Day 8 - Monday 30th July 2007

Boys' diary:  Muhammad Jaffer Dewji of Vancouver starts off today's Diary: "Today was somewhat eventful. It began just as usual. We woke up for fajr prayers. After Fajr prayers we had discussions with our mentors. The topics included 'Death' by Br. Alihussein Datoo, 'Attaining proximity to the 12th Imam' by Br. Munir Chagpar and 'Luqman's advice to his son' by Br. Aly Nasser. Most campers enjoyed the discussions, but some were half asleep so couldn't pay attention! After prayers we rested for a few hours and were then woken up for breakfast."

Today, the Akhlaq classes for the Bab-al-Ilm campers started. All other classes were conducted as usual. The lessons were quite interesting and informative. Sajjad Dewji of Canada said: "Sheikh Safiullah's classes are very interesting. probably the best lessons we have". The Bab-al-Ilm campers also immensely enjoyed the Qur'an tafseer classes and continued discussing the subject even after class! "We are studying the tafseer of Sura Qiyamah", said Sabir Jetha from Leicester, who couldn't stop laughing; "I will never forget that the fingertips (mentioned in Sura Qiyamah) are called 'Banana' in Arabic!", he added.

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Students also organised a table-tennis tournament amongst themselves. However, only a few games were played today as many people had gone out shopping.

Later in the afternoon, students had lessons in Qur'an recitation. "We learnt Idgham rules today. Time passed slowly, but it was very beneficial", said MuhammadJaffer Dewji from Vancouver.

In the evening, the campers were taken to Syed Seestani's office in Qum, and had the honor of meeting Seyyid Hashemi, the representative of Syed Seestani in Qum. "It was interesting to see the office where our online questions to Syed Seestani are processed. We also had the opportunity to ask lots of questions. All sorts of questions were asked, including common questions on keeping a beard, simple questions like permissibility of purchasing Coke, and more complex questions about khums", said Muhammad Jaffer Dewji.

After Maghrib prayers, we went to Alawi park where we had a very exciting discussion with Syed Qaviani, the head of Madrasa al-Mahdi, the Persian Learning Center in Qum. Zaheerabbas Khimji of Nairobi was heard commenting: "Syed was very down to earth and we had some very frank discussions with him. It was a great honor being with him."

Students had dinner at the park, before heading back to the Hawza hostel. Just before turning in for the night, we received the sad news of the demise of Ayatullah Mishkini. May the Almighty shower His mercy on the late Ayatollah.

By: Aly Nasser

Iran 2007 - Diaries