Noon Academy in Brampton was our stop on Night 27 of Ramadan 2022.
Noon Academy’s Laylatul Qadr program was listed as a spiritual evening of I’ATIKAF which will include Isha salah, Tarawih, Quran, Dhikr, and lectures,
Hosted by Shaikh Waleed Almakee and guests.
What was not officially listed in the night’s program was the Khatm Al Qur’an.
Whoops!
Noon Academy’s Masjid was full, very full, but not packed, when we arrived shortly before the scheduled 10 o’clock Isha Prayer iqamah time.
Children were running around, their voices and velocity creating a buzz, something not experienced during this entire Ramadan, until tonight…
The 27th Night of Ramadan, a possible Laylatul Qadr.
The sister’s half of the room, which normally has no physical barrier whatsoever betweem them and the brother’s side, tonight had a number of long tables set up, dividing the room.
Earlier, there was a Community Iftar at Noon, and the Iftar Dinner were made available atop these table tops.
When we arrived, there was Tim Horton’s coffee in place of the earlier Iftar spread.
My brother and I brought our two NEW prayers mats, gifted us to by our mom ealier in the day.
Sunnah Prayer before Salat Al Isha.
Being a Muslim Labyrinth Maker,
I am often wearing my Pac-Man socks…
Tonight I am praying in them.
Shaikh Waleed’s walls are regularly repainted, allowing the impression that Noon Academy is somehow always New.
In recent Ramadan days, Islamic Geometry in gold leaf colour has been added in the wall behind the mimbar.
The ambiance of looking towards the front of the prayer hall is subtle and different than when I was here on Night 4 of Ramadan 2022 when I was here for Isha and Taraweeh.
Adhan Al Isha, Call to The Night Prayer.
Wait.
Look again at this Adhan being called.
It is the 27th Night of Ramadan.
Tonight is one of the odd numbered nights in the last ten nights of Ramadan.
Tonight is the most emphasized candidates of the five possibilities for fiding the Annual Night of Power.
It might be Laylatul Qadr.
Shaikh Waleed has brought a young muslim boy to the microphone, inviting him to make the Call to Isha Prayer.
No biggie.
Where else in Brampton, where else in Canada, on this 27th night, at this prayer time, is a young boy calling the Adhan on Laylatul Qadr ?
And THAT is the difference found almost hidden in plain sight at Noon Academy.
Noon Academy is an Islamic School.
Noon Academy is also the first Islamic High School in Brampton.
And like a Teaching Hospital, Noon Academy is also a Teaching Masjid.
Imagine all those young muslims running around inside this masjid, you can hear their voices in background of my brief recording of the Adhan being called.
The are seeing, and hearing, one of their fellow single digit years old friends Calling Adhan.
No biggie.
It’s something normal.
You can turn an Islamic School into a Masjid, or have a masjid adjacent to it.
It is very difficult to turn a Masjid into a proper Islamic School.
Noon Academy, and Shaikh Waleed, got it right the first time.
Three of those young voices heard upon entry to the Masjid, have slowed down and now stand in the line ahead of us.
It is time for Salat Al Isha, the time for The Night Prayer on the 27th Night of Ramadan.
After Isha, before Taraweeh, we are watching Duas projected on the wall.
This is a Sunni Masjid, but Duas projected on the front wall, is something I have often seen during my 30 Masjids visit to Shia Masjids and Islamic Centres.
Our communal reading of the writing on the wall for a very brief moment took me outside of the present and into the feeling of previous nights at distant masjids, not any one specifically, just a feeling.
This part of the night was cool.
A Naat, or religious chant, was sung in Arabic, Urdu, and Panjabi.
Using place names and descriptions, the brother took us all on a virtual Ziyarat, from Makkah, to Madinah.
He would describe to us a location using just enough detail that we could see in ourselves standing there in our mind’s eye, then he began or continued his multi-lingual Naat.
Listening to the young people speak I gradually realize Noon Academy is somewhere between the Come as you are, Islam as it is experience found inside the The Ta’Leef Collective in Fremont, Caliornia, and the Teaching Masjid that is the Zawiyah Foundation in Vancouver.
So if you want some of that experience, save the airfare and hop onto the Züm Bus Rapid Transit route 501 on Queen Street in Brampton, exit at Rutherford Road and walk South to Number 12.
