IEC Library

Saturday April 21, 2012

            It was a humid and hot day. I wanted to go swimming or shopping at the mall. But I had something better planned. My plan was to visit the local mosque, Islamic Education Center (IEC). I have been to the mosque several times. Every year, my family and I are involved in the Ramadhan, Muharram, and Eid programs. Sometimes we help serve dinner other times we vacuum the prayer halls. My plan was to walk in there and see what they need help with and help. That day they did not need help. Lunch was served, kitchen was clean, and the hallways were vacuumed and mopped. I walked past the library to my car to drive back home. I was disappointed- I drove for an hour in the heat with no AC to find that they did not need help. As I was walking by the library, I looked at the tinted glass windows to fix my head covering. Through it, I saw the inside of the library for the first time. The lights were off but the sun was shining through the outside window. I could see piles and piles of book but I could not read the titles or anything. The small room looked pretty messy with books everywhere. I approached one of the janitors and kindly asked him to open the library door for me. He hesitated at first but then let me in. The moment I walked in, I smelled books, which by the way I love. I walked to the nearest pile and picked up a book. It was dusty and kind of heavy. I flipped through the pages and noticed that it was in some foreign language. I think it was in Greek. I looked through some more books. Some were religious while others were literature and science. Ah, science- my favorite subject even though I am not doing too well in at the moment. I sat down on the floor and placed each book according to its subject. I read some here and there as I was organizing them. There were some very interesting books. A few minutes passed by, then hours, and then some more hours. A total of nine hours had gone by, it felt like an hour or so. As I was organizing my last few shelves, I heard the evening prayers through the loudspeaker phones. Then I knew I was in trouble with mom. I was supposed to be home by then but I had completely forgotten. I quickly called mom and apologized for not calling her. She would not have believed that I was organizing books at the mosque library if it weren’t for the loudspeakers. Thank God. I barely organize or clean my own room. I finished organizing the rest of the books and even swept the floor. I went to the prayer hall, prayed my evening prayers, and got ready to leave. As I walked past the library again, I saw a man standing there talking on his phone. I peeked inside and asked him if he was looking for something. He walked up to me and asked if I was the one who organized the library. I nodded and said yes. He said, “Alhamdullah!” (Praise to God!). He told me that they have wanted to do that for a long time but no one ever volunteered to do so. They eventually got tired and locked the library so no one goes in there with such mess. Thanks to me, the library was now organized and available for use. Each book was placed according to its subject and now one was able to walk in there without falling or getting dust in his or her face. Nine hours that I could have spent shopping or swimming was used to turn a place into a better place. Thanks to me someone could come in there and use the books to gain knowledge. The amazing science books and encyclopedias were now ready to learn from! Who knows, the next Albert Einstein could gain his knowledge from there.

Total volunteering hours: 9