I am often ticked off how we dont use mosques for community, social, cultural reasons, and how in some mosques the sermons are more politics than spiritual or guidance. It would be wrong of me to not share when I see exceptional events that I feel are needed and
I actually think that this event should be recorded and either televised on some Tv station like bridges, or atleast audio made available online because there are many who could use some of this.
Mosque Foundation of Bridgeview presents
Imam Mohamed Hagmagid Ali
Vice President of ISNA
Will tackle issues such as:
Communication between husband and wife
Dealing with In-laws
Intimacy
…and other topics that will help maintain and harmonize your marriage
OCTOBER 28TH 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
FOR NEWLY-WEDS OR THOSE ENGAGED TO BE MARRIED
OCTOBER 28TH 6:30 – 8:00pm
EVENING COMMUNITY SESSION
Bridgeview Mosque Foundation - 7360 W. 93rd St. Bridgeview , IL 60455
Re: Strengthening the Bonds of Marriage- seminar at a mosque
duno, chck yer local majid, I am on mailing list of many diff groups but most of them are local in nature, maybe they have something similar going on in NJ.
I will contact the mosque foundation and ask them to record it. I mean thats the type of thing that should be kept o ISNA website, would help many new couples
Re: Strengthening the Bonds of Marriage- seminar at a mosque
Wow what a great idea!
One of my Christian friends told me that her church insists on a pre-marriage interview before agreeing to perform a marriage ceremony.
This interview consists of the couple being asked questions to ascertain their suitability for one another as husband and wife ie. beliefs, views on having children, career aspirations, hobbies, likes and dislikes etc.
The intention is to bring to light any potential issues before the marriage takes place and to stress the importance of marriage as a commitment.
I think it's a fab idea...I wonder is any masjids do anything similar and whether it would work in Asian communities...?
Re: Strengthening the Bonds of Marriage- seminar at a mosque
^The church I attended before I converted required 6 months of premarriage counseling, including being mentored by another couple who had been married at least 10 years. My parents mentored and continue to mentor many couples. Divorce was pretty much unheard of in that church community, and I am sure that it had a lot to do with it. We did hear of some couples deciding not to marry after the counseling, but it's pretty rare.
I did see once a questionnaire for muslims and muslimahs considering marriage, but I am not sure how many people are actually comfortable asking a prospective spouse these questions.
There needs to be more done to provide social services on all levels in the muslim community, and a lot of great ideas can be borrowed from churches. Unfortunately whenever I bring this up I'm accused of 'imitating the kaffir'.
Re: Strengthening the Bonds of Marriage- seminar at a mosque
I did see once a questionnaire for muslims and muslimahs considering marriage, but I am not sure how many people are actually comfortable asking a prospective spouse these questions.
There needs to be more done to provide social services on all levels in the muslim community, and a lot of great ideas can be borrowed from churches. Unfortunately whenever I bring this up I'm accused of 'imitating the kaffir'.
That's all and well, but whose version of Islam are you going to be presented when you go to this mosque or that?
Various imams, most of them being immigrants, are too tied up with cultural biases to be of really good influence anyway. I can imagine many of them would give the "good wife sits at home and pines away like slave for husband, while husband basically gets to do what he wants, but we just'll ignore it" sermon to the couple.
Re: Strengthening the Bonds of Marriage- seminar at a mosque
PCG
partially true, but u simply can not doscount all efforts in this area. The masjid I used t go to for jummah wich was close to my previous company had a phenomenal imam, bosnian, with masters degrees in some social sciences discipline.
There are ppl I would arther not go waste my time on, but then there are those who are worth every minute and more.
some of these events are not necessarily 'religious' e.g. there was one on the topic of social service, and yeah it had some info of religeous obligations and all but nothing that was divisive, controversial or offensive.
I think ppl make assumptions based on a handful of bad experiences and then stop trying to check things out for themselves.
Re: Strengthening the Bonds of Marriage- seminar at a mosque
Not really, I agree there are a few good imams and religious leaders out there. But the vast majority of imams and religious leaders in the American community (I'm sure this is also true of other expat areas in the world), are immigrants from somewhere else who bring in their cultural biases. If one were to promote programs like this everywhere all over the United States, you'd see a spectrum of counseling styles/advice.
Re: Strengthening the Bonds of Marriage- seminar at a mosque
true, everyone would bring their biases, and the good ones will try to keep their biases and cutural baggage seperate from the topic. It is a good thing that these type of things are happening though, even if half of them are worthwhile its all good.
I can not think of such a mixed event taking place in a masjid in pakistan though on such topics.
Re: Strengthening the Bonds of Marriage- seminar at a mosque
angel eyes, good to hear, what has your experience been with them so far. this other masjid i was talkign about had a seminar arranged once to help highschool students figure out the whole college decsion thing, where to go, what to do, supplemental ofcoursr to what was covered i school but it addressed those and other cultural issues and such also.
Re: Strengthening the Bonds of Marriage- seminar at a mosque
i just realized that imam you mentioned above is the imam of the masjid i go to :D
my experience? well this particular imam is so laid back Alhamdulillah....you can go to him for anything...not just religious matters but you can also discuss worldly matters with him as welll...
before he marry's a couple...he makes them go through pre-marital seminars for a week. It also allows the couple to discuss matters which need to be thought out before getting married. Not many imams do this.
He genuinely cares for the muslim youth. I remember reading a quote where he once said "we (as in religious scholars, parents, etc) must get to our youth before someone else does".
Re: Strengthening the Bonds of Marriage- seminar at a mosque
funny, all the mosques ive been to are used for social, and spiritual reasons.
I never saw any politics in them :S
i think this is a great idea, they shudn't just do it with married couples, but people who are single, and even kids, so they don't end up with gfs/bfs and ruin their lives.
