We were delighted when the well known Imam Zaid Shakir visited our home in Morocco “Maison de Lumière” on Friday 13th January 2023, an Islamic scholar and one of the founders of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California. Though it was a short visit, the girls had a wonderful time with him.
Imam Zaid couldn’t meet the girls till Saturday afternoon since he and his wife arrived on Friday night, and the girls had school on Saturday morning. We wanted to do many activities, but we didn’t have enough time, so we did a drawing competition, as Imam Zaid suggested making a drawing on a white board and the girls try to draw it on their papers, the three drawings that match more to his were the winners. The girls were very excited and did their best to be one of the winners.
Imam Zaid preferred to perform the activities outside in the garden, and after the drawing he started an Arabic poetry game with the girls, he tells a poetic phrase and the girls try to figure out the last word of it from its context, it was exciting, some of the younger girls didn’t understand the game but still they were sometimes saying random words Just to participate and enjoy it.
When the girls started interacting more with him, and he was asking them questions about Islam, History, Arabic…they were curious and wanted to know more about him, in fact we were all fascinated by his knowledge and awareness Mach’Allah, once you hear him talking you can tell that he is a very knowledgeable person.
We really wished he could stay a little longer with us, and we hope he will visit our home again Insha’Allah.
Before he left, he wrote these memorable words for us: “in the name of Allah, the merciful, the compassionate, it is a great honor for my wife and I to visit a very special and blessed place Baytou-Nour (The lighthouse), Its beauty is reflected in the faces of the orphans, their caretakers and the staff. It’s truly a house of light. May Allah preserve that light and reward Dian Alyan and everyone involved in the project, a great and lasting reward for their sincerity, faith, and love.”
