Al-hamdu li-llah. The first of two sessions of the annual "Essentials Workshop"--a brief intensive that the Muslim community at Harvard has been holding every year, at least once a year, for the last few years--took place last Fri. Although I was late again (may Allah forgive me and reward the attendees for their patience!), I think that it was beneficial. May Allah accept! Part Two will be this Fri. in sha'Allah.

As I have been presenting for years, it is a concise presentation of the personal obligations (furud `ayn) that every mature Muslim should beb aware of and perform, focused through the lens of the famous Gabrielian Hadith (hadith jibril). In the past, I have used the Hadrami Shafi`i primers al-Risalat al-Jami`a or Safinat al-Najah, in addition to the text (matn) of the hadith, but this time we focused almost exclusivley on the text of the hadith, with indicant-texts and supporting texts from the Qur'an and Sunna mention as I was able.