Farewell JAS :(

As salamu alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh,

Man, life comes at you fast, and so does all its surprising twists and turns- SubhanAllah. Last year, at this time I would have never thought that I would get the opportunity to go to Madresa. I remember 3 days before the Madresa was opening, Aishah decided to go and for me it seemed like an impossible task to even bother asking my parents. When I did ask, my mum laughed. So it took a lot of convincing and making loads of du’as which also included bawling my eyes out. I REALLY WANTED TO GO. It had been my dream and utmost desire for the past 5 years to study Islam. Alhamdulillah, Allah (swt) gave me the gift of going, staying and studying at JAS. And it was the most amazing experience I have ever been through so far in life well after Hajj of course. I’m saying all this because I won’t be going back, unfortunately so. Every time I think about how I won’t be going back makes my heart ache and fills my eyes with tears. The teachers, the students, my roommates and the place itself were all a great blessing from Allah (swt), and a source of peace. I have so many memories there, especially in the last months that I hope and pray won’t leave me.

I’ve learnt more then I thought I would in the beginning, and more then I’ve learnt elsewhere, especially with Arabic. I wasn’t the brightest student in class and definitely not one of them, but I know personally that I even surprised myself with how far I’ve come. To Ml. Nazim, if you read this, I just want you to know that I’m sorry I couldn’t be the best student and work harder and be less lazy in studying. I know I’m annoyingly forgetful at times, but even then I think you’ve helped my memory become stronger then it was when I first came, alhamdulillah. JazakAllahu Khair for every letter, word, advice and for constantly pushing me to do better in my studies. And I still don’t get how you have such good hearing behind that curtain…mashaAllah. :)

And to Sawdah apa, you are a true blessing for all the girls. MashaAllah you have touched every corner of my heart and taught me many things both in and out of class. Just by looking at how you deal with others and speak to others, I’ve learnt a lot. JazakAllahu Khair for every single bit of ilm that you’ve taught me from the start and for being at my side in both good times and bad. I truly love you for the sake of Allah (swt).

I know for sure, JAS wouldn’t have been the same with out you two, and I know my parents wouldn’t have sent me there if it weren’t you two taking care of JAS. Please, please forgive me for my shortcomings. I’m really going to miss you all, especially Kulthoom and Rayhan. May Allah (swt) accept all of your efforts, make you all successful in both worlds, continue to use you in teaching His deen and raise you and your families amongst those that are most beloved to Him (swt). Ameen.

To all the girls, especially my roomies, I’m going to painfully miss you all, forgive me if I’ve wronged any of you knowingly or unknowingly. Also, remember me in your du’as, make du’a that I continue to seek knowledge and that I get to finally finish the Alimah course. I’ll try my best to visit and keep in touch, inshaAllah.

Okay I’m getting all emotional, now I have to wipe my tears away…okay so for my own sanity let me move on to another topic…

I have to keep telling myself that all things happen for a reason, and InshaAllah whatever comes ahead in life has a whole lot of khair in it. I come home to find out things about my wedding that I didn’t even know before. For example, my little 14 year old sister made my list of friends without me even knowing (she obviously missed out quite a lot of people), I found out 3 or 4 days ago that my nikkah will officially be on July 1^st (or so I think) and I found out 2 days ago that my walima will be on the 5^th…or 6^th of August. Like I said in the beginning, life comes at you fast…it hit me pretty fast. It’s actually hard to keep up with the events going in my life this year, last year I was bored to death and here I am now, having to choose a walima dress (which is such a HEADACHE). I just want things to be simple and Sunnah, no extravagant stuff. InshaAllah, the nikkah will be at the TO ijtimah and the walima at the Masjid…alhadulillah.

Moving on again, actually back to JAS...

These are just some random madresa pics, it's not much but it's a little, tiny preview of how beautiful JAS really is. If you can, try going there and checking out the place, you won't regret it...I promise.

(Click the images to make them larger)


Our beautiful Bowmanville House (BH).
It's the girls dorm.



I just love this tree, it's right in front of the BH.



The trees surrounding BH, right next to the tree in the above pic.


Oh and here's the poor broken chair that was left out side for like 2 months...and is still outside.



The spoiled kitty, she probably gets fed 10 times a day. No joke there.


One of the many beautiful sunsets in front of BH


On the right side of BH.


My roomies and friends had a little surprise party for me (as I had just gotten engaged) and they made me play this game, where I had to figure out riddles, pick up clues and little gifts. In the end it led me to one of the bridges (at the wooden bridge) near the creek where they all were hiding in Sawdah apa's van. I saw the bridge and it was fully decorated with balloons and streamers. I new they were hiding, but I didn't think they were in the van...I was expecting them to be hiding in the bushes. Soon as I got near the van, they honked, I jumped and I was tackled with a whole lot o'hugs.


a black and white pic of tree in front of BH. That road towards the middle goes to the school building, and towards the left, to the BH and beyond that, the caff.


This is from a small stream surounded by trees and flowers behind BH.


Girls where doing some hw underneath the tree in pic 2.


The Qur'an Shelf in the Prayer Hall. I had cleaned it the night before...O the memories.


The 99 Names of Allah (swt) chart.


The Classroom rules, which I noticed was still up.


Ml. Nazim and Sawdah Apa's office, next to our room.


Our food shelf...


Okay, we don't have this dresser anymore, but I just loved our little space which had all our spices...we had turmeric, salt, red pepper, ground cumin seeds, basil leaves, spaghetti seasoning, sugar, black pepper and God knows what else...


That's my Madresa bag on my bed... :(


My room...oh there's more pics of my room on Aishah's blog, I couldn't be bothered taking more of them. Oh and this is all before we changed the room around again.



Our book shelf. But now it doesn't have any of the books on the 2nd shelf, since I had to bring them back home :(


My roses...I had to hang them up to let them dry safely.


My bag.... gosh, I feel like crying


....I can feel my heart beating faster as I look at these pics.


my doodled pencil case...



my bed :'(


The grade 9 girls were making a project for geography class. They had to make the model of the Ka'bah a several years after the death of Rasulullah (s.a.w). It's made from clay that we found in the creek.


Another beautiful sunset


The project again



This is how our curtain (which is used for some classes with Ml.Nazim) is hung...i did it all by myself...after it came out from the proper hooks on the wall. I'm sure the ceiling is strong, I mean it's still hanging pretty nicely.


Our morning and evening du'as


flowers on the back left side of BH


back left side of BH...the path away from BH is another small walkway to the caff.


In front of BH


BH


Oh I just love this tree as well. It's on the far left side of BH. On the other side is the school building. This tree is just HUGE, God knows how old it is. SubhanAllah...


Our fridge...which is now busted and forever gone.


One of there girls got hungry before going to the creek...so she had some yummy baked beans :) mmmm


ah hah...our dirty dishes :)



(my bedside table) a few seconds after the lights had gone out...hah I just noticed the "sumaiya is" just ignore that :D


My roomies trying to be artistic :)


Our bulletin board, which is now bare without my calender.


The libaray, which is used temporarly as our school building (for secular school).


Some of the books there.... :D
InshaAllah it'll be the biggest Islamic Library in North America some day, InshaAllah.


this an old room in the library. It was used for listenting to audio books (I guess..) when it was a college before. The girls now use it to dramatize a scenes from a space shuttle's launch control centre...which includes a very loud countdown. You know, something similar to the following pic:

I was studying for a Nahw test..


View of the left side of BH


Our room front door


okay, we don't take the shoes, they're taken and given to us by Sawdah apa, we just have to keep them as hostages until their owners come with money.


This is from a big flowery bush (that doesn't have a smell) next to the BH entrance.


another beautiful sunset


The Madresa sign when you enter.


Some storage places around the Caff.


The front gates...


On the way to the Caff. after rain fall.


Returning from the caff., heading towards BH after the rain.


This is one crazy and stubborn raccoon. No matter what we do, or how close we get to it, the darn thing just won't budge.


ohh this was a breath taking sunset...



One of the bridges (the concrete bridge) at the Creek. This one has this verticle gap running down the middle...I think it used to have some sort of canal there.


a pic from the edge of the bridge


flowers around the creek


around the creek...


a little pathway under the other bridge (wooden bridge), along the flowing creek.






I'm actually standing on this..but I cropped out my pic :)


I even sat on that and laid down on it...I'm actually surprised I didn't fall over.





That's the bridge down there...


a beautiful pic of BH from far.




BH


The school building.


The Gym.


We decided to dry our clothes after getting totally soaked in the creek (it's clean flowing water). And that's our room window... :)


Ohh and another breath-taking sunset pic


The famous Caff. :)


another big, perfect looking tree next to the caff.


on a cloudy day in front of BH.


a little girl holding a caterpillar on a leaf. It was last Wednesday, before we all went to the Lake.


the lighthouse at the lake, it's like 10 min away from the madresa. Man, we had an awesome day, alhamdulillah..




I took a bag full of rocks for my little sister...


The pics just don't do justice on how beautiful this place looked that day...




There were some nice looking little houses around there.


yup, that's a dead seagull alright.








Naeema did that :)


Our watermelon mess


A cute spider that the little girls found...it was pretty big so you can imagine the screams.




by Asfa :)


That is NOT a toilet hole! Some girls where digging a hole just for fun, and water came from the bottom of it...seriously :)


My pepsi can got really hot in my bag, so I decided to cool it down by letting the cold waves wash over it for a while.


The problem was keeping it there...but it sure did get cold! Alhamdulillah :)










Our room stuff after we changed it around again


Ahem..one of my roomies (aishah :) ) ran out of money for the dryer, so she took advantage of our beds, the fan and the hot weather.


The next day (last thursday) evening we had the most memorable BBQ ever.


with fries,




Fried (with soysause) rice (made by Sawdah Apa) mmm is was sooo good mashAllah


and pasta salad


my half-eaten plate


And yes that's tea. We desis just can't resist can we?


Nasheeds blasting outside, with a fire extinguisher just in case...


In the end we had an awesome bonfire. We all sat around it in the dark singing anasheed, laughing and joking around. Finally (I should say unfortunately) Sawdah apa sang a farewell nasheed in urdu for me...I cried and then we all cried even more. They all made me give some final advise (a little farewell speech), which I sobbed through mostly. It was such a heartache for me to say goodbye. I hugged everyone and told them how much they and JAS mean to me and that inshaAllah all of this has good in it, for all of us. It was all such a heartache for me...


I had bought some donuts from Tim Hortons for everyone...which ran out pretty fast.
So no one slept that night, we all just stayed up and talked, since it was our last night before the holidays (official last night for me at JAS). Around 3 a.m. I think, I was in my room and I saw a red glow out side my window. I thought it might be someone's car, so I looked out and what do you know, there was no car. I stared for a few seconds then tilted my head towards the left and saw that the the BBQ had fell over and the big pink lazy-boy chair was on fire. So I ran out to make sure I wasn't seeing things and told Sawdah apa. Basically all the girls ran out with buckets of water, until someone found a fire extinguisher's to put out the fire. What a way to end the party eh? Here are some pics of it the next day...





the chair was dragged out by Ml. Nazim the next day...


Poor chair...


:)


I took this pic while I was in the car, leaving Madresa....


It was bright and sunny and I didn't have time to adjust my camera, sorry.


And this is the gate... the final goodbye to JAS.





Wow those where some good times MashaAllah, SubhaAllah, Alhamdulillah wa Allahu Akbar...remember me in your du'as everyone

:)