In memory of our beloved uncle and Bay Area Muslim community leader, Abdul Sattar Rydhan, who passed away after recently completing his 63rd year on March 19th, 2008 (11th Rabi ul Awal, 1429) and buried on the 12th of Rabi ul Awal (the birth date of the Beloved Prophet). Sidi Abdul Sattar was born in the month of Rabi ul Awal and only Allah s.w.t. could have made this blessing occur.

Uncle Abdul Sattar was more than just an uncle to us. He was a friend and a personified sanctuary. At his side, we felt safe. He inspired us to work harder for the sake of Allah and to gain the appreciation of the Beloved Prophet.

Steadfast in his principles, he took care those that he loved. It was with great honor to know and feel his love. Even though we only knew him for a few years, he treated us like his own children. Generations apart, we shared the common bond of utmost respect for our scholars like Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, Imam Zaid Shakir, Sidi Yahya Rhodus and Ustadh Usama Canon. We also shared another common link: love of Allah and His Messenger, Sayyidina Muhammad, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him.

Rest in peace, dear uncle. We long to be at your side again. May your resting place be of the sweetest gardens of Paradise. May your heavenly abode be surrounded by the awliya and under the shade of Allah’s Mighty Throne.

Facebook Memorial Page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15042360870

Links to the past:

http://www.pakistanlink.com/Community/2002/May/17/05.html

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-6325478_ITM 

We would like to thank our brother, Irfan Rydhan (Sidi Abdul Sattar’s son), for honoring us to host the flyer for the memorial event.

http://www.islamcrunch.com/flyer/Honoring_Abdul_Sattar_Rydhan.pdf

And for inviting me to speak at the event. What else can I say at the event but: “I love you, Uncle Abdul Sattar.”

Three members of the IslamCrunch team were volunteers at this past weekend’s Mawlid and Aqidah events in the San Francisco Bay Area. As we arrived, a long line of people eagerly waited in the cold to gain entry into the Muslim Community Association building for the Aqidah event.

Imam Tahir Anwar began the event by giving the attendees some background information on Imam al-Tahawi, author of the book being discussed. Imam Zaid Shakir was up next and gave us some practical advice to strengthen our aqidah. Ustadh Abdullah Ali was third in the line-up and provided definitions of our creed. Shaykh Hamza Yusuf then delivered a classic Shaykh Hamza lecture. Full of anecdotes, historical examples, important facts, lessons to be learned and several dimensions about aqidah.

As the amazing lectures ended, the team put as many of our friends in our cars and drove off to the Mawlid event. A small crowd had already begun to wait outside. The crowd grew into throngs of people, as they tried to acquire their tickets purchased online, to buy tickets at the door and to find their friends and family. By the grace of Allah, the event was sold out and still people were anxious to get into the venue. It was with much sadness, that we had to turn people away.

We were blessed to have attended to many of the night’s noble guests including Mouley Idris, Shaykh Abdurrahman Tahir, Sidi Aziz Baameur and many more.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a blessed Rabi’u Awal. May all of your gatherings be full of light and blessings. May we all remember to commemorate the importance of the Beloved Prophet Muhammad, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him.

To see more photos of the Aqidah event, click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14057667@N05/tags/aqidah/

To see more photos of the Mawlid event, click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14057667@N05/tags/mawlid/

Much thanks and love to Sidi Feraidoon of Rumi Bookstore for coordinating these events and allowing us to be a part of the joy.

Check out more photos at Barakah Life. Khadija O’Connell did an amazing job of beautifying the Aqidah event.

                                              For centuries, the vast majority of Muslims have gathered in celebration of one of the greatest events in the history of the entire universe, the Mawlid or the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (sal Allahu`alayhi wa sallam). Through the recitation of the Majestic Quran, readings from the Seerah (Prophet’s biography), and the recitation of the Qasidah Burdah (Poem of the Cloak) we have the opportunity to show our gratitude to Allah ta’ala for having sent amongst us His final and last Messenger.

Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) says, “Verily Allah and His angels shower blessings on the Prophet (sal Allahu`alayhi wa sallam). O, Believers! Send blessings upon him and salute him with a worthy salutation.” (33:56)

Taking heed of this incredible verse, Muslims send their blessings upon the Prophet (sal Allahu`alayhi wa sallam) every day. And each year, on this special day, communities in every corner of the world come together to commemorate the miracle of his birth, the legacy of his life, and the station of perfection that he alone occupies in this world and the next (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).

So, join us in celebrating the Mawlid of our Prophet (sal Allahu`alayhi wa sallam) in renewal of our faith and commitment to the way of our beloved Prophet (sal Allahu`alayhi wa sallam) and his heirs, the rightly-guided scholars of the past and the present. We look forward to your presence with our scholars and friends in a night filled with inspiration and continuous praise!

Speakers
* Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

* Imam Zaid Shakir

* Imam Tahir Anwar

* Ustadh Abdullah Ali

 
An Evening of Celebration, with speeches, nasheeds, Quran and poetry recitation.

Featuring the Moroccan Burdah Munshid Abdul Karim Liousfi

Mawlid: Celebrating the Birth of the Prophet (pbuh) (Conference Ticket)

Good news, an aqidah seminar will be conducted at the MCA by well-respected Muslim scholars. Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, Imam Zaid Shakir, Imam Tahir Anwar and Ustadh Abdullah Ali discuss the foundation of Islam: creed. Using Imam al-Tahawi’s book on aqidah as a guide, these 4 scholars will educate the community on the importance of learning our aqidah, without controversy.

In an age of bewildering spiritual and intellectual confusion, aqidah or creed, the formal statement of religious belief, has never been more important. Every
Muslim is obliged to learn it and is promised protection from deviant beliefs by following the unassailable texts of the scholastic community of Islam.

Of them all, The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi is the simplest, most effective, and least controversial. It serves as a sound basis for Islamic faith and is the most reliable of the early articulations of Muslim belief. Because Imam al-Tahawi avoided convoluted theological issues and systematically presented the most fundamental aspects of dogmatic theology, his creed has achieved an unusual degree of acceptance in the Muslim milieu. In the thousand years since it was written, many great Muslim scholars have penned commentaries on it and today it is still studied throughout the Muslim world and increasingly in the West.

We invite you to join us for a day of intellectual thought and deep insight with our esteemed scholars as they journey into the core of the Islamic faith with Imam al-Tahawi’s remarkable text as the guide.

Aqidah: The Foundation of Our Deen (Seminar Tickets)

We are so glad that the MCA, one of our favorite Islamic centers in the Bay Area, is hosting this event. We had a wonderful time working there in 2004. May Allah s.w.t. send abundant blessings to the MCA community.

One of the most highly anticipated tech events rolls into the San Francisco Bay Area in April. We have already scored ourselves some expo passes. Thanks to the organizers of the event, we are able to provide our readers a code to receive a $100 discount off the expo pass. This means you can get an expo pass for FREE!

To receive the code, please drop a comment and tell us which web 2.0 you have submitted this post to: StumbleUpon, Digg, Pownce, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Facebook Event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=16554925133

Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Web-20-Expo-San-Francisco/6972960853

Main page: http://en.oreilly.com/webexsf2008/public/content/home

Web 2.0 technologies are empowering us in ways we could only have imagined even just a few years ago. We’re able to build more, connect more, have more fun, sell more stuff, share more than ever before—and do it all faster. But as the pace of change and innovation accelerates, separating signal from noise, useful from annoying, genuine from fluff becomes increasingly challenging.

What tools and applications are right for a given project? How can we provide a more meaningful experience for users and customers? How can we have a positive impact on the world we live in? What are the ways we can create more value for our businesses? How do we gather and focus datapoints to deliver relevant information? How can we increase conversation and collaboration?

The second Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco takes the pulse of the Web ecosystem and looks to its future, training a spotlight across the Web 2.0 universe to illuminate how the Internet Revolution is being created and delivered. Web 2.0 Expo is for the builders of the next generation web: designers, developers, entrepreneurs, marketers, business strategists, and venture capitalists, people who have experiences to share and a passion for learning–the hot new thing, lessons from failures, innovations and inspirations, and the practical applications of all of the above. What will you do with the power of Web 2.0?