Asalamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,

We hope everyone is doing well this morning, after a great weekend of learning and activities.

Alhamdulillah, we have a grand total of our donation drive for Muslimat Al Nisaa:

Jazakum Allahu khayran to all those who donated and intended to donate, may Allah azza wa jal reward you greatly, may He ta’ala extinguish your sins like water extinguishes a fire and may He ta’ala place barakah in your wealth and time, Ameen. Remember that we can only thank you, but your reward is with Ash-Shakoor (The Most Appreciative). Our goals were to raise $1500 and 500 total items and with the bounty and help from Allah we far exceeded these goals!
.
InshaAllah we would like to work with this organization again, and please check out their website here, and be sure to watch the video where a sister discusses her experience as being homeless and what this organization did to help her. May Allah ta’ala alleviate their difficulties and may He make us among those who support and assist them in these trials, Ameen. If anyone would like to help with future projects, please email this account inshaAllah.

May Allah reward all the volunteers who helped organize this, especially two amazing sisters, may Allah azza wa jal reward you abundantly! Ameen.

InshaAllah until next time Nurayn….Barak Allahu feekum.

So what am I gonna do about it?

Give up. Yes, you heard me. You’re probably thinking, ‘our projects coordinator is giving up?!’

Well, consider this a new page in my life because I’m just going to stop. What am I going to stop? I’m going to stop trying to explain to you why you should help this project out and allow you to read one letter, yes, just one letter that we received at the masjid from an inmate requesting literature on Islam and then I’ll let you make the choice to donate or not. Then it’s up to you, Qabeelat Nurayn….

Assalamu Alaykum

I’m a newly convert I’ve just embraced Islam and I’m in need for a few items to help me grow in my faith. I need a book on prayer, a Holy Qur’an and any other books or pamphlets that will help me grow in the truth of the muslim. I’ve studied a few religions in my 30 yrs and no other religion has touched me the way Islam has. I’ve been corrupted by crime and I have only recently found a foundation to help break the chain and my place in life. InshaAllah you can help in my road to spiritual growth. Like I said I’ve come to realize that Islam is the faith for me so mashaAllah I will hear from you soon. Asalamu Alaykum [His name]

PENCIL UPDATE

Due to unforeseen circumstances, our pencil collection could not be sent to Nigeria.  Instead, by the grace of Allah and then through a collaborative effort with a local university, we were able to donate the pencils to the Afghans4Tomorrow organization. The supplies will most likely go to an All Girls School in Wardak, Afghanistan, and a vocational school for Adults to learn IT (among other things). Alhamdulillah we were able to collect 5 cars of clothing and 2000+ pencils.

May Allah reward you for all the support; as you know Allah first created the pen, and told it to write.  May Allah increase those young muslims in knowledge, and let those pencils be used in empowering them with His words/religion.

FINANCIAL AID UPDATE

Progress 

Alhamdulillah four seminar participants received full or partial (99.4%)sponsorships for Heavenly Hues, and Nurayn received more funds and pledges to sponsor more students for upcoming seminars! 

Apply

If you or someone you know may need financial aid, please apply or contact us; the Financial Aid Council will help you find the best financing options for your situation.  

Sponsor

We are seeking sponsorship from any (and every) halal-business owner who would like to advertise his business in a halal manner to participants of the seminar.  Our marketing consultants can work with business-owners to decide on the best manner of advertisment. 

Become a sponsor and encourage other Muslims to become sponsors as well–AlMaghrib has an ongoing sponsorship matching program that doubles sponsorship amounts!

Win Free Seminars

Visit http://www.almaghrib.org/offers_tellus.php and enter your essay in the competition by June 22nd for the chance to win ”a free AlMaghrib seminar for you and an immediate family member,” or “a free seminar” for any person of your choosing. 

Please e-mail financialaid.nurayn@almaghrib.org with sponsor information, naseeha, questions, wild ideas, and comments.

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’oon.

A former community member of Long Island, Hany Shehata has recently passed away in a fatal car accident. His wife Sahar, and his two children Yusuf and May were all in the car when this took place. His family pretty much saw him bleed to death, since the ambulance did not reach him until an hour after the accident. Inna Lillahi wa inna ‘ilayhi raji’un.

Yusuf’s right foot was badly burned in the accident and may need surgery.

The family was in a difficult situation. He was the primary income of the family, working full-time at home depot. His wife Sahar had a part-time job with no benefits. They were paying a monthly mortgage for a house in Delaware, but the financial situation was difficult, and you can only imagine what it must be like now.

They have little or no support group in Delaware since they only moved there recently from Long Island.

This man’s two children are now orphaned. Let’s help out any way we can insha Allah.

Don’t delay. Donate now. Imagine if this was your child, your family.

Below are some of the options you have of donating to the Sahar Ibrahim Family Fund

1. Through ChipIn

2. You can write a check payable to:

Sahar Ibrahim
316 Marldale Drive
Middletown, DE 19709

Please spread the word.

The sister to contact for donations and further information, is sister Zuhal.
zuhal (dot) khwaja (at) gmail.com

http://khalidalifund.wordpress.com/donate-now/

“This week, a Muslim family in Ottawa lost their home in a fire. There were 7 children in the family, and as the mother tried to round them up to escape, the youngest, Khalid Ali, got confused and ran in the opposite direction. Baby Khalid did not make it out of the fire, he was 2 and a half years old. The father was at work, and checked in on his family that evening before the fire. This family has nothing left. They escaped with the clothing on their backs. Please donate anything you can for this family. The mother is in shock and is not able to speak or respond when spoken to. The father is trying to be strong for his 6 children.”

If you live outside Canada, you have the following options:

1) Write a cheque payable to Khalid Ali Family Fund and mail it to the following address:

Khalid Ali Family Fund
TD Canada Trust
Bank branch 0229, account number 5215301.
Address: 1596 Bank Street, Ottawa ON, K1H 7Z5

2) Donate via paypal account by visiting this site, set up by Qabeelat Nurayn 
“He who removes from a believer one of his difficulties of this world, Allah will remove one of his troubles on the Day of Resurrection; and he who finds relief for a hard-pressed person, Allah will make things easy for him on the Day of Resurrection; Allah supports His slave as long as the slave is supportive of his brother…” [Muslim]

If anyone fulfils his brother’s needs, Allah will fulfil his needs; if one relieves a Muslim of his troubles, Allah will relieve his troubles on the Day of Resurrection…” [Bukhari and Muslim]

Note: The funds goal from local students was $10,000 by April 20. update says over $9,000 raised already in less than 72 hours, Alhamdullilah. The new goal: $35,000, minimum.

Now I know many of you are out there thinking: “what if I cant tell which end of the hammer is which?” Funny you should ask, because although Habitat for Humanity welcomes those with construction skills, they have crew leaders on hand to train and answer questions.  If you are willing to learn, they will help, insha’Allah.  Now I know what is going through your head: “how can I get involved??”  Stay tuned as we will be posting more details about the trip in the coming days, insha’Allah. 

Alhamdulillah

was Salaatu was Salaamu ‘alaa Rasulillah,

Rasul Allah sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam said: “If a Muslim dies and forty Muslims, who do not associate anything with Allah, join in the Salatul Janazah, Allah accepts their prayers for him.” [Muslim]

Rasul Allah sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam said: ” Who ever attends the Janazah until it is finished, will earn a Qirat, and who ever stays until the burial, will earn two Qirats. Someone asked, “What does Qirat mean?” The Prophet answered, “It means rewards as big as great mountain” [Bukhari & Muslim]

Abu Huraira narrates that the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam said: “Who began this day fasting?” Abu Bakr said: “I did.” The Prophet said: “Who participated in a funeral procession (Janazah) today?” Abu Bakr said: “I did.” The Prophet said: “Who fed a needy person today?” Abu Bakr said: “I did.” The Prophet said: “Who visited a sick person today?” Abu Bakr said: “I did.” Then, the Prophet said: “These things cannot all meet in a single person but that they will enter Paradise.” [Muslim]

InshaAllah our objective is to provide the community with updates on janazahs in the area, so that everyone may strive to do the four qualities above (with the Permission of Allah) and sincerely pray on our deceased brothers and sisters before the day comes when the community will pray upon us. InshaAllah we will also send out special opportunities to fast, visit the sick, or feed the poor.

InshaAllah if you would like to receive up-to-the-minute news on Janazahs in our area to your phone as a text message, visit our page here and enter your information in the contact form. Or if you would rather receive email updates only, please join the google group here. InshaAllah you can receive both txt messages and an email, please just specify it in the contact form.

Jazakum Allahu khayran. May Allah ta’ala place barakah in our time, and may He ta’ala make us among those who race to do good deeds, and may He ta’ala forgive the deceased and living Muslims. Ameen.