By: Asiya AstonAsiya is a writing intern and youth mentor at Good Tree Institute  This past Seeds of Wisdom retreat took place at the gorgeous Parsons Leadership Center in South Mountain. The grounds were clean and contemporary, but not lacking in natural beauty. Retreaters took advantage of the picturesque environment during post-fajr hikes and leisurely walks during break time.
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By: Mayssa nour masriMayssa is the marketing director at Good Tree Institute  For many, making time to understand and read the Quran can feel seemingly impossible, intimidating, or unattainable with our busy schedules.
To support people interested in beginning their learning journey, Good Tree Institute has created a platform to understand the Quran: Root’d in Quran— a customizable, interactive, and engaging comprehensive grammar color coding system of the Quran designed for all ages to learn with ease. Whether you’re at an introductory, intermediate, or advanced level in your understanding of Arabic or Arabic grammar, Root’d in Quran can be your go-to tool along your journey. As you learn at your own pace, each linguistic concept is highlighted with a specific color, so that you can learn one Arabic grammar rule at a time. Whether from your desktop at home, to your phone when you’re on-the-go, Root’d in Quran can be your one-stop tool to foster a deep and personal connection with the Quran. By: mayssa nour masriMayssa is the marketing director at Good Tree Institute  Through the ups and downs during this pandemic, one major win for the Good Tree Institute has been growing to a national institute and welcoming new students from across the globe. While in-person classes are on hold for now, we hope you continue to plug into our growing community as we continue to focus on strengthening our spiritual connection from our homes.
Here’s what we’re doing to connect with our students virtually! 1. We’ve created a virtual support system for newcomers to the Muslim faith called the Sadeeq Program. Sadeeq means "companion" in Arabic. This new program offers support to new Muslims and those looking to develop deeper connections within the Muslim community. The goal of this program is to encourage sincere and spiritual companionships, provide educational resources, and social connections. By providing converts a virtual safe space where they can turn to for personal support and have their questions answered, we can continue to create a close-knit community who look out for each other. Connection is fundamental to us as spiritual beings. When we are connected, we operate at our full capacity, and love and generosity permeates in everything we do. When it’s missing from someone’s life, it’s painfully evident.
Connection is one of the five beliefs of Good Tree Institute, and a value that the foundation was created around. The desire to connect, a fundamental human need, is what drives people to Good Tree to replenish what’s missing. To live fully, you have the possibility of living a three-dimensional life. Living in one dimension, the self, is your default dimension to stay in. It’s the other two dimensions— connection to people and connection to the Divine— is what enriches, enlivens and beautifies your world. What others say about Good Tree: Good Tree paves a way to Allah through His words with a perception never before seen.”  https://issuu.com/isnacreative/docs/ih_march-april_18/30
By Dr. Fawzia Mai Tung -
Once again, I entered the workshop, this time a full house with a number of out-of-state participants, with the firm intention NOT to cry. This time, I will be very objective and realistic. I will take notes, I will discuss, I will analyze the assigned verses from the Qur'an. I will not keep on raising my hand to give some feedback unless it's very impersonal. I will be professional. And then it happened, again and again. My tears would flow unbidden. How does she do it? Dr. Nadia Katrangi is a rather small figure wearing glasses and hijab. Her qualifications on the other hand are rather big, both professionally as a medical doctor and theologically in the sciences of the Qur'an. Her voice is rather gentle, though at times hard as steel. She does not lecture non-stop throughout the two-day retreat. Rather, she presents briefly, and her assistants take turns moderating the discussions and interpretations. Occasionally, the participants are assigned some activity. At other times, they watch an illustrative video clip. Entitled "What's My Reception?", this retreat on November 4-5 in Phoenix, Arizona studied surahs At-Tariq, al-A'la, and al-Ghashiyah. Rather familiar ones. Indeed, all the retreats at the Seeds of Wisdom so far were focused on the Juzu 'Amma. Then, after delving into the roots of every single word, the participants were invited to look retrospectively at their own life and apply the derived meanings onto it. This seemingly very mundane activity has deeply stirring results. My only saving grace was that I wasn't the only one choking up or sobbing. Other participants also seemed to loosen old emotional knots. At one point, as Dr. Nadia invited us to delve further into the point, one participant piped up, "in that case, we shall need more tissue boxes!" We left the retreat with a new "40-day challenge" invitation, a folder full of notes and a resolve to come again. https://theisla.org/isla-newsletter-no-8-november-2017/ Editor’s Note: The convert/revert experience within the Muslim community, in a time of Islamophobia as well as hateful media and political rhetoric towards Muslims, can pose many challenges for the new convert. Individuals convert to Islam for various reasons and come from diverse backgrounds. Some have community and familial support, while the majority risk losing friends and family in the process. This experience can pose mental as well as physical strain on the individual. Despite the risk of losing friends and loved ones for the individual, as well as the struggle to fit into a new community, Islam continues to be the fastest growing religion in the world. Our guest author has generously provided us with detailed examples of his journey to Islam in the hopes of helping new converts as well as educate those born into Islam about the challenges related to conversion. For those of us who are blessed to have been born into Islam, we fail to understand the struggle involved in the journey of conversion. Insha’Allah this article will enlighten us and help us better support the new converts within our communities.
My Conversion Experience - Guest Post By Archimedes Aquino: Converted 5/3/17 I have had a very positive experience in converting to Islam. My Catholic family’s reaction to it, however, has given me multiple opportunities to practice the lessons of love and obedience that I have learned from the Qur’an. That’s my most positive way of shifting the perspective on what has been a difficult transition for them. My transition/conversion has been one of great ease and has been transformative in how I see the struggles that I face in my life. And I offer this description of my experience to give insight into what a new convert experience is like for lifetime Muslims to learn how to be supportive of new converts and for converts to know that they are not alone in their experience. |
