ACTIVITIES Salaat al-Jama'ah (Prayers in Congregation) - Iqaamah Times Fajr - 5:15 am 'Ishaa - 9:00 pm The Messenger of Allah said: "One who offers 'Ishaa prayer in congregation is as if he offered prayer for half of the night. And one who offers the Fajr prayer in congregation is as if he offered prayer the whole night." [Muslim] "No prayer is more burdensome to the hypocrites than the Fajr prayer and the 'Isha prayer; and if they knew their merits, they would come to them even if they had to crawl to do so." [al-Bukhaari, Muslim] Jumu'ah (Friday Congregational Prayer) - 1:00 pm The Khutbah begins at 1:00 pm sharp. We advise that you come early, as this is a Sunnah, rather than delaying coming and missing the Khutbah and only attending the actual prayer, which opposes the Sunnah. The Prophet said: "The example of the one who enters the Masjid in the earliest hour is that of one offering a camel (in sacrifice). The one coming next is like one offering a cow and then a ram and then a chicken and then an egg respectively." [Ahmad, al-Bukhaari, Muslim, An-Nasaa'ee, Ibn Maajah] The earliest time for Jumu'ah is when the day begins at Ad-Duha time (when the sun has risen some distance in the sky) just before midday. A Note on the Ruling on Prayer in the Masjid The 'Ulaama have agreed unanomously (ijmaa') that if you are within a certain distance of the Masjid then it is fard (obligatory) upon you to attend it for the five daily prayers, or your prayer is invalid, if you have no legitimate excuse! It is upon us, as a community, to establish prayer five times a day in the Masjid. To learn more, read: Salaat al-Jam'ah (Prayer in Congregation) by Shaykh Abdullah as-Sabt. The Messenger of Allah said: "There are not three in a town where no Adhan (call to prayer) is called, and congregational prayers are not established amongst them except that Satan will overcome them, so you must stick to the congregation because the wolf gets the stray one [i.e. those who abandon congregational prayer are overcome by Satan]." [Aboo Daawood, Ahmad] "Congregational prayer is better than the prayer of the individual by twenty-seven degrees." [al-Bukhaari, Muslim] 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ood said: "We used to consider that those who did not attend the prayer in congregation were only the hypocrites whose hypocrisy was well known. A sick person would come to it assisted by two others until he stood in the row." [Muslim] Halaqah (Study Circle) Every Friday night from 7:30-9:30 pm we study the meaning of the Qur'an (Tafseer) and the different aspects of the Sunnah. The Messenger of Allah said: "Any group of people that assemble in one of the Houses of Allah (a Masjid) in order to recite the Qur'an and to teach it to one another, tranquility will descend upon them, angels will spread their wings over them and Allah will make mention of them to those (the angels) surrounding Him." [Muslim] "Whoever pursues a path to seek knowledge therein, Allah will thereby make easy for him a path to Paradise." [Muslim] "Seeking knowledge is a duty on every Muslim." [al-Bukhaari] Allah says (what means): "And say: 'My Lord! Increase me in knowledge.'" [20:114] "It is only those who have knowledge among His slaves that fear Allah." [25:28] "Say: 'Are those who know equal to those who know not?' It is only men of understanding who remember (i.e. get a lesson from Allah's Signs and Verses)." [39:9] Majlis ash-Shura (Community Meeting) Every other Sunday at 1:00 - 2:15 pm. Insha' Allah before we begin the meeting, we pray Salaat adh-Dhuhr. If you are late, we will not wait for you. It is of the Muslim's character and behavior that he is on time and punctual. The Shura board consists of the Imaam (Naveed), Ali, Bashar, Khalid, 'Issa and Yusuf, however, we invite everyone from the community to attend.