally meaning “a license to teach,” which is the equivalent in Pakistani Islamic seminaries to a MA in Arabic and Islamic studies, as well as an unbroken chain of transmission by which to narrate the hadīth of such books as the Muwatta’ of Imām Mālik, the Sihah al-Sittah (Bukhārī, Muslim, Abū Dawūd, Tirmidhī, Nasā’ī and Ibn Mājah), and the Sharh Ma’ānī al-Athār of Imam al-Tahāwī. Aft er his return to America Hamzah spent fi ve years as the resident scholar of the Th awr Institute, a non-profi t religious and educational organization based in Seattle, Washington, teaching, giving khutbas in local masjids, and travelling through America promoting the knowledge and practice of the sunnah. In parallel with his work at Th awr, he was worked closely with Islamic Relief, CAIR Seattle, and a number of other non-profi t organizations that serve the Muslim Community.

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