English-Class Classics

(after a brief hiatius, I return...)

the semester has just started so after being lazy good-for-nothings over the break we're back in action.... just to show how studious we are, yesterday we commemorated finishing our homework with a "business meeting" to discuss...err...nahw and sarf at La Mirabelle over some brownies and pastries....

Here goes with some more classics from Siraj's English class:

"So, tell me guys, why do you want to learn English?"

"Because, Ustaadh, I want to talk to the girls in Swefieh in English...they respect you more that way."

[the same guy tells the class that he spend his weekend checking out girls in Mecca Mall --- these shabaab, sheesh, where are they going in life?? And Mecca Mall...that's a story for another time!]

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"Ustaadh, are you religious in America?"

"umm...yeah...."

"You pray in the masjid over there and keep a beard?"

"Yeah."

"Do you also pray in the masjids where women lead?" [these guys, man, they just think that every other masjid has got a female "Imaamah" or something]

"No."

"What about your parents, are they religious?"

"yeah..."

"Your dad, he prays in the masjid?"

"Yeah."

"Does he pray in the masjids where women lead?"

"No."



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[in the cab on the way back from work...]

Cabbie turns to Siraj: "Ya Shaikh, can you tell me the hadith about the reward for fasting on the Day of Arafah?"

"I don't really know the exact words..."

"Kayf, ya shaikh?!! You are a shaikh but don't know the hadith?"

"Umm, I'm not really a shaikh!"

"What? But you have a beard and taqiyyah [hat]! You're not a shaikh?"

"Sorry ya akhee...."