totallyRED

With the grace of the all mighty, we have managed to raise £651 for Al-Hidayah. Not bad for a group of youngsters who had one week to plan, prepare and raise funds. Just imagine what would have happened if we had a few more weeks of planning and preparation.

This will pay for the fire exit that is required to be able to use the upper floor. God willing, this will now be installed, just before the building is opened officially (planed Sunday 24^th June).

I cannot praise enough the people who have so generously donated. Moreover, the five individuals who have helped me make this trek possible. God willing, we can continue giving back to such a great community. AMEN.

If it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would get done

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On Saturday, a few friends and I attended a talk in Birmingham organised by the friends of al-aqsa. It shed some light on the issues surrounding the state of the Palistinion people and the holy land of Al-Aqsa. This is a brief of my understanding and god willing I shall be taking steps to increase my knowledge and understanding.

The land of Al-Aqsa is one of three holy places for Muslims. Ibraham with his son Ishaq built a place of worship on this land 40 years after Ibraham built the Kaba (Mekka, Saudi Arabia) with his son Ismail. Therefore this goes back to times before Christianity and Judaism. Many people throughout history have died trying to take control of the land including the Roman empire. This piece of land is holy to all major religions of the world and therefore must be accessible to all.

Today, it’s the Israelis trying their utmost to take control and to place restrictions. Jews believe that God appointed the Jews to be his chosen people in order to set an example of holiness and ethical behavior to the world.

The siege bestowed on the people of Palestine, the killing of innocent humans, the constant bombardment, the unlawful demolition of houses, the occupation of Palestinian land, the restrictions imposed on the Muslims visiting/praying on the holy land is anything but ethical behavior.

As a nation of peace lovers, what are we doing? Is this a problem for the Palestinians only? Is this a problem for the Muslims only? No, as a citizen of the world it is all our responsibility to take action.

So what actions can we take which is non-violent? There is plenty we can do, learn about the problems, the plight of the people (many Christians have lost their life too which the media forgets to mention), lobby the government, write to your member of parliament and boycott corporations supporting the Israeli army to mention a few. Wake up and take action before it is too late.

To learn more about the issue visit Friends of Al-Aqsa.

We are what we pretend to be, but we better be very careful what we pretend

Kurt Vonnegut

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Enjoy the slideshow and feel free to comment

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From all the places I have traveled Jordan, Dubai, India, Morocco, France, Belgium and Holland this must be the second best place I have visited to date. The only thing that beats it is Mecca and Madina in Saudi Arabia. The views, the freshness of the air, words cannot describe it, was just amazing. Having lived traveled and worked in heavily polluted cities and towns it was a breath of fresh air.

We got to the town of Bangor, 20 minutes drive from Mount Snowdon Saturday afternoon. We had stopped at a beach on our journey down just to admire the beauty of the sea and for the first time see some living crabs. Damn, I did not know the United Kingdom had such beauty.

Thanks to Abi, a friend and his Tom Tom navigation we got to the hostel in one piece. However, we did see a poster supporting the BNP, which got a few people worried. The BNP in Wales, Labour get your act together.

We met up with the Birmingham lads in the evening, had a bite to eat (pizzas and b-b-q), had a game of football as you do, read our salaat and went to bed in the most uncomfortable bunk beds. Did I sleep, yes for 4 hours in total probable due to Tabz snoring bearing a close resemblance to a broken generator and ‘Ammmiiiiiii’ moaning of our Sri Lankan roommates. Also, waking up at 3.30am to read the morning salaat.

The trek lasted 6 hours in total with us reaching the peak between 1.30 and 2pm admiring the views and battling against the arctic conditions. We faced rain, sleet, snow and blizzard on the way up and down. Typical British weather, meeting all four seasons in a space of few hours. On the way down, we stopped for a warm cup of coffee at a place called the halfway house. Having battled the weather it was well deserved.

We met a couple who had done the trek numerous times and they mentioned

this is the worst weather we’ve experienced in Snowdonia

Just amazing, it is an experience I recommend to everyone reading the blog. Get yourself out there. Everyone just loved the experience and we are hoping to arranger a trip to Ben Nevis, Scotland later on in the year. Again, it will be to raise money for a local charity.

The amount of money raised will be on this blog once I have had the opportunity to collect it and count it.

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For the last two week I have spent most of my evenings planing for the trip to Snowdon. It has been frustrating gaining approval for the activity from the Al-hidayah board members, mainly because they are very busy people apparently. We got the approval on 11th May and so the fundraising has started.

We have had a great response from everyone we have asked. Some people thought we were barmy.

15th May was cup final day for my local team Savile Youth FC and we had a good response raising £50. However, my team lost 9 goals to 8 on penalties after a dramatic 3 – 3 draw after fulltime and extra time. Maybe, we would have raised a lot more if we had won.

Planning this activity has been fun as well as stressful at times, making reservations at the hostel, confirming who is coming and booking the transport. Lesson learnt – take a deposit from people who say they are coming. Otherwise there will be lots of last minute dropouts.

Before I forget to mention, a group of lads from Birmingham, with whom I use to socialise with when I lived in Birmingham for 2 years, decided to join us too. They were raising money for their newly acquired building for a Masjid is Handsworth Wood area.

To date, we have raised £250 for Al-Hidayah. Not bad for a week worth of fund raising.

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It has always been my ambition to help support local charities whom does such great work for the community and the wider area. As a Muslim it is part of the belief to help people what every their need (as long as it within the laws of the land and Islam obviously).

Recently a local charity have had a new purpose built building erected at a cost of £450K. The building is used for prayers, evening school and also a community center for the people in the area. It is intended that the building will be used to help children and teens in the area to get them off the street and give them a guide in life by providing homework classes and activity trips.

As a result, my friend Riyaz and I are planning a trip up Mount Snowden with a group of youths. Snowdon stands 1,085 metres (3,560 feet) high. The summit has 200 inches (508 cm) of rain per year, and can reach temperatures of 30 centigrade in high summer, and plummet to - 20 centigrade in the winter. Add to this winds of up to 150 mph and the temperature can feel more like –50.

This is our opportunity to do something for the community and Mount Snowdon seems a good challenge. I am really happy to be raising money for Al-Hidayah as I think it’s such a great community building specially built for the Caledonian Road Community and Atraaf.

The trek is taking place on 27^th May. We hope to raise £1,000 from this activity in the aid of Al-Hidayah.

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