Thursday, March 14, 2013

Gratitude

salaams bros,

"Said one who had knowledge from the Scripture, 'I will bring it to
you before your glance returns to you.' And when [Solomon] saw it
placed before him, he said, 'This is from the favor of my Lord to test
me whether I will be grateful or ungrateful. And whoever is grateful -
his gratitude is only for [the benefit of] himself. And whoever is
ungrateful - then indeed, my Lord is Free of need and Generous.'
(27:40)

these days i feel like there's always something going down for someone
in the jhuma alumni crew to be thankful for. first of all i want to
congratulate our brother sam on zaynab's birth...may Allah bless her
and your whole family with a lifetime of happiness! as for me, first
year of derm residency is nearing its end and i'm already thinking
about possible fellowship tracks to go down. it never seems to end!
alhamdulillah i can't complain though, i'm extremely happy with where
i am in life and my job actually is tremendously satisfying and i'm
thankful for that.

and most recently, i am incredibly thankful to Allah for helping me
bring half my deen closer to near completion! alhamdulillah i've
actually managed to find someone out there who's willing to put up
with me and my antics :D. inshallah i will be getting (officially)
engaged within a week to a sister i met through some family friends.
she's from the philadelphia region and works in public health. but
most importantly, knowing we will inshallah spend our lives together
makes me more thankful for all the blessings Allah has given me than
anything else has before this moment. i'm so happy to be (finally)
joining the rest of our married and to-be-married brothers in the
group and honored to be sharing this news directly with you all!
please remember to keep us in your duas :).

--zain

ps...since it's not officially official until next week (you know how
we desis roll), i would appreciate no posts on facebook (just yet)
about it! thanks!

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Update, update

As an update my wide gave birth to Bilal Naqeeb Rasheed at 1:55am 8lb 11oz 21 in. Alhamdulilah mother and child are doing well many tests ahead today. Please keep us in your duas.

Asalaamu Alaikum

Monday, January 21, 2013

Gerald's update

Asalaamu Alaikum
Lots of things are changing for me these days so i have some updates finally. It was great to spend time with the brothers at Shamims wedding and I look forward to seeing you all again soon. I was recently laid off from my teaching job, which was a bit concerning but alhamdulilah I was hired to teach high school chemistry and this job is pretty nice hours pay and potential growth opportunities are much improved in addition, my next masters degree will be largely subsidized. Plus I have my own mini lab access to chemicals and fire so I am a kid in a candy shop.
Insha Allah we are expecting our child to be born any day now alhamdulilah. This pregnancy has been the most challenging for my wife but thus far things seem to be going well.
Keep us in your dua as we do the same for you all

Salaam