Arbaeen 1444 AH

Importance of lament when confronting injustice

Rev. Andy Larsen will share experiences from his recent trip to Najaf and Karbala during Ashura 1444 AH. He will also talk about the importance of lament when confronting injustice and how the examples of Ali and Hussein are models, we can follow. We live by God's principles, and not for our own ego. While we live with injustice, we don't allow the injustice we experience to corrupt the will of God, or how we respond. We speak to, and confront injustice, but in a way that honors God's will. We don't succumb to the temptation to employ means unbecoming to God. And we look forward to the reign of God when peace, with justice, will be the way humanity lives.

Rev. Andrew Larsen is familiar face and a dear friend of many at IMAN. He is a peacemaker with a high-powered lens. Larsen says he's called to build bridges between Muslims and Christians using his breathtaking photography. He calls it "Visual Peacemaking." An ordained minister he has traveled extensively throughout the Middle East and specifically the West Bank, most recently to Iraq, armed only with a Canon 5D Mark 3 camera as he captures digital images and builds lasting friendships. What Andrew Larsen has learned serves as a lesson to us all; that if you have enough love in your heart and you can visualize peace - it just might happen. When Larsen is back in the Pacific Northwest, he calls Seattle's Quest Church his home church.

Making sense of religion in our modern world

As the world advances in different areas, and as technology is continuously being improved and developed, a newer understanding and Interpretation of the realities of life which fit with these contemporary advancements becomes necessary.  How transcendent is religion? And what meaning does it carry within our developed and modern world? Does and will it still have a role in our lives and the lives of the future generations? These are a few issues that will be briefly discussed over the three night program.

Shaykh Shaykh Abdulrahman Cherri is our guest speaker for Arbaeen. 

Shaykh Abdulrahman Cherri has a bachelor's degree in liberal arts with a focus on economics from the University of Michigan. He traveled to Qom and began studying in the Hawza since 2015, and his Hawza studies are still continuing. He is also a PhD candidate at the University of Münster in Germany in the department of Islamic Theology.