Zaytuna Summer Arabic Language Intensive--Berkeley CA

Hiking in the Berkeley Hills ZSAI 2008

Sakina Grome

Bismillah Ar-rahman Ar-raheem

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficient, the Merciful

As part of the first Zaytuna Summer Arabic Intensive program held this year in Berkeley, California, students had the opportunity to participate in many local activities and gatherings. Besides attending classes and regular lectures, students were invited to local mosques, lectures, gatherings and other events taking place within the local Muslim community.

Throughout the program, our teachers encouraged us to become actively involved in our communities on all levels, to engage with whichever environment we find ourselves in, and to find solutions to the problems around us. There were many ways, they stated, that we could get involved, and they taught us that we are all leaders in one sense or another.

Our teacher and imam, Dawood Yasin, offered to lead us on a hike after the morning prayer on a Saturday morning in the Berkeley Hills. Many of us were already waking up to perform prayer and to recite a daily litany in congregation. We performed our prayer as usual, but instead of reciting the litany inside, we decided to read it as a group at the top of Strawberry Canyon after hiking up.

The hike occurred early into the course and I remember that it brought many of us together for the first time. It was a great outlet to the week of studying and working hard, while still giving us healthy motivation to keep focusing our attention and efforts towards striving to please Allah.

It was extremely pleasant to be in such a beautiful natural environment, and the experience even served to reawaken some of us to the bounty of Allah’s creation and our responsibility to care for it. The light that morning was stunning, and the collective witnessing of such a scene served to bring our hearts together and renew our spirits.

By the time we reached the top, pushing to get through the last stretch, the fog that had previously settled on the hilltops had cleared and as we sat in the remembrance of God under the shade of the trees, we could see all the way out to the bay. When we came down later that morning, there was a definite shift in our awareness and a contentment that filled our hearts.