Islamic Society of Central Jersey invites all converts/reverts and/or anyone who’s looking to learn more about Islam and/or connect for sisterhood or brotherhood; for inspiration, change and/or growth in spiritually. This is a monthly social to facilitate dialogue, questions and answers.

Purpose:
We understand the struggles converts/reverts go through … what is the correct way to pray, which books should I read and/or which author knows more about a specific topic, Sunni or Shia - does it ever matter, difference of opinions and which one should I follow…? Are just a few questions that people struggle with...This Forum is an open and safe space for you to ask those questions in a non-judgmental atmosphere , while forming connecting with other coverts/reverts in a halal environment.

3rd Sunday of Every Month from 1:30pm - 2:30pm


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Facilitator: Dr. Heba Elkhateeb
Dr. Hebatalla Elkhateeb is a professor of English Writing and Literature at the Department of English, Rutgers University. She is an expert in Arabic and English Languages and Linguistics. Since 2005 she taught all levels of Modern and Classical Arabic at Princeton University, Department of Near Eastern Studies. She has pioneered a unique comparative and analytical methodology in teaching the Arabic language which aims to uncover the linguistic and cultural connections of Arabic with the English language and other languages. Dr. Elkhateeb utilizes her new paradigm to validate her original linguistic methodology. The key result of Dr. Hebatalla Elkhateeb's work on language origins is that the words that appear to have a common origin dating back, perhaps 150,000 years ago when homo sapiens originated, are what she calls "sentinel" terms that express higher concepts, as distinct from the everyday language that seems to have no common origins from one millennium and one region to the next. A sentinel word expresses and refers to higher cognitive meanings connected with higher transcendent purpose. As a Professor of Arabic with multilingual experience, she taught her students to uncover the shared Arabic "sentinel" root words that exist in English vocabulary as well as other native and learned languages of her students, building on their linguistic competence and facilitating their learning with insightful multilingual/multicultural perspectives. Dr. Elkhateeb has been teaching the Arabic language at the collegiate level for seventeen years. Before her appointment at Princeton, she founded the Arabic program at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She pioneered the introduction of Arabic language courses at Tennessee State University. She has been involved in the Central Jersey community for many years and teaches courses on Arabic and Islamic studies at the Islamic Society of Central Jersey elsewhere around the country. Dr. Elkhateeb started "The Language of the Qur'an Lecture Series" at the Center for Muslim Life at Princeton University, and continues to offer these lectures at Princeton and at the ISCJ Sunday Seminars.

She also teaches a weekly course to converts/reverts, Muslims, and non-Muslims at the ISCJ every Sunday from 1:30-3:00PM, where she engages with the beauty of the language and spiritual concepts of the Qur'an.


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Program Coordinator - Shanaz Persaud
Have an idea for an event, topic and/or speaker? Contact me at shanaz.persaud@iscj.org. Thank you. External Event Url
Islamic Society of Central Jersey (Official)
4145 US Highway 1, Monmouth Junction, NJ, United States