PRAYER TIMINGS Effective 01/02 MCA NOOR Fajr 6:30 6:30 Dhuhr 12:35 12:35 Asr 3:00 3:30 Maghrib Sunset Sunset Isha 7:00 7:00 Juma 1 12:15 12:15 Juma 2 01:00 01:00 Newsletter Juma 2 01:45 01:45 Published Weekly by the Muslim Community Association of San Francisco Bay Area www.mcabayarea.org Jamadi ‘I 17, 1442 AH Friday, January 01, 2021 Great Mosque of Xi’an, China AL-QURAN Whoever desires this present life, We hasten to him therein what We please for whomsoever We desire, then We assign to him the hell; he shall enter it despised, driven away. Surah Al-Israa 17:18 HADITH Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Among the signs of a hypocrite are three, even if he fasts and prays and claims to be a Muslim: when he speaks he lies, when he gives a promise he breaks it, and when he is trusted he betrays.” Bukhari 33, Muslim 59 Final Deadline to submit Join the MCA Mailing List and Stay Connected Advertisements is Tuesday at 5:00 PM www.mcabayarea.org/newsletter FROM THE MCA EXECUTIVE BOARD EXECUTIVE MCA THE FROM 2 40. Al-Haseeb The Reckoning One The Reckoner, The One who gives the satisfaction. “And to Allah belong the best names, so invoke Him by them.” [Quran 7:180] 3 19 Quarantine-Friendly Winter Break Ideas Samana Siddiqui Below are some spiritual, social, and skill- 2. Tahajjud and/or Qiyaam building activities for a more interesting Fajr begins later in winter, and the nights and memorable quarantined winter With COVID-19 numbers surging are long. This makes it easier to wake up break insha Allah. in the U.S. and Canada at this for Tahajjud, as well as a longer night to writing, the options for winter Spiritual offer Qiyaam, continuous prayer during break 2020 fun seem limited. nighttime. Don’t pass up this opportunity 1. Fast to begin or increase these excellent The temptation to sit in front of a ways to become closer to God. screen, be it on a phone or a computer, The shorter days of winter make it becomes stronger. Whether it’s binge- easier to catch up on missed fasts from 3. Family/friends Quran challenge watching a show, endlessly scrolling Ramadans past. Fast and recreate a Memorize a new Surah for every week through Twitter, or texting family and Ramadan meal at Iftar time, featuring of winter break as a family or with a friends memes and bantering, this is dates and traditional winter fare, like group of friends. Learn their translation worrisome. soups and s’mores. If you have older as well. Encourage each other by texting children, have them help prepare the daily reminders to memorize. Whoever Over 70 percent of American parents Iftar meals or take over them completely. are concerned that their children memorizes the most gets a prize. have too much screen time since the If you live alone, find a family member 4.Build a Masjid in your home COVID-19 pandemic began earlier this or friend you can fast and break fast year. And adults are hardly immune. virtually with. Designate a part of your home, no matter how small, as your prayer area. Decorate 4 it with Islamic art and calligraphy, 2. Pen pals bookshelves filled with copies of the Revive the lost art of snail mail letter Quran and Islamic books, and beautiful writing by finding a family member or prayer rugs. friend willing to exchange letters the 5. Story time old-fashioned way. Every few nights, over hot chocolate, 3. Write that “heartfelt letter”, preferably cookies, and dimmed lights, have family by hand members share a story on an Islamic In his book “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff... theme. Ideas include being hopeful, and it’s all small stuff”, Dr. Richard Carlson gratefulness, Jesus in Islam, and death. encourages readers to write a heartfelt You can do this in-person or virtually. letter to those in your life who have Skill-building 6. Raise money online for your local influenced you positively. The letter 1. Take an online CPR class. Masjid is an expression of appreciation and thanks. Draft a letter (preferably by hand “And if anyone saved a life, it would The pandemic has hit our Masjids very versus email, and no tweets or Facebook be as if he saved the life of the whole hard, as donations are often given in wall posts allowed) doing exactly that. people....” (Quran 5:32). What could be person, especially during Ramadan - a more useful skill than one that helps when many Masjids were in lockdown. 4. Online Henna Party preserve life itself? During winter break, fundraise online Share designs and ideas while you for your local mosque. Share the link for 2. Teach/learn how to cook gather virtually to apply henna with online donations. See if there is some friends. After watching TV, cooking has been way to host your own online fundraising the second most popular activity during drive. 5. Play online games with friends the pandemic. If you live on your own, this is an excellent time to try something 7. Raise money online for your local food Scrabble and Pictionary aren’t the only new or learn the basics. bank options - but they’re good ones. Choose a game from which you can learn Feeding America projects that more If you have kids, each week of winter something new. than 50 million Americans will have break, teach your children a recipe and let them prepare the meal themselves faced hunger in 2020. Before the 6. Sledding, snowballing, snowshoeing pandemic, that number was about 35 (either under your supervision or the million. This translates to 1 in 6 people, If you can do this while safely supervision of a responsible older including 1 in 4 children, experiencing maintaining six feet or more of distance sibling). between others outside of your food insecurity this year. Host a virtual You can also involve grandparents, who immediate family, and remaining masked, food drive, either for Feeding America, can share family recipes and help make then make sure to go sledding, have or your local food pantry. them virtually. those snowball fights, build those snow 8 .Make Juma Joyful people, and learn how to snowshoe 3. Learn etiquette online once there’s enough white stuff to do it. Each Friday that you are home during Good manners aren’t just part of winter break, fulfill the Sunnahs of Juma 7. Record family members’ history - and being a good Muslim. They affect our (taking a bath, cutting nails, reading share it with StoryCorps personal relationships and even our job prospects. Find an etiquette class that Surah al-Kahf), and watch an online During winter break, record interviews Khutba. Make sure to pray four Rakat for with parents and grandparents about can help you brush up on this. Dhuhr, not two, as this is not considered their lives as American Muslims. Find 4. Pursue your passion or a new hobby Juma prayer. But it will give you that out what they did to build their faith ambience of this blessed day. growing up as Muslims in America. If you always wanted to try something If they are immigrants, how did they new or to brush up on an existing skill, maintain their Islam here and adjust there is bound to be a video or online Social to change? What did they do for Eid? class you can find to learn more. It What was the Masjid like? If there wasn’t can be a class of a few weeks or just a a mosque in their community, how did 1. Call or Facetime Someone Older or one-day workshop. Invest in yourself by they worship in congregation? What did Someone Who Lives Alone taking one of these. they do for fun? Once you’ve recorded The call doesn’t have to be long. Just it, arrange to share these inspiring If there isn’t, create your own class and check in, share something funny or stories with StoryCorps. You can also load it up. interesting, but most importantly, listen. use the app. Courtesy: www.soundvision.org 5 Lebanon Refugees Camp Fire Help them now: hhrd.org/LebanonCampFires / There is no more In-Kind Collection for the next few weeks. Due to Covid-19 our oces are closed except by appointment only. For details Shireen Khan Local Oce please contact (408) 469-3995 | [email protected] 3068 Scott Blvd Santa Clara, CA. 95054 FOLLOW US ON ­ ­ (­) (­) ­­ 6 Series on Companions of the Prophet (PBUH) Nuaym Ibn Masud Nuaym ibn Masud Other tribes were also persuaded to join the mighty They assured the Banu Qurayzah that there was no doubt alliance. From the north came the Banu Asad and the this time that the Muslims would be completely routed Nuaym ibn Masud was from Najd in the northern Fazar. From the south the Ahabish, allies of the Quraysh, and Muhammad would be finished once and for all. highlands of Arabia. He belonged to the powerful the Banu Sulaym and others. At the appointed time, Ghatafan tribe. As a young man, he was clever and alert. the Quraysh set out from Makkah in large numbers on The approach of the two mighty armies strengthened He was full of enterprise and travelled widely. He was cavalry and on foot under the Leadership of Abu Sufyan the resolve of the Banu Qurayzah to disavow their treaty resourceful, every ready to take up a challenge and not ibn Harb.