Our Story
Understanding Islam is an outreach program that facilitates New Muslims, returning Muslims and for those who are willing to learn, explore and understand Islam in depth by analyzing it through various perspective.
We offer educational and social support to build bridges, foster friendships, and fellowship to defeat fear, misunderstanding, and misconception about Islam.
Lessons are practical and have application to our daily life. Submission to Allah is not blind imitation but requires intellectual and spiritual exploration. We are encouraged to use our faculties to understand matters of faith. This kind of approach increases our faith and understanding of our religion and world around us.
Our Adult Spiritual Education class is based on Imam-Al-Ghazali Philosophy and Revival of religious science. Abu Hamid al-Ghazali was not only one of the great Islamic philosophers but the foremost authority on Islamic theology and jurisprudence of his time. Al-Ghazali writes that every person is born with a “knowing pain in the soul” resulting from a disconnection from the Ultimate Reality or separation from the source of our existence. The tragic condition of Man creates a longing that encourages him/ her to seek what is real and lasting in this transitory world. By focusing on the physical existence man has distracted himself in things and pleasure to an extent that he has lost the ability to see the ultimate truth or recognize his spiritual state. This is why people are so unhappy spiritually: they are trying to relieve this pain of separation by indulging in meaningless activities that bring physical pleasure. But physical pleasure cannot relieve a pain that is essentially spiritual. The only answer to our condition is to seek spiritual knowledge and awareness of our true state.
