Updated 18 January 2012

In the summer of 2011, 57 lucky students participated in the journey of a lifetime and joined the excellent Madinah and Bab Summer Courses run by The World Federation.

One of these participants was Sister Tayyaba Merali of Peterborough, UK. She recounts her experiences as follows:

Iran 2011 was truly a life changing experience which shall never be forgotten and the memories of which are everlasting.  The knowledge that I have gained throughout the trip is something that I will cherish and use for the rest of my life.

Upon landing at the Imam Khomeini international airport and then travelling to Qum where we stayed at Jamia-tuz-zahra, we were ready to embark on a sacred journey.  It was spiritually uplifting, especially through the company of learned scholars as Shaykh Muhammad Khalfan and Syed Mujtaba Musavi Lari, who are both authors of many well-known books.

In both the holy cities of Qum and Mashhad we had lessons with highly learned and respected teachers who taught us everything we needed to know about our 8th Imam (as), how to build a connection with him, the importance of ziyarat and many other topics helping us to find our spiritual selves from within.

We visited many places whilst on the trip and the first was the shrine of the beloved sister of Imam Al-Ridha (a.s): Bibi Masuma-e-Qum (a.s).  We had the opportunity to spend time here and also to pray Jumah namaz, alongside the local Iranians on our first Friday in Iran. 

We all eagerly waited a visit to the Ansarian bookshop which was also our first shopping spree - I promised myself I wouldn't get carried away with all the interesting books however, I ended up leaving with two big yellow bags full ready to bring back home!

Tuesday arrived, and all the sisters were very excited as we were visiting Masjid-e-Jamkaran for a talk by Brother Asim of New Zealand about the Imam of our time: Imam e Zamana (a.t.f.s) and the beautiful recitation of Dua - e - Tawassul.

Departing from Qum, we travelled to Mashhad on a fifteen hour train journey to get closer to Imam Al-Ridha (a.s)! When visiting the haram of Imam-Al-Ridha (a.s), we were told that we should ask for our first three wishes when seeing our first glimpse of the dome - our eyes were filled with tears of joy in thanking Allah (swt) and giving our salaams to the Imam (as)!

Starting the blessed month of Ramadhan in the holy land of Mashhad was incredible!
The highlight of this trip for me was Dua-e-Kumail at Imam Al-Ridha (a.s)’s haram on Thursday night after maghribain namaaz - sitting under the stars with the beautiful heart rendering recitation, and such a moving atmosphere, one and all seeking forgiveness and asking their hajats to Almighty, Allah s.w.t!

Our last days in Iran were spent in the capital, Tehran, where we visited the shrine of Imam Khomeini and the Prison of Savak, which was truly one of the most emotional and horrific experiences I and many other participants have witnessed - this opened up our eyes to such things I would never have believed could happen in reality! We also visited shrine of Imam Khomeini and the Behisht-e-Zehra graveyard, where there were thousands of graves of the martyrs who sacrificed their lives with the love of Islam, with people of all ages including young children.

Our stay in Iran ended sooner than I would have wanted, sorrowfully having to leave behind my Imam (as) and Bibi Masuma (as) and departing from lifelong friends from Canada, Africa, Dubai, Pakistan, and even people near to home - I returned with a new optimistic vision to life and I pray that we all get another invitation to do ziyarat again InshAllah!

I would like to thank Allah for giving me the opportunity to visit Iran, Imam Al-Ridha (a.s) and Bibi Masuma (a.s) for inviting me, The World Federation of KSIMC, Shaykh Komail Rajani (manager of WF Qum Office), the volunteers, those at Jamia tuz zahra, people who were with us throughout the trip, my fellow participants and the three mentors who within such a short space of time in Iran became my dear sisters.

To register for the Madinah and Bab Summer Courses in 2012 email madinahbabcourse@world-federation.org

For more information email madinahbabcourse@world-federation.org

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