The CMC and MEC Special Events Committee are honored to present

Prophetic Pearls
An In-Depth Study of the 40 Hadith of Imam Nawawi

With Shaykh Samer al-Nass

May 26-28, 2012

Introduction
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful All praise is to Allah, Lord of the Worlds May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon His Beloved Messenger Muhammad Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu, The CMC and MEC Special Events Committee welcome you to the Prophetic Pearls seminar with Shaykh Samer al-Nass, one of the foremost scholars of the Middle East in our time. Rarely do Muslims in the West have an opportunity to pursue serious study with the great scholars of the Muslim world. Even more rare is to have an esteemed scholar who is fluent in the English language and has a wealth of experience teaching Westerners both in his home country and abroad. And finally, to pursue the study of fundamental, critically important texts, such as the Arbain al-Nawawiyya, the Forty Hadith of Imam al-Nawawi, with such a scholar makes the Prophetic Pearls seminar a truly unique opportunity indeed. We are thankful to the Almighty for choosing us to spend time and learn with a scholar of the highest esteem and caliber. We are further graced by your willingness to participate and your presence with us.

Venue
The Prophetic Pearls seminar will be held at Muslim Educational Center (MEC) Mosque 8601 N. Menard Ave Morton Grove, IL 60053 More information about this Mosque is available at http://www.mccchicago.org/

Accommodation and Transportation

Please note: the venue does NOT have any overnight accommodations. As such, for out-of-town students, we have listed nearby hotels below: Skokie Comfort Inn 9333 Skokie Boulevard Skokie, IL 60077 (847) 679-4200 Morton Grove BestWestern Inn 9424 Waukegan Rd. Morton Grove, IL 60053 (847) 965-6400

Alternatively, Masjidul Mustafa has graciously allowed for the itikaf of attending brothers who need overnight accommodations. Please contact us if you are interested in staying at Masjidul Mustafa, which is approximately 25 miles from MEC Mosque, during the seminar. If you are planning to utilize Masjidul Mustafa we need to know this ahead of time. Please email us at cmcretreats@gmail.com. The address is: Masjidul Mustafa 300 E. 55th Street Westmont, IL All students are responsible for arranging transportation to and from the MEC Mosque. For registrants with toddlers: We have arranged for a baby room where parents can sit with their toddlers and have a live feed from the seminar room into the baby room, whereby they can listen to the lectures while taking care of their children. Note there will not be a baby sitter on site; parents are responsible for their childrens care and well-being. The CMC and MEC cannot be responsible for your childrens safety and care.

Meals
Meals will not be provided at the retreat, though there will be sufficient time to purchase meals from nearby restaurants. The following restaurants are zabiha choices available at within a 10 min. drive from the mosque: Krispy Krunchy Chicken 5128 Dempster Street, Skokie, IL 60077 Kabul House 4949 Oakton Street, Skokie, IL 60077 Point Plaza Grill 5740 West Touhy Avenue, Niles, IL 60714 Gourmet Pita & Pizza 5549 West Touhy Avenue, Skokie, IL 60077 Point Plaza Grill 5740 West Touhy Avenue, Niles, IL 60714 Pakwaan 7947 Golf Road, Morton Grove, IL 60053 Basha 3445 Dempster Street, Skokie, IL 60076 Pita Inn
3910 Dempster Street, Skokie, IL 60076

Detroit Kabob House 9021 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Niles, IL 60714

Registration and Payment

Registration will take place in the mornings 30 minutes before the sessions begin. A brother and sister will be sitting at desks in front of the room waiting for you. Simply present your first and last name at the registration desk to receive your nametag(s). Payment in full is due upon arrival and registration if you have not paid online. Onsite registration fee is $50. Please wear the nametags in a visible location for the duration of the seminar, so you may be identified as already having registered for the class. If you arrive after the registration time, please enter the lecture hall quietly and attend the lecture. You will be asked to register during the following schedule break. All students must have a copy of the Forty Hadith of Imam Nawawi with them for use during the seminar. For those of you who purchased the text through our website, we will provide you the appropriate number of copies upon registration. Although we plan on having some copies of the text available for purchase, we cannot guarantee their availability for every student who desires one, so we urge students who have not purchased a copy through us to bring their own. The text is available readily at many online and local Islamic bookstores. It can also be found online, although we cannot vouch for the veracity and authenticity of the online versions.

Biographies
Imam Yahya bin Sharaf al-Nawawi
We should know something about the great scholar who compiled these brilliant hadiths. The following biographical sketch is an excerpt from Al-Maqasid: Nawawi's Manual of Islam, translated by Shaykh Nuh Keller: Imam Nawawi is Yahya ibn Sharaf ibn Murri ibn Hassan, Abu Zakariyya Muhyi al-Din al-Nawawi, born in the village of Nawa on the Horan Plain of Southern Syria in 631/1233. He was the Imam of the Late Shafi'i school, the scholar of his time in knowledge, piety, and abstinence, a hadith master (hafidh), biographer, lexicologist, and a saintly mystic who is generally considered to have been a friend of Allah (wali). When he first came to Damascus in A.H. 649, he memorized the text of Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi's alTanbih [The apprisal] in four and a half months, then the first quarter of Shirazi's alMuhadhdhab [The rarefaction], after which he accompanied his father on hajj, then visited Medina, and then returned to Damascus, where he assiduously devoted himself to mastering the Islamic sciences. He learned Shafi'i jurisprudence, hadith, tenets of faith, fundamentals of Islamic law, Arabic, and other subjects from more than twenty-two scholars of the time, including Abu Ibrahim Ishaq al-Maghribi, 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Qudama al-Maqdisi, and others, at a period of life in which, as his biographer Imam Dhahabi was to note, "his dedication to learning, night and day, became proverbial." Spending all his time either worshiping or gaining Sacred Knowledge, he took some twelve lessons a day, only dozed off at night in moments when sleep overcame him, and drilled himself in the lessons he learned by heart even while walking along the street. Fastidious in detail and deep in understanding of the subjects he thus mastered, he authored many famous works in Islamic jurisprudence, hadith, history, and legal opinion, among the best known of which are his Minhaj al-talibin [The seeker's rode], which has become a main reference for the Shafi'i school, Riyad al-salihin [The gardens of the righteous] and Kitab al-adhkar [The book of the remembrances of Allah] in hadith, as well as his eighteen-volume Sharh Sahih Muslim [Commentary on Muslim's Sahih], which he was the first to divide into chapters and give headings describing their content. He lived the life of those dedicated to the hereafter, ate simply, and it is related that his entire wardrobe consisted of a turban and an ankle-length shirt (thawb) with a single button at the collar. After a residence in Damascus of twenty-seven years spent in devotion to Allah, learning, teaching, and authoring his famous and enduring works, he returned the books he had borrowed from charitable endowments, bade his friends farewell, visited the graves of the his sheikhs who had died, and departed, going first to Jerusalem and then to his native Nawa, were he became ill at his

father's home and died at the age of forty-four in 676/1277, young in years but great in benefit to the Islamic Community. Perhaps it was because of his tremendous sincerity that Allah gave him such success in his written works, for it is difficult to name an Islamic figure of the last seven centuries whose works have enjoyed a wider popularity or been more treasured and frequently used by Muslims in all parts of the Islamic world than this pure-hearted scholar.

Shaykh Samer al-Nass

Shaykh Samer al-Nass was born in Damascus, Syria, where he studied at the College of Medicine of the University of Damascus. He went on to study in the United States where he qualified in internal medicine. The Shaykh has studied under some of the great ulama of the Levant (Shaam) and the Arabian peninsula. He has a traditional licenses to teach (ijazah) in the ten styles of recitation of the narration of the Shatibiyyah and the Durra from Shaykh Muhammad Sukkar. He received an ijazah in the ten styles of recitation of the narration of Tayyibah from the Egyptian Shaykh Ahmad Mustafa in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, himself a student of Shaykh Abd al-Aziz al-Zayyat of Egypt. Shaykh Samir has a traditional license to teach (ijazah) in Islamic law (fiqh) and theology and creed (aqida) from the previous Mufti of Syria, Shaykh Abu Yusr Ibn `Abidin, Shaykh Lutfi al-Fayumi, and the late Hanafi Mufti, Shaykh Adib al-Kallas. Shaykh Samir was honoured to study hadith in Mecca with the great Indonesian-Meccan Shaykh Yasin al-Fadani, and with Shaykh Nur ud-din `Itr of Syria. He also has an ijazah in Prophetic traditions (hadith) from the late Shaykh `Abd Allah Siraj alDin of Aleppo, Syria. Shaykh Samer is presently a teacher in the al-Fatih al-Islami University in Damascus, teaching the Hanafi fiqh manual Al-Hidayah in the department of Islamic Law (Shariah), and lecturer on the ten recitations of the Qur'an in the MA program. The Shaykh teaches Qur'anic recitation (tajwid) after fajr prayers daily in the blessed mosque of Shaykh Ibn `Arabi, a post given to him by his Shaykh and father-in-law, one of the illustrious Shaykhs of Quran in the Levant (Sham), the late Shaykh Muhammad Sukkar. Shaykh Samer has been teaching at various Islamic studies intensive courses in England and North America since 2000.

Sidi Muaz al-Nass

Hafiz, Munshid Artist, and Drum Specialist also named the Nightingale of the munshids, son of the renowned Syrian scholar Shaykh Samir al-Nass and grandson of the most distinguished Quran reciters in Damascus, Shaykh Muhammad Sukkar. Sidi Muaz was raised in a home of prophetic love, which is integrated into his singing and performances. He sings traditional songs that praise and honor the Prophet (PBUH) and is well-trained on the recitation of the Burdah.

Program Schedule
The schedule for the seminar is detailed below. The program will consist of about 20 hours of instruction and will be conducted entirely in English. Please know that the schedule is subject to change, should unforeseen circumstances arise. However, we will try our best to adhere to the program below: Saturday 5/26/2012
Registration & Check-in Session 1 Nasheed Break Session 2 Lunch & Dhuhr Session 3 Nasheed Break Session 4 Break Session 5 Nasheed Break Session 6 Asr Prayer 8:30 - 9:00 AM 9:00 - 10:20 AM 10:20 - 10:35 AM 10:35 - 12:00 PM 12:00 - 01:30 PM 01:30 - 2:30 PM 2:30 - 2:45 PM 2:45 - 3:45 PM 3:45 - 4:00 PM 4:00 - 5:00 PM 5:00 - 5:15 PM 5:15 - 6:00 PM 6:15 PM

Sunday 5/27/2012
Check-in Session 7 Nasheed Break Session 8 Lunch & Dhuhr Session 9 Nasheed Break Session 10 Break Session 11 Nasheed Break Session 12 Asr Prayer 8:30 - 9:00 AM 9:00 - 10:20 AM 10:20 - 10:35 AM 10:35 - 12:00 PM 12:00 - 01:30 PM 01:30 - 2:30 PM 2:30 - 2:45 PM 2:45 - 3:45 PM 3:45 - 4:00 PM 4:00 - 5:00 PM 5:00 - 5:15 PM 5:15 - 6:00 PM 6:15 PM

Monday 5/28/2012
Check-in Session 13 Nasheed Break Session 14 Lunch & Dhuhr Session 15 Nasheed Break Session 16 Break Session 17 Nasheed Break Session 18 Asr Prayer 8:30 - 9:00 AM 9:00 - 10:20 AM 10:20 - 10:35 AM 10:35 - 12:00 PM 12:00 - 01:30 PM 01:30 - 2:30 PM 2:30 - 2:45 PM 2:45 - 3:45 PM 3:45 - 4:00 PM 4:00 - 5:00 PM 5:00 - 5:15 PM 5:15 - 6:00 PM 6:15 PM

The Ijaza
Shaykh Samer has graciously agreed to offer an ijaza traditional license for students of the Prophetic Pearls seminar who attend all the sessions. The ijaza (authorization, linguistically: permission) is one of the backbones of traditional Islamic knowledge, used in virtually every field including Quran, Hadith, Arabic Language, and History to verify that a student has received the knowledge from an instructor and is, in turn, qualified to transmit that knowledge to others. Intimately related to this concept is the sanad (chain of transmission) and the matn (text or, more broadly, subject), which needs to be adequately described before understanding the ijaza. The matn is passed from teacher to student through oral transmission of the scholars, with each transmission being recorded in the sanad such that for every text we have an established, unbroken, route by which we received it. A widely known example of concept is in Hadith, wherein each hadith, the matn, is preceded by the sanad, I heard such and such say, I heard such and such say, I heard the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, say:. Though the idea, started by the Tabieen (Successors of the Companions) seems relatively simple at first, the benefits this science brings to our religion are innumerable. The meticulous application of the sanad by our scholars brings a powerful strength to our Islamic sciences not found in any other religion. Abdullah bin Mubarak, a muhaddith and early scholar of Islam, said: Sanad is part of deen. If it were not for the sanad, then anyone would be able to say whatever they wished. The sanad allows for scholars to designate the strength of the hadith by analyzing the Muslims in the chain. Scholars of hadith, like Imam al-Bukhari, would often distinguish between two sahih narrations by the number of individuals in the chain, favoring the one with fewer links back to the Prophet, peace be upon him. This system is also applied in Quran, where the sanad, like in Hadith, goes back to the Prophet, peace be upon him, and the matn is the Quran itself. In this case, the Quran is taught to the student until the student becomes proficient in his tajweed and stable in his memorization. Once the Shaykh is satisfied and confident that the student will be able to transmit the Quran as the Shaykh will authorize the student by giving him or her an ijaza. The ijaza is a certificate of completion, which can be viewed as a degree, that contains the Shaykhs sanad and appends the students name to the chain. In doing so, the student has now become attached, through an unbroken chain of Qurra through the Followers, then the Companions, then the Prophet, peace be upon him, who received the Words of Allah through Gibreel from Allah, exalted is He! What an amazing religion and merciful Lord that allows us to be connected to Him and His Messenger is such a strong way!