What I urge is moderation. Is that such an unfamiliar concept? Or did you not read my post at all?

hmmm..taking your argument to its logical conclusion would mean that Hajj is also a waste .....it is the largest amount of muslims worshipping together and costs millions $$$ to hold.....islam is deeply community based and I really don't think its a waste of money or resources to bring the ummah together once in a while..

Well, I try to get in as much worship as I can during the last half of Ramadan mainly b/c half of it is already gone. This Ramadan is significantly different for me than last year, however, and there may be a JE on exactly how. For now, I know that it's different- better in some ways, harder in some others, but alhamdulillah.

nakia- lol. you should publish that. it's what no one verbalizes but everyone should logically deduce.

Muslims have had more opinions on any matter than Baskin Robbins has flavors. There is a happy medium between isolation and overcrowding the largest spaces in the city, and it's probably going to look like having groups of varying sizes meet throughout the area. Even if we do have a very large Islamic center, about the size of our larger stadia, it would be very inefficient to build a space that large to only be used about three times a year, unless it was also open to other groups. Having a few large gatherings, and a few hundred small- medium ones would be the best way to handle it, as no one I know around here has money to burn, and I'm not sure if folks want to build a Muslim-owned publicly available stadium.

Hey thanks for the info. I did not even know that there were two schools of thought on this matter. Yes its a good idea to have it be ambigious then.

How'v you been? I'v been working, which has severely cut into my naseebing time :)

z- dude, long time. i was just thinkin of you the other day.

i think "searching" for lailatul-qadr refers to one school of thought that says that it could be any of the odd nights in the last 10 days of ramadan. other schools of thought specifically say it is the 27th night. so i think the title of the event is a politically correct one that includes both schools of thought. but the fact that the event is on the 27th night and not all of the odd nights also implies that the school of thought that isb follows is one that promotes the idea that lailatul-qadr is on the 27th night.

i think in the end, the idea is to bring a large group of muslims together to worship together. worshipping together is often very powerful for people, especially some who have been through very difficult times and find isolation difficult. (but chillin and praying w/ 3000 ppl is going a bit over the top if you ask me).

i also don't agree that huge amounts of money should be spent on any such events.... but cost is unfortunately a side-effect of any large event until we have our own islamic center that can accommodate such a large crowd.

much love to you all. please keep me in your prayers during these last few nights of ramadan (and after that, too :) ) inshaAllah i'll do the same.

What does this mean? finding Lailatul Quadar? isn't it just the last week of Ramadan?