Assalamu alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh,
Imam al-Busiri said in his famous poem, the Burdat al-Madeeh (also known as Qasidat al-Burdah),
It [the Quran] has meanings like the waves of the sea in perpetuity
And greater than the jewels of the sea in perfection and value.
Its wonders cannot be counted nor comprehended
And its oft-recitation cannot be described by boredom.
The eye of the reciter has cooled by its recitation so I said to him
You have succeeded by the means of the rope of Allah, so hold fast to it!
In the course of our busy lives, it is difficult to find the time to strengthen our connection with the Divine Word and understanding of the Divine Command. We wish for the opportunity to swim in the infinite sea Imam al-Busiri describes instead of watching from the shore afraid to get our feet wet, retreating from the perpetual waves.
The newly-formed Chicago Mawlid Committee (CMC) is blessed to announce that Shaykh Samir Nass, an eminent world-renowned scholar from Syria, master of the 10 recitations of the Quran as well as the other Quranic sciences, master of he intellectual sciences (aqida, kalam), master of hadith, master of fiqh (namely Hanafi), will be visiting the Chicago area to teach two intensive courses during his stay here. The courses are:
Pearls from the Infinite Sea
The Qur’an, being the revealed Word of God, and the final Divine Revelation to mankind, contains great wisdoms and insights. However, few Muslims ever seek to understand the Quranic message in its totality; in fact, most works of exegesis (tafsir) are word-for-word explanations. In the Pearls from the Infinite Sea, we aspire to understand the Quranic edict in its major themes and messages, by studying the Quran in its totality. Shaykh Samer Nass is an expert in Quranic exegesis and Quranic recitations, having attained mastery of the ten recognized methods of Quranic recitation, a feat that few in the world today have accomplished.
The Pearls program will be conducted in English.
Dear Student
The great Imam and scholar, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, is known by the majority of Muslims as the Proof of Islam, for his mastery of the outward Islamic sciences and the inward realities of the journey of the human soul toward human perfection and knowledge of God, the Almighty. He was a scholar of the highest degree, and wrote great academic works. Yet despite his encyclopedic knowledge, al-Ghazali, may God have mercy upon him, also wrote in a language that non-academic Muslims could understand, particularly on the science of ihsan, or spiritual excellence. His magnum opus, Ihya’ Ulum ad-Din, or The Revival of the Islamic Sciences, explores the inner dimensions of the human being and her or his aspiration to know God. The well-known, concise, Ayyuhal Walad, or Dear Student, represents a summary and distillation of the main points of al-Ghazali’s understanding of the path of ihsan and knowledge of God.
Our program on the Dear Student text will be conducted in Arabic and is available for students with a good working knowledge of Arabic.
This is a unique opportunity to spend several days with one of the greatest scholars of our age in an intimate setting. Please see the flier below and visit our website for more information about the programs.
Sh Samir Nass’s Biography:
Shaykh Samir al-Nass was born in Damascus, Syria, where he studied at the College of Medicine of the University of Damascus. He went on to study in the United States where he qualified in internal medicine.
The Shaykh has studied under some of the great ‘ulama of the Levant (Shaam) and the Arabian peninsula. He has a traditional licenses to teach (ijazah) in the ten styles of recitation of the narration of the Shatibiyyah and the Durra from Shaykh Muhammad Sukkar. He received an ijazah in the ten styles of recitation of the narration of Tayyibah from the Egyptian Shaykh Ahmad Mustafa in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, himself a student of Shaykh Abd al-Aziz al-Zayyat of Egypt. Shaykh Samir has a traditional license to teach (ijazah) in Islamic law (fiqh) and theology and creed (‘aqida) from the previous Mufti of Syria, Shaykh Abu Yusr Ibn `Abidin, Shaykh Lutfi al-Fayumi, and the late Hanafi Mufti, Shaykh Adib al-Kallas. Shaykh Samir was honoured to study hadith in Mecca with the great Indonesian-Meccan Shaykh Yasin al-Fadani, and with Shaykh Nur ud-din `Itr of Syria. He also has an ijazah in Prophetic traditions (hadith) from the late Shaykh `Abd Allah Siraj al-Din of Aleppo, Syria.
Shaykh Samir is presently a teacher in the al-Fatih al-Islami University in Damascus, teaching the Hanafi fiqh manual Al-Hidayah in the department of Islamic Law (Shariah), and lecturer on the ten recitations of the Qur’an in the MA program. The Shaykh teaches Qur’anic recitation (tajwid) after fajr prayers daily in the blessed mosque of Shaykh Ibn `Arabi, a post given to him by his Shaykh and father-in-law, one of the illustrious Shaykhs of Quran in the Levant (Sham), the late Shaykh Muhammad Sukkar. Shaykh Samir has been teaching at various Islamic studies intensive courses in England and North America since 2000.
Contact Info:
cmcretreats@gmail.com
630.992.1753
