Inna lillahi wa ina ilayhi Rajiun^..May Allaah have mercy on him.
The sisters that have been there, can you tell us more of how it is? How are the classes, how things happen, the environment, the people and more? I'm loving this place the more I hear about it..
Sure! I love talking about the place too.
So as for the classes, they are held either in the Masaajid or in peoples homes. The Sheikhs class which are the ones compulsory for all male students to attend are held in the Masjid (three times a day as mentioned earlier) And there are thousands of students there who sit on the masjid floor. The Sheikh is standing on the minbar and he speaks on the mic and gives the explanations for it, It's just like a huge lecture hall, everyone will be taking their own individual notes ( or no notes at all for some :rollseyes )
If the lesson is on hadeeth, then the Sheikh requires for all the men attending to memorize the hadeeth and he will call upon people randomly to stand up and read the hadeeth (in front of all the other thousands
). At times he will call upon a certain group, for example :
"Today all the people from Britain stand up and read!!" So all around the masjid you see British brothers standing up and reciting the hadeeth.
Sometimes it's " All the boys below 15 recite the hadeeth!!" and then the little boys will stand up and read and it sounds like a huge roar in the masjid because the little boys are yelling on the top of their lungs :giggling:
Then after the recitation the Sheikh will go on calling on people and asking questions from the previous lessons......It's very wonderful to listen to because The Sheikh has a wonderful sense of humour, and also he's sooooooo knowledgeable Subhanallah so the lesson will sometimes encompass so many different fields at once just branching off from a single hadeeth can come the discussions of fiqh, mustalah, aqidah, usool, nahw etc etc.
And then at the end of the classes the Sheikh will end his class by saying "
Tafadhdhaluuu......Hafidhakumullah!!!"
Which means "Be dismissed, May Allah watch over you all!"
Then from all the doors of the masjid it will seem as if a bucket of water suddenly overflowed because the men are just streeeeeeaaaaaming out of all the doors, and any sisters who are in the way at the moment are in trouble coz it's pretty embarrassing to be stuck in a flood of brothers :rollseyes
As for the people, then, it's the same as any other place you go to in the world, there are the friendly, there are those who will be aloof, there are those who will spite you and snub you, but overall, There is more good than bad because so many of the students there (men in particular) are of knowledge alhamdulillah.
Perhaps if someone goes over there the students will warn against the villagers (Dammajis) because they are known for trying to rip off the students and cheating them and basically just trying to outwit the poor student as much as they can
and it has increased since the former Sheikh Muqbil (rahimahullah) who was a Dammaji himself has passed away. Now, Sheikh Yahya who is running the place is from another place (Hajoor) so the Dammajis dont pay him any mind.......and so he doesn't really have much of a say over what they want to do to the students in terms of ripping them of and all of that since the land is not his and he is not from the people. But not all of the Dammajis are like that of course. It's just that some of them are just outrageous so it makes the students wary of them all
hew
The environment is very niceeeeee like in the pictures which I posted up you can see that it's just a desert with fields dotted here and there.......very beautiful Subhanallah especially if you venture deeper down into the villages ( I have to say that the students quarters are nothing to talk about :rollseyes students seem to have a
thing about messing up the natural scenery and beauty with their careless building :raging: )
At Fajr time you will be awakened by the call of the Mu'adhin calling from the Masjid.....He calls two adhaans for Fajr, one to wake people up for Sahoor, and the other is the actual Fajr Adhaan and Masha'allah they always have brothers with such
Beautiful voices to call the adhaan :'( and to hear that voice echoing over the moutains and the desert is just an experience never to be forgotten Subhanallah. Then because everything is silent (not full of cars blaring and some neighbours music on full blast like we have here sometimes AStaghfirullah) After a while if you are close enough to the masjid you will hear the Fajr Prayers being recited over the microphone and echoing all over the place.
Okay that's that.
Then there will be the villager children who come out from the villages after fajr bringing with them their produce (lol) apples and string beans and juju's (lotus tree fruit) and stuff like that, and they are most often girls (in niqaab) who carry the baskets of their goods on their heads whilst balancing it with their hands, displaying their arms full of bracelets and henna designs and dresses of bright and flashy colors...lol...quite a sight...and they will go knocking on the doors of the students calling out " Baa tishtaraw!! " (Will you buy!!) and then if you do say you want to buy and open the doors for them you will have to haggle with them for 15 minutes because they put the most ridiculous prices at times :enough!: ( I learnt the art of bargaining whilst my stay in Yemen and I have to say it embarrasses me at times :X )
A little after 7 you will see all the children running out on their way to the masjid to start their classes for the day, and from then on until Dhuhr, the streets will be full of people making their way to and fro classes, and whilst walking to the Sheikhs masjid you will See some brothers having their circles of classes here and there in the desert under the shade of a lotus tree........and on the way to the masjid you will see the villagers around the masjid selling their wares, some of them sell the traditional yemeni sweets, some of them spread out blankets on the dirt and spread out apples and grapes and peaches for sale, ( I promise, you will
never taste grapes like the ones grow in Dammaj :'( )some of them at times have rabbits and porcupines to sell as fresh meat :blind: , Sometimes they bring little hawks to sell as pets ( My dad bought me and my bros and sis's two at one time ) And you will see the tents for the Hajjaam (the one who does cupping) and other stuff.... they all have their little corners under the trees..really quaint....... And you will see the villagers working in their fields, the women will be cutting the wheat, the men will be watering the plants, or repairing a mud wall, and the Dammajis love to sing so you will often hear them singing....
And then the Adhaan for Dhuhr will call, all the men will be at the masjid for Salaat and the Sheikhs dars, all the women will be at home cooking lunch
(no classes for women at midday except maybe private lessons) All the kiddos will either be with their fathers at the masjid, or you see a few playing on the streets........those kids have to be careful though, because if they are 14 and over and are caught by the security guards playing around and not in class they are in for some big time ear pulling :giggling:
So the streets will be quiet.........silent......with the exception of hearing the Sheikh having his classes over the mic. Then at 2 o'clock, the men will be on their way back home again after class, and it will be silent again in the streets until Asr time when everyone is headed back out for class again.And if they have any Shuyukh who are guests from around Yemen or Saudi it's usually after Asr time when they will have guest Shuyukh give talks, and it will continue until after Ishaa'.........on these occasions the villagers from over the mountains even come at times!! It's a sight really, to see the people climbing down from the mountains to come to the Sheikhs masjid....and the talks are always amazingly good Subhanallah.
Oh, I really hope that the war will not touch Dammaj in any way so such a beautiful life can continue Insha'allah
I'll let Princess come and add some things when she comes online, I have to run right now. Wassalam.
