By Huzaifa Ahmed, one of our Youth volunteers and member of our Brothers Youth Council

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

My family and I just returned from the Mohamed Hoblos event at IPC Jame Masjid and I think it’s best to share my honest opinions about the event. First, I would like to say how impressed I am with the progress this masjid and its community have made over the last few years, from building the new masjid to now having a full-time school that offers hifz and academics for students. The fact they can bring huge speakers such as Brother Hoblos and Ustadh Abu Tammiyah makes me think how hard the management must’ve been working for the past few years. 

Brother Hoblos’ talk was amazing as expected. He said many things that made me and the people around me think and reflect on our lives. I made the right choice by coming about an hour before the Isha Salah. I was surprised that most of the people came in around 10 minutes before Isha started and as a result, the entire masjid was full. When I looked back I saw many people pushing against the door trying to come into the new masjid even though it was full. 

Alhamdulilah the volunteers were able to calm things down. There were moments in the talk where the speaker would ask everyone to stand up and shake each other's hands and embrace one another to further strengthen brotherhood amongst JMM’s community. The overall topic of his talk was a reminder to fear Allah more than anything and to give a perspective of how high our fear should be he told the story of a companion of the Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) Abdullah ibn Hudhafa (may Allah be pleased with him). 

I had never heard the story of this Sahabah before so it was interesting to hear the experiences of the Sahabah and what cruelty they went through just for being a believer in Allah and a follower of his prophet. I highly recommend reading up on his story as it really gives a new perspective on the one life we have to give to Allah. 

After the talk, the brother allowed for a few questions to be asked and even with small questions he would go very in-depth with his answers. Then, someone asked a question regarding the parents to which he became very serious and started to remind everyone that no matter how your parents behave towards you, you must treat them with respect because they have sacrificed everything for you to be where you are right now. He talked about how even if you think your parents treat you wrongly, you again have no right to think badly of them. He said that everything your parents do for you is because they love you. He went on about this topic for a very long time. 

This was the last question before he allowed the brothers to come up and give their salams to him and his team. I got to meet him and he was very nice and had a big smile on his face when I shook his hand. Shortly after I gave my salam, a brother went up to Brother Hoblos and whispered that he was ready to give his shahdah! Brother Hoblos said the shahadah and told the brother to repeat after him. After doing the shahadah, Brother Hoblos decided it was time to leave so he was escorted out by his team. 

I would like to thank JMM’s management for assembling this event and hope for more like these in the future.