As-Salāmu ‘Alaykum / Peace be upon you!
Crescent Moon Muharram 1443 AH
Muharram 1443 AH Crescent moon is expected to be sighted on Monday, August 9th, 2021, making Tuesday, August 10th, 2021 the first day of Muharram 1443 A.H.
We ask God, the Most High, for success in performing good deeds and to hasten the Return of Our Master, Imam Mahdi (p) as we also pray to God, the Most Merciful, to bring a swift end to the current pandemic and grant a quick recovery to all those afflicted.
Important Islamic Events this Month:
Muharram Aug/Sep Occasion
2 Aug 11 Imam Hussain (p) arrives in Karbala (61 A.H.)
7 Aug 16 Water cut off from Imam Hussain (p) & companions (61 A.H.)
10 Aug 19 Day of Ashura; Martyrdom of Imam Hussain (p) (61 A.H.)
12 Aug 21 Burial of Imam Hussain (p) & companions in Karbala (61 A.H.)
25 Sep 3 Wafat of Imam Ali ibn Hussain (al-Sajjad) (p) (95 A.H.)
After community consultations and much deliberation, it has been decided to organize all Muharram commemorations on line starting Monday August 9,2021.
The decision to hold program online only has been arrived at in light of following considerations:
Delta variant virus is raging in the United States, causing a surge in cases
Some in the younger age demographic are getting seriously ill (e.g., 10% of child hospitalizations in certain USA areas are coronavirus-related, with half of those young patients in the ICU)
Breakthrough COVID-19 cases for vaccinated, including a case at IMAN
Regular volunteers are seniors or have a high risk category family member
Inadequate # of younger volunteers willing to make a commitment to organize
A percentage of the community may still not be vaccinated
Our daily program will commence at 7:00 PM each evening.
7:00 PM Qur'an
7:05 PM Marthiya
7:15 PM Presentation by Shaykh Arif Abdulhussain:
Islam & God-Centricity: The Final Chapter
8:00 PM Latmiya / Lamentation
8:15 PM Ziyarat
Maghreb Maghrebain Prayer
Special programs are planned for Ashura and Sham-e-ghariban. Schedules and events details will be posted on the web site.
Our speaker this Muharram is Shaykh Arif Abdulhussain.
Shaykh Arif founded the Al-Mahdi Institute in 1993, and currently serves as its Director and Senior Lecturer in Usul al-Fiqh and Muslim Philosophy. For over twenty years, Shaykh Arif has been at the forefront of developing and delivering advanced Islamic studies, tailored toward training students capable of addressing the needs of contemporary societies.
Shaykh Arif was educated at the Madrassah Syed al-Khoei, London from 1985 and graduated with Honours in 1988 where he also taught Grammar, Logic, Islamic Law and Usul al-Fiqh. He then furthered his studies in the Islamic Seminary in Qum, carrying out traditional Post-Graduate Islamic studies between 1989-93. He also attended private training and research studies with leading scholars of Qum between 1990 and 1994. Alongside these studies, he also taught in Qum across a wide spectrum of the traditional Muslim scholarly disciplines. On his return to the U.K. after founding the Al-Mahdi Institute he continued his graduate (kharij) training in Usul al-Fiqh and Fiqh from 1994 until 2008 under Ayatullah H. Amini, a student of Ayatullah Khoei.
Shayk Arif's lectures will be on: "Islam & God-Centricity: The Final Chapter".
He will be discussing the following sub-topics:
Lecture 1: Introduction to the Qur'anic world view
Lecture 2: Principles of evaluating hadith and history in light of the Qur’an
Lecture 3: Assessment of miracles in light of the Qur'anic principles
Lecture 4: Anomalies of sensitive historical events in light of the Qur'anic principles
Lecture 5: The meaning of infallibility (ʿisma) in light of the Qur'anic principles
Lecture 6: The meaning of knowledge of the hidden (ʿilm al ghayb)
Lecture 7: The meaning of creational authority (wilāya takwīniyya)
Lecture 8: The meaning of legislative authority (wilāya tashrīʿiyya)
Lecture 9: Reconstructing Shi’ite practices in light of the Qur'anic principles
Lecture 10: Moving forward in light of the Qur'anic principles
Blood Drive: Lend and Arm, Save a Life
We are requesting IMAN members to set up blood drive appointments in August at the North Kirkland Community Center using this link: Book a Donation Appointment.
Those who are 16 & 17 years old must bring a Signed Parent Permission Slip
Did you know that 6.6% of the population has O- blood type? This is the universal blood type that can be transfused to any patient.
Bloodworks Northwest needs O- donors, and donors with every other blood type!
Be one of the one thousand donors that is needed each day to ensure our local hospitals have the blood inventory they need to serve patients.
Bloodworks Northwest's fleet of bloodmobiles remains grounded as they are too compact and can’t provide any social distance space. It is not clear when they might come back into service, so for now they are not able to send one out to the IMAN Center. In addition, for the past 15 months, they have needed to move away from their traditional 1-day mobile blood drives at various host locations. Instead, they are relying on a pop up model for the mobile blood drives. In partnership with a host location, they set up blood drives at various sites, and host 2-4 blood donation days in a single week. They leave most equipment on site overnight at these locations. The goal has been to serve 35-60 donors per day at these sites. The City of Kirkland has offered use of the North Kirkland Community Center August 30th and 31st.
All donations are by appointment only. No walk ins, guests, or people under age 16 are permitted on site. When you arrive, share the code IMAN so that our impact can be counted! Please check in with photo ID, and all donors are required to wear face masks.
Here is a message from one of the people who has benefitted from blood donations:
“Thank you for giving the blood donation that was used to care for me today. Because of your kindness and generosity I have a chance to feel better and fight cancer.”
COVID-19 Vaccination
Alhamdulillah communities across United States and especially locally here in the Washington state continue to make good progress on COVID-19 Vaccination.
COVID 19 vaccines are effective. They can keep one from getting and spreading the virus that causes COVID-19. COVID-19 vaccines also help keep you from getting seriously ill even if you do get COVID-19. Getting vaccinated yourself may also protect people around you, particularly people at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19.
Extensive testing and monitoring have shown that these vaccines are safe. COVID-19 vaccines were developed using science that has been around for decades. COVID-19 vaccines are not experimental. They went through all the required stages of clinical trials. COVID-19 vaccines have received and continue to undergo the most intensive safety monitoring in U.S. history.
After you are fully vaccinated for COVID-19, you can resume many activities that you did before the pandemic. You can resume activities without wearing a mask or staying 6 feet apart, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance.
We are considering a COVID-19 Community Vaccination Event from 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM at the IMAN Center for Wednesday August 19, 2021 depending on interest/need among people in our neighborhood and congregation to make it even easier for those who have not yet received COVID-19 vaccination to receive their vaccine shot(s).
Please send us e-mail at iman@iman-wa.org to let us know if:
1. Anyone in your household be interested in getting vaccinated?
2. How many people in your household would be interested in getting vaccinated?
3. Your vaccine preference? (Pfizer; Moderna; J&J/Janssen)