ISRA convention

Elhamdullillah!

Selma and I just got back from the ISRA convention in North Carolina. Mashallah! They did a wonderful job putting together a great convention that featured reciters and Sufi shaykhs talking about the Miraj. Shaykhs Haroun Faye, Nooruddeen Durkee, and Abdelhadi Honerkamp were among those who spoke. By far the best parts for me were Shaykh Haroun's dhikr in the hotel room and reading Qur'an with Shaykh Nooruddeen and some of his murids. Mashallah, I really respect him very much and admire the work that he and Hajja Noora are doing. I think that Selma and I both needed that little charge before the new semester begins and this conference provided it. I would highly recommend any of the ISRA conferences, because they have that delicate balance of providing a Sufi perspective within a traditional Islamic framework.
Here is their website:

http://www.israinternational.com

The other best part of the conference was actually eating pizza with some friends ;) Since we live in a city with a fairly small Muslim community, it's refreshing to be with others who share our traditional-yet-progressive approach to Islam. What a nice trip, elhamdullillah.

--Nedim