Summer Camps Nurturing a Sound Heart Sign Up for Muslim Youth Camps Today!

BY ALAA ABDELDAIEM

THEY’RE BACK!

After giving campers a taste of MYNA (Muslim Youth of North America) over a series of three-day spring break camps, something bigger and better is just around the corner. MYNA is hosting six week-long summer retreats across the nation in July and August.

Whether you live in the Midwest or on the West Coast, by the beach in Florida or near a busy metropolis like New York, summer camps are a wonderful opportunity for Muslim youth to come together. The objective of these camps is to unite under the guidance and with blessings of God. With that in mind, MYNA will be hosting camps in Indiana, California, Texas, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin from July 23 to August 5.

For one week, campers and counselors alike will be given an experience of a lifetime. They’ll listen to speakers like Ustadha Aatifa Shareef, Ustadha Khadijah Bari, Br. Habeeb Quadri, Mufti Hussain Kamani, and more, getting access to knowledge that may usually be hard to attain. They’ll engage in interactive workshops and deep discussions, learning to view a topic from a perspective they otherwise may not have known.

The 2023 summer camp theme “A Sound Heart is inspired by this hadith of the Prophet ((salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam). “There lies within the body a piece of flesh. If it is sound, the whole body is sound; and if it is corrupted, the whole body is corrupted. Verily this piece is the heart.” (Al-Bukhari, 52 and Muslim, 1599).

The Prophet Ibrahim prays in the Qur’an, “…Oh God, do not allow me to be put to shame, on the day when all will be brought forth, on the day when nothing will avail anyone from money or children except he who comes to God with a sound heart (that is saleem). (26:87–9).”

WHAT IS A SALEEM (SOUND) HEART?

Al-qalb-al-saleem is what can give you the power to stay grounded as you move through the challenges of life. It is what can keep you in a state of gratitude at all times. It is how can you adopt and maintain a zoomed out perspective that allows for judgements and reflections to be made without emotions clouding your rational thoughts. A sound heart is free from any blemish, illness, or issue. It recognizes life for what it is: a test for the believer, a place to worship and to practice patience while the promise of happiness awaits in the hereafter.

While many of us focus on how to keep our physical bodies healthy, we pay little attention to what it means to have a healthy, sound heart. This weeklong camp will allow campers to explore the foundations of tazkiyah (purification of the heart), and the signs, symptoms, and cures of some of the most common and detrimental spiritual diseases.

Youth will also face their fears and learn to love their fellow brother or sister for His sake, jumping off of a zipline and creating lasting memories around a bonfire. They’ll learn what it means to have a second family, a second home, chanting and voicing their MYNA spirit by the end of the week.

Most importantly, they’ll come together to achieve one goal: change. Improving the world around us begins with improving ourselves, and while the ultimate journey on His path may be a long one, youth can take that first step with MYNA this summer. Why wait? We are not just the future.

We are the present.

Join us to take a deep dive on this essential prophetic practice and cultivate your consciousness and character, spirituality, and morality as Young Muslims in America. ih