As we all know, attending the Friday (Jumu’ah) prayer is a very important part of our faith. Unfortunately, some of us have conflicts between classes and the prayer, which makes it harder to attend Jumu’ah. The MIT-MSA would like to get your feedback about the timing and length of the prayers to see what we can do to minimize conflicts and to maximize attendance at Jumu’ah prayer. To that end, we have devised a quick survey, which is available online for you to fill out. We appreciate any and all feedback through the survey, and also by e-mail.

As you may know, President Obama will be visiting MIT today and speaking at Kresge Auditorium at noon. While W11 will be open, there will be heightened security measures, parking restrictions and traffic restrictions. There may be delays with accessing the jumu’ah prayer, especially for those of you who are not affiliated with MIT. Therefore, we recommend that those of you who can pray elsewhere
today should pray elsewhere.

Thanks for your cooperation.

Inshallah, we will be starting our weekly halaqa (study circle) series soon. In order to kick them off, we will be having a planning session this Friday, October 9, after Maghrib (6:20pm) at the W11 Musallah in order to discuss ideas for this semester’s study circles. Following the dinner, several of the attendees will also be going out for dinner, so we hope you can join us.

The W11 Musallah is closed from 6:00pm tonight, October 6, until 1:00pm tomorrow, October 7, as Facilities will be washing the carpets. Note that this is a correction to the times originally posted. Please do not enter the musallah between 6pm tonight and 1pm tomorrow. Thanks for the understanding.

Come join us this Saturday for a day of fun as the MIT hosts a Boston-area scavenger hunt. We will be meeting at 77 Massachusetts Avenue at 11:00am, at which point participants will form teams and head off in the city. Be sure to bring a Charlie Card and, if possible, a camera. After the competition concludes at 5pm, we will follow up the event with a wrap-up event including prizes for the winners and food for everyone. Students from other Boston-area universities are welcome to participate. More details can be found here.

Update: Moon sightings have confirmed that Eid ul-Fitr is Sunday, September 20.

The Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center (ISBCC) will be hosting Eid prayer tomorrow, Sunday, September 20, based on calculations. As a result, the MIT-MSA will be leading a group from MIT to the ISBCC. If you would like to join us, you can meet us outside the musallah (W11) at 7:00am, or just meet us at the Reggie Lewis Center (across from the ISBCC, adjacent to the Roxbury Crossing T station) between 8:15am (when the first takbiraat begins) and 8:45am (when prayer begins).

After the khutbah, we will meet together in front of the Roxbury Crossing T stop to head to breakfast at The Friendly Toast restaurant near Kendall T Stop. For those of you getting there on your own, the address is 1 Kendall Sq, Cambridge, MA 02139. If you think you might come to breakfast, please RSVP ASAP to Laila Wahedi, so we can get an idea for reservations. Being that it will be Sunday morning, it is likely that it will be difficult to easily find seats without reservations. If you forget to RSVP, please still come, but if you think you will come, please RSVP.

In the evening, we will also be hosting an International Dessert Night and Eid Social tomorrow night (Sunday night), after sunset, from 8-10pm. So, even if moon sightings place Eid on Monday, you can still join the MSA in the festivities. And, regardless, the MIT-MSA wishes you Eid Mubarak.