We had a gift card to a seafood restaurant, and I procrastinated going as long as I could. So, today, I took Umm Zahra and Zahra out to dinner. Before I left today, I was thinking, “man, I wish it was a Muslim restaurant. I always enjoy Muslim places better because I feel more comfortable, and the environment is always more amiable. Then I thought, “Well, it’s a good opportunity for dawah.”

So, I’m thinking it will be low-key silent dawah. You know, just showing people we’re Muslim, not actually talking about Islam. But our waiter happened to be from a Muslim country but wasn’t currently practicing Islam. He sat down with me and asked me questions about being Muslim in America. He even asked for my phone number so that we can talk more about it, inshaAllah.

SubhanAllah! Allah certainly has His reasons for placing us in the myriad of strange situations in which we find ourselves, but it never ceases to amaze me.

We live in Indiana, and anyone who has ever visited here in the spring should know that we have never (in my lifetime) observed Daylight Saving Time (DST). This year (tomorrow to be exact), all of that is about to change. It’s no big deal, really. The computers have to be changed to a different time zone, but the biggest change will be salat times. When I was in Chicago, it was not a big deal because it is well positioned in the Central time zone.

We, however, are on the very edge of Eastern Standard Time zone. As a result, Salatul-Thuhur comes in at about 12:50. After the change, it will come in at 1:50PM. Now, Salatul-Jum’ah, which was prayed at 1:00PM should change to 2:00PM. Well, for many people who do not have a flexible work schedule (not including myself), that is a dramatic change. The Shaykh of at least one of the masajid has said that some schools of thought allow Jum’ah to be prayed before Zawwal (the Sun passes the Zenith), and the people of that masjid voted to continue praying Jum’ah at 1:00PM. This might not matter, however, since they probably won’t actually pray until 1:50 (after the 2 sermons).

I am curious to know what other Indiana masajid are planning to do. Will you start praying Jum’ah at a different time, or will you “stay the course.”?

Oh, by the way, a helpful hint for anyone using Ubuntu, to change your timezone, run: “sudo tzconfig” from a terminal and follow the on-screen instructions. If you’re in Indiana, you’ll need to switch it to “Eastern” time.