Assalamu Alaikum ya Haris,

            I’m writing you from Massachusettes at the Ilm and Tarbiya Camp.  I can’t even express in words how much you’ve missed.  Subhana Allah, there isn’t a thing that we could have done that we didn’t do.

            Yah, we had “lectures”, but they weren’t the usual type.  Not only that but the lecturers were great scholars and people.  You got to know them personally, sitting eating lunch with them, praying qiyam with them, you name it.

            Sports was a big thing too.  We played bbal, volley, soccer, square of death, man, I can’t even remember them all.  What made it even more fun was playing as brothers.

            Brothers in the camp were so great, may Allah reward them all – Subhana Allah, by the second day, I was as close to the brothers as some of my closest friends.  And this just wasn’t with 2 or 3, it was with all 20 or 30 of us.  Its not the brotherhood we’re hearing about, it’s a new sense of real brotherhood.

            But the main benefit from the camp, not belittling all the other good stuff that happened, was the spiritual atmosphere.  Wallahi from the start of the camp I felt that the campgrounds were protected from Shayateen by the angels.  The spiritual atmosphere, despite the sports, games and brotherhood, felt greater than in Ramadan.  This atmosphere really helped me find out who I really was.  I wasn’t the perfect guy, in fact, I found out how much work I need to do on myself.  For years, I haven’t cried about my spiritual self.  My heart had become dry.  The camp helped water this almost-dead heart with Eman, and I am grateful to Allah for that.

            If you ask me if I am coming to this camp next year I’d definitely tell you definitely, but I can say insha Allah, and hope that you plan from now to make yourself time to go next year yourself.

                                                                        Your brother in islam,

                                                            H.H