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This coming weekend, I and many of my friends, will be headed for Malibu, California with busloads of teenagers for the annual Islamic Center of Irvine youth camp. While I volunteered to be a counselor without thinking twice, now that the camp is less than a week away, I am beginning to reflect on the camp and all that it means for our youth and for myself as well.

My reflections have no real pattern. They are more a serpentine journey through my thoughts. So while most of my writings are usually rather organized, this particular post may not be.

Islamic Legacy of Retreat (not militarily speaking)

Our beloved Prophet (may Allah bless him and raise him and his family to the highest level of jannah), used to go on mini retreats of his own. Some call it meditations, others call it reflections, still others call it mysticism. Doesn’t matter. The bottom line is that the Prophet (saw), even before he was officially dubbed a Prophet, realized the value of taking time out from his regular schedule to sit in quiet stillness and try to find a deeper meaning to life and to cleanse his soul regularly.

This camp serves a similar purpose. While there will be many activities and talks, the main purpose of the camp is to get away from the hustle and bustle of life, to go somewhere serene and off the beaten path, and to try to find some stillness, some peace, some quietude in our hearts that we can cling on to when we head back to reality.

Taking Care of Our Most Prized Possession

Think of something you really love. Or someone you really love. We take care of the things and the people we really care for. If we love our cars, we make sure to keep them tuned up, we take them to the hand wash and get them waxed and shined up so they are lookin’ good. If we love our clothes, we invest in them, we research new trends in fashion, we take our time scouring the racks at the mall. If we love a particular friend, we call them, spend time with them, ask about them, get them gifts, we care.

So then why is it that we don’t put that kind of care and love into our own souls? We love ourselves…it’s ingrained into us. Yet when we aren’t in good shape spiritually, we are hurting no one but ourselves. And when push comes to shove, all we really have control over is ourselves. In the end, our shiny cars, stylin’ clothes, and even our most cherished friends will not be able to get us to our destination. So we need to start treating our own souls like we treat our cars, our clothes and our friends – with some major TLC. We need to get under the hood, get the latest tools, and tinker around the engine.

This camp is one such opportunity for us to really make an investment in ourselves, in our destiny. It’s a perfect chance for us to take a look inside, introspect, and see what we can do to dust off our souls, clean our hearts, and come out shiny and stylin’ for Allah (swt). Almost like a deep spring cleaning.

Be Inspired

Islam is a beautiful way of life. Allah (swt) knows us so much better than we could ever know ourselves. He knows we are going to falter. Yet He loves us and is easy with His mercy to those who turn back to Him. He knows our levels of iman fluctuate and that we ebb and flow toward and away from Him throughout our lives in a continuous struggle. This camp is an opportunity to flow closer. If we have felt astray, if we have felt far from Allah (swt), if we have felt like we didn’t know how to get back on track, this is our chance. No questions asked. Just genuine desire to be close to Allah (swt) is all we need. Our time together over the weekend, as we bond with new and old friends, as we listen to talks by those we look up to in our community, as we are surrounded by Allah’s (swt) creation, we can be inspired and we can take that one step toward Allah (swt) that could be all we needed to get back on track.

Bond

I have had many, many friends throughout my life. Still to this day my friends come from a variety of backgrounds, both Muslim and non-Muslim. However, I can say with confidence and with conviction that never in my life have I had a friendship like those I have kindled with my Muslim sisters. These friendships have been built on the most solid of foundations – trust, honor, honesty, dignity, faith, sincerity, good intentions. These friendships have not wavered through time and over distances. These friendships are often stronger than the bonds of familial ties and I consider my closest friends to be an extension of my family.

This camp gives us the chance to bond together as an ummah, as the future of Islam, as youth. It gives us a few days to solidify already rock-solid friendships and to gain new ones that might change our lives forever.

Productivity

While it’s crazy to say, summer is almost upon us. Students are going to be off for a few months during summer vacation. This camp should be a gut check for those of us who often fall into laziness during our breaks. As I’ve been discussing in the last few blog posts, using our time wisely is the only thing that makes everyone in this life have an equal playing field. We all have 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day. That’s the only thing that is constant – time. How we use it makes all the difference in this world and in the next. So this camp should serve to remind all of us that as summer approaches and we look forward to all that free time with no homework and no tests, we should look for a few moments here and there that we can maximize so that we can let Allah (swt) know that He was a part of our summer vacation plans.

May Allah reward all those teenagers attending the ICOI youth camp this weekend. May Allah reward those who planned it and will make it run smoothly. And may Allah grant us all jannah as we renew our intentions to please only Him with our efforts and seek His peace and mercy. Ameen.

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