Assalaamu-alaikum


Please see attachment and implement, inshallah.


Please forward to everyone you know.


Jazakallah

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Bismillaah-ir-Rahmaan-ir-Raheem.


Assalaamu'alaykum Warahmatullaahi Wabarakaatuh


10 ways to earn Hasanaat


1) Give a copy of the Qur'aan to someone, each time they read from it, you gain equal reward of the one that reads Qur'aan, without none being taken from the one that reads from it.


2) Donate a wheelchair to a hospital, each time a sick person uses it, you gain rewards.


3) share constructive reading material, each time one learns something, you gain rewards.


4) Help in Educating a child


5) Teach someone to recite a Duaa, each time they recite it, you gain rewards.


6) Share a Du'aa or Qur'aan CD


7) Participate in building a masjid, whoever prays in it, you will gain reward also.


8) Place a water cooler in a public place


9) Plant a tree. each time any person or animal sits in its shade or eats from it, you gain rewards.


10) share this message with as many people as possible


if one person applies any of the above, you will receive Hasanaat until the day of Judgment. inshaAllaah, lets share this to others and apply these ourselves..we are all in need os some serious rewards!!! lets not rob ourselves of how easy it is to gain it.


ps. Give Salaam to a stranger with a smile...that's 2 Hasanaat in one!


May Allaah bless you in every form inshaAllaah and Remember me in your Dua'as.


Wassalaamu'alaykum Warahmatullaahi Wabarakaatuh

<b>In the Name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful </b>


<b>THE ISLAMIC WAY OF LIFE: </b>


<b>Guidelines from the Quran </b>


When the revelation of the Glorious Quran was completed, twenty-three years after it all began, Allah (God) stated:


"Today I have perfected your religious law for you, and have bestowed upon you the full measure of My blessings, and willed the self-surrender unto Me (Islam) shall be your religion." (5:3)


Unlike many other religions of the world, Islam is a complete way oflife which provides guidance to mankind in all aspects of human endeavor. Instead of bifurcating human life into a multitude of separate and often mutually con¬flicting compartments, Islam requires its adherents to: "Enter into submission (of Allah) completely" (2:207) and to proclaim to the rest of the world: "Say, truly, my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death are (all) for God, the Cherisher of the world." (6:162)


<b>The Islamic way of life is based on the teachings of the Quran as amplified and exemplified by the Prophet Muhammad </b>(Peace Be Upon Him). One of its objectives is that humans have PEACE OF MIND. Material gains and pro¬gress alone can not bring about either true happiness, comfort and content¬ment in this temporary life or a blissful eternal life in the Hereafter.


Individuals constitute society, the nucleus of which is the family. Thus, many Quranic injunctions teach individuals to practice the Quranic edicts themselves and exhort others to follow suit. This is essential if the society at the very least:


a) is to be comprised of people who acquire knowledge and fully apply


their faculties of learning and reasoning positively and constructively.


is to opt to live in peace, and practice justice and equity.


c) is to show care for the needy and oppressed


d) is to preserve and protect mutual rights and obligations


e) is to be free from exploitation


f) is to ensure equality of opportunity for all


g) is to ensure that the resources of the universe are employed to society's best advantage and well-being equitably and without harming or damaging them and maintaining a perfect balance.


These have been the goals of all civilizations. Each has employed its own means and devices to inculcate in individuals a sense of responsibility and obligation towards the building and preservation of a good society striving for these goals.


<b>Today, western society may claim to be the closest of all to these goals. </b>


However, its reliance is solely on the human intellect and its laws. These are enacted without seeking the guidance of an authentic Revelation such as the Quran, or the earlier Revealed Books, which unfortunately, no longer exist intact. Moreover, the concepts of the separation of Church and State, and of humans being totally free and not bound by any Divine Laws have dramatically altered peoples' thinking and conduct. As a result, people continue to suffer injustice and are disillusioned/discontented and have no peace of mind or genuine happiness, in spite of all material progress. They mistakenly place them¬selves and their comforts above everything else. Laws have proliferated and governmental controls and regulations have restricted men's freedom and hin¬dered their acquisition of good moral values.


Our present society compares poorly with the conditions that existed when the Islamic Way of Life was practiced in a large part of the world. History bears wit¬ness and provides more than ample proof of the efficacy of the teachings contained in the Quran.


The present-day condition of Muslims and their decline is directly related to their following personal whims, desires and traditional and family practices, customs and values, rather than the Quranic edicts.


Unless humans accept the Supremacy, Authority and Power of the One and Only God who is the Evolver, Shaper, Sustainer, Owner, and Sovereign ofthe Universe and all that is in it; natural human selfishness and egotism will prevail, thereby demeaning man's noble nature and disrupting his welfare.


It is only when the individual is steadfastly righteous in his conduct in everyday life that he can hope to achieve PEACE OF MIND, through God's Blessing and guidance. This will give him a comfortable and happy life on earth, and, more importantly, an eternal life after death.


The Quran (the final Divine Revelation; being the only one in existence in its original language) provides guidance and contains directives in respect of all human activity. Amplification of these can be found in the sayings (Hadith) of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).


In addition, the Prophet's life history, (Seerah) exemplifies how these rules are to be applied in everyday life.


Thus. the study ofHadith and Seerah provides sound guidance in living the Islamic Way of Life, since the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) personified the Quranic teachings in all of his actions.


In the interpretation and application of the teachings of the Quran, Hadith and Seerah, it is very important to bear in mind the kind of society which Islam aims to establish, and to ensure that this interpretation conforms to the guiding principles contained in the following verses of the Quran:


And so. set thy face steadfastly towards the (one ever-true) faith, turning away from all that is false, in accordance with the natural disposition which God has instilled into man: (for,) not to allow any change to corrupt what God has thus created• this is the (purpose of the one) ever-true faith; but most people know it not. (30:30)


God wills that you shall have ease, and does not will you to suffer hardship; (2:185)


And thus have We willed you to be a community of the middle way, so that (with your lives) you might bear witness to the truth before all mankind, and that the Apostle might bear witness to it before you. (2: 143)


To be able to lead the Islamic Way of Life, it is essential to be ever mindful of the acceptance and commitment one makes while accepting Islam. In short, one must always be GOD CONSCIOUS - (Muttaqi). To help achieve this goal, the performance of five regular prayers (Salat) has been prescribed:


Convey (unto others) whatever of this divine writ has been revealed unto thee, and be constant in prayer; for, behold, prayer restrains (man) from loathsome deeds and from all that runs counter to reason; and remem¬brance of God is indeed the greatest (good). And God knows all that you do. (29:45)


Constant remembrance of God is also achieved by using appropriate words of greeting and invocation, such as:


Assalam u Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah - Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon you


Bismiullah i'r Rahman i'r Raheem - In the name of Allah the Mercy Giving the Merciful


In sha' Allah - If Allah Wills


Ma sha' Allah - Allah has willed it Alhamdulillah - Praise be to Allah Subhanallah - Glory be to Allah


The following verses direct us to remember God in our behavior and in our speech:


But when you are greeted with a greeting (of peace), answer with an even better greeting, or (at least) with the like thereof. Verily, God keeps count indeed of all things. (4:86)


And never say about anything, "Behold I shall do this tomorrow," without (adding), "if God so wills." And if thou shouldst forget (thyself at the time, and become aware of it later), call thy sustainer to mind and say: "I pray that my sustainer guide me even closer than this, to a consciousness of what is right!" (18:23)


A study of the Quranic verses will show that the required matters of"ma'roof' (good deeds) are no different than those required by Law or society in the U.S. Indeed, such ethical rules have contributed to its greatness. In the matter of "Al-munker" (forbidden), however there are many differences between Islam and American Culture. The present problems arising in the American society can be seen as the result of transgressing the Quranic edicts.


A Muslim is required to observe these commandments as an act of worship ¬namely, in obedience to and for seeking the pleasure of Allah. Consequently, he does not seek ways to get around them. For the Muslim these com¬mandments are eternal and no society or authority can change them.

In the Name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful


THE ISLAMIC WAY OF LIFE:


Guidelines from the Quran


When the revelation of the Glorious Quran was completed, twenty-three years after it all began, Allah (God) stated:


"Today I have perfected your religious law for you, and have bestowed upon you the full measure of My blessings, and willed the self-surrender unto Me (Islam) shall be your religion." (5:3)


Unlike many other religions of the world, Islam is a complete way oflife which provides guidance to mankind in all aspects of human endeavor. Instead of bifurcating human life into a multitude of separate and often mutually con¬flicting compartments, Islam requires its adherents to: "Enter into submission (of Allah) completely" (2:207) and to proclaim to the rest of the world: "Say, truly, my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death are (all) for God, the Cherisher of the world." (6:162)


The Islamic way of life is based on the teachings of the Quran as amplified and exemplified by the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him). One of its objectives is that humans have PEACE OF MIND. Material gains and pro¬gress alone can not bring about either true happiness, comfort and content¬ment in this temporary life or a blissful eternal life in the Hereafter.


Individuals constitute society, the nucleus of which is the family. Thus, many Quranic injunctions teach individuals to practice the Quranic edicts themselves and exhort others to follow suit. This is essential if the society at the very least:


a) is to be comprised of people who acquire knowledge and fully apply


their faculties of learning and reasoning positively and constructively.


B) is to opt to live in peace, and practice justice and equity.


c) is to show care for the needy and oppressed


d) is to preserve and protect mutual rights and obligations


e) is to be free from exploitation


f) is to ensure equality of opportunity for all


g) is to ensure that the resources of the universe are employed to society's best advantage and well-being equitably and without harming or damaging them and maintaining a perfect balance.


These have been the goals of all civilizations. Each has employed its own means and devices to inculcate in individuals a sense of responsibility and obligation towards the building and preservation of a good society striving for these goals.


Today, western society may claim to be the closest of all to these goals.


However, its reliance is solely on the human intellect and its laws. These are enacted without seeking the guidance of an authentic Revelation such as the Quran, or the earlier Revealed Books, which unfortunately, no longer exist intact. Moreover, the concepts of the separation of Church and State, and of humans being totally free and not bound by any Divine Laws have dramatically altered peoples' thinking and conduct. As a result, people continue to suffer injustice and are disillusioned/discontented and have no peace of mind or genuine happiness, in spite of all material progress. They mistakenly place them¬selves and their comforts above everything else. Laws have proliferated and governmental controls and regulations have restricted men's freedom and hin¬dered their acquisition of good moral values.


Our present society compares poorly with the conditions that existed when the Islamic Way of Life was practiced in a large part of the world. History bears wit¬ness and provides more than ample proof of the efficacy of the teachings contained in the Quran.


The present-day condition of Muslims and their decline is directly related to their following personal whims, desires and traditional and family practices, customs and values, rather than the Quranic edicts.


Unless humans accept the Supremacy, Authority and Power of the One and Only God who is the Evolver, Shaper, Sustainer, Owner, and Sovereign ofthe Universe and all that is in it; natural human selfishness and egotism will prevail, thereby demeaning man's noble nature and disrupting his welfare.


It is only when the individual is steadfastly righteous in his conduct in everyday life that he can hope to achieve PEACE OF MIND, through God's Blessing and guidance. This will give him a comfortable and happy life on earth, and, more importantly, an eternal life after death.


The Quran (the final Divine Revelation; being the only one in existence in its original language) provides guidance and contains directives in respect of all human activity. Amplification of these can be found in the sayings (Hadith) of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).


In addition, the Prophet's life history, (Seerah) exemplifies how these rules are to be applied in everyday life.


Thus. the study ofHadith and Seerah provides sound guidance in living the Islamic Way of Life, since the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) personified the Quranic teachings in all of his actions.


In the interpretation and application of the teachings of the Quran, Hadith and Seerah, it is very important to bear in mind the kind of society which Islam aims to establish, and to ensure that this interpretation conforms to the guiding principles contained in the following verses of the Quran:


And so. set thy face steadfastly towards the (one ever-true) faith, turning away from all that is false, in accordance with the natural disposition which God has instilled into man: (for,) not to allow any change to corrupt what God has thus created• this is the (purpose of the one) ever-true faith; but most people know it not. (30:30)


God wills that you shall have ease, and does not will you to suffer hardship; (2:185)


And thus have We willed you to be a community of the middle way, so that (with your lives) you might bear witness to the truth before all mankind, and that the Apostle might bear witness to it before you. (2: 143)


To be able to lead the Islamic Way of Life, it is essential to be ever mindful of the acceptance and commitment one makes while accepting Islam. In short, one must always be GOD CONSCIOUS - (Muttaqi). To help achieve this goal, the performance of five regular prayers (Salat) has been prescribed:


Convey (unto others) whatever of this divine writ has been revealed unto thee, and be constant in prayer; for, behold, prayer restrains (man) from loathsome deeds and from all that runs counter to reason; and remem¬brance of God is indeed the greatest (good). And God knows all that you do. (29:45)


Constant remembrance of God is also achieved by using appropriate words of greeting and invocation, such as:


Assalam u Alaikum


Wa Rahmatullah - Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon you


Bismiullah i'r


Rahman i'r Raheem - In the name of Allah the Mercy Giving the Merciful


In sha' Allah - If Allah Wills


Ma sha' Allah - Allah has willed it Alhamdulillah - Praise be to Allah Subhanallah - Glory be to Allah


The following verses direct us to remember God in our behavior and in our speech:


But when you are greeted with a greeting (of peace), answer with an even better greeting, or (at least) with the like thereof. Verily, God keeps count indeed of all things. (4:86)


And never say about anything, "Behold I shall do this tomorrow," without (adding), "if God so wills." And if thou shouldst forget (thyself at the time, and become aware of it later), call thy sustainer to mind and say: "I pray that my sustainer guide me even closer than this, to a consciousness of what is right!" (18:23)


A study of the Quranic verses will show that the required matters of"ma'roof' (good deeds) are no different than those required by Law or society in the U.S. Indeed, such ethical rules have contributed to its greatness. In the matter of "Al-munker" (forbidden), however there are many differences between Islam and American Culture. The present problems arising in the American society can be seen as the result of transgressing the Quranic edicts.


A Muslim is required to observe these commandments as an act of worship ¬namely, in obedience to and for seeking the pleasure of Allah. Consequently, he does not seek ways to get around them. For the Muslim these com¬mandments are eternal and no society or authority can change them.

In the Name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful


<b>THE ISLAMIC WAY OF LIFE: PART 1</b>Guidelines from the Quran


When the revelation of the Glorious Quran was completed, twenty-three years after it all began, Allah (God) stated:


"Today I have perfected your religious law for you, and have bestowed upon you the full measure of My blessings, and willed the self-surrender unto Me (Islam) shall be your religion." (5:3)


Unlike many other religions of the world, Islam is a complete way oflife which provides guidance to mankind in all aspects of human endeavor. Instead of bifurcating human life into a multitude of separate and often mutually con¬flicting compartments, Islam requires its adherents to: "Enter into submission (of Allah) completely" (2:207) and to proclaim to the rest of the world: "Say, truly, my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death are (all) for God, the Cherisher of the world." (6:162)


The Islamic way of life is based on the teachings of the Quran as amplified and exemplified by the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him). One of its objectives is that humans have PEACE OF MIND. Material

Salaams


Makka twin peaks challenge is here again. Perfom Umra with experianced Ulama and Scholars and climb the two historically significant mountainsin Makka to raise money for charity. Go to www.makkatwinpeaks.org.uk for more details. If you are unable to participate forward this email to others who may be interested.


ARE YOU UP FOR THE MAKKA TWIN PEAKS CHALLENGE?


CLIMB TWO OF THE HIGHEST MOUNTAINS IN MAKKA, SAUDI ARABIA AND RAISE MONEY FOR CHARITY!


LONG TRIP


TUESDAY 28TH APRIL TO THURSDAY 7TH MAY 2009


SHORT TRIP (Over Bank Holiday Weekend)


THURSDAY 30TH APRIL TO TUESDAY 5TH May 2009


YOUR CHALLENGE


To scale the peaks of Mount Noor and Thawr (Mecca, Saudi Arabia) in one day and raise money for Ebrahim College.


MOUNT NOOR:


The cave where Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) first received revelation


MOUNT THAWR:


That cave that provided sanctuary for the Prophet (SAWS) and his companion Abu Bakr (RA).


THERE'S ALSO THE GRAND OPPORTUNITY OF PERFORMING AN UMRAH AND VISITING THE PROPHET'S (SAWS) MASJID IN MADINAH.


YOUR TARGET


Your target is to raise a minimum of £1,500 in sponsorship for Ebrahim College. £600 of this will cover costs for travel, visa and accommodation.


Don't worry, we'll help you fundraise with tools and advice to help you reach the target.


We encourage all participants to personally pay the cost of the trip, but if you cannot then please ensure you achieve your fundraising target of £1,500.


UMRAH ONLY PACKAGE - If you have family or friends who want only to perform their Umrah then an Umrah only package is available for a cost of £850 (Long trip) and £750 (short trip).


REGISTER NOW FOR THIS UNIQUE CHALLENGE, PLEASE HURRY AS PLACES ARE LIMITED. WE WILL ALSO BE JOINED ON THE TRIP BY BARRISTER RIZWAN HUSSAIN AS WELL AS SCHOLARS AND TEACHERS FROM EBRAHIM COLLEGE


CONTACT


Contact 020 7539 1577 or


email walk@makkatwinpeaks.org.uk


PLEASE VISIT


www.makkatwinpeaks.org.uk to register online for your fundraising pack


80 Greenfield Road, London E1 1EJ,


Tel: 0207 377 6677 - Fax: 020 7377 8567 http://www.ebrahimcollege.org.uk

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem


Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatuallahi wa Barakatu. I actually started writing this as a part of a reply to an email I received from a sister that happens to also be a foreigner living in Riyadh. Subhan’Allah, my dear Heather (jibrielsmommy), thinking I might be lonely, was searching through other e-groups and found one with a sister in it living in KSA and she wrote to her and told the sister about me…masha’Allah…Krista wrote to me after receiving Heather’s email and I let a few too many days pass before replying (you know me…)…but then she apologized right back for taking a few extra days to answer me, too…and such is life. LOL!! I didn’t realize my return reply to her would turn into a story in-and-of-itself, but before I knew it, I had been typing from the end of Maghrib until the adhan for Isha (and then some!). So, are you ready?!?! Cause here we go! Off on another of Aishah’s journey’s…Make sure you’ve got a few minutes…because in MS Word this is 12 pages long! Oh, my goodness!! {{smile}} Note: Please bear in mind that the experiences that I write about here are those of a single person and are not necessarily representative of how life in KSA is throughout the entire region.


And so begins the chapter.


This past Friday after Asr, Mustafa and headed out in search of something to do, and found ourselves being dropped off in front of the Taif International Mall. Wow…what a shock… I could not believe this shinning, gleaming, marble tiled place…it was all clean and beautiful…but it was completely filled with shops (most of which contained Western clothing) in which only women would want to buy anything…and each and every shop (it seemed that there were at least 100 between what was on the inside and the two row of shops on the outside of the mall) was operated by a man.


Now lets ponder this…the majority of women in Taif walk around wearing niqab, lest she cause a man to have even a momentary sinful thought, and at the same time they are forced to go into shops selling negligees, bras, panties, makeup, and other “female” items…and have to deal with a man in order to make their transactions!! Let’s see…mmm… “Ah, I like that bra over there, do you have it in black, maybe in the back of the store?” “What size would you like, sister?” “Ah, do you have a 34-C?” – okay, right! LOL! And this guy is supposed to be hanging around all day looking at this stuff and not be prone to having a single “sexual” thought? And even though the pious shopping sister is wearing niqab…the shop clerk/owner isn’t supposed to wonder what her 34-C bosoms would look like in that sexy new bra as he gazes into her immaculately beautified eyes peeking out from the slit in the fabric covering her face??? Yes, that’s right…to add insult to injury…the “pious” niqabi has a truckload of eyeliner and mascara (sometimes eye-shadow as well) on her eyes! Come on…get real…I mean…Al-hamdulillah for those sisters who sincerely wear niqab piously…but is it really pious to wear niqab and at the same time wear eye-shadow, eye-liner and mascara; products designed to “beautify” the eyes? I mean…sisters…please…it is not my intention to make anyone upset here, but, seriously…what is the point? The point of the veil is modesty…those sisters making a personal choice to wear niqab do so, insha’Allah, as a deed for which they hope to be rewarded in the hereafter, right? This can also be because they believe that revealing their beauty to those from whom it is forbidden to reveal it is haram. So if the one who chooses to cover everything, as in the case of niqab, turns right around and beautifies her eyes with eye-shadow, eyeliner, and mascara, thus purposely making them appealing, and by default attracting the attention of men in front of whom she is forbidden to reveal her beauty, then what is the point of covering at all???? I think the “point” is missed altogether and the reward cancelled out! Astaghferullah…the act is supposed to be something in which one would hope to find pleasure from Allah (swt)…not from non-mahram males… Well, I am sure this is getting me off on the wrong foot somewhere along the line…so lets journey onward!


I guess the good news is that I have since learned that in Mecca and Jeddah you can find shops for women with darkly tinted windows that are run by women…that ought to be fun shopping experience…we should, by all means, be protected from each other!!…sigh…alas, even in the United States I didn’t like to shop in malls…as long as I had a debit card and an internet connection I could safely, privately, and securely shop in the freedom, comfort and relaxation of my own home…but here everyone uses cash…something else for me to get adjusted to!


Anyhow, the next leg of our journey took us in search of a place to eat …ahhhh… but herein lay another dilemma…my husband wanted to eat out with his wife. The streets are literally lined with shops and restaurants…and not a single one would allow a man to eat with his wife. Unbelievable… Like women are non-persons or something?!?!…astighferullah. Okay…hang in there with me…all is not lost…


We ended up catching another taxi, and subhan’Allah, the driver knew of a “Chinese” restaurant with a “family” section where we got dropped off and were able to enjoy a nice meal together. Al-hamdulillah. We were both starving! Ah, and let me say, the food was good, and the Pepsi was g-r-e-a-t! LOL!!! It was a good thing that afterwards we were planning to go to the grocery store because that gave us a chance to walk off our meal. Boy was I full! It was the first time (all the more reason not to disappoint your wife…) I had eaten outside of the apartment since we arrived so I have to say I did enjoy this part of our outing. The company wasn’t bad either… a rather dashing young man my husband is…masha’Allah… LOL!


Alas, I would be remiss in forgetting to acknowledge that we have encountered some very nice taxi drivers during our stay here…Al-hamdulillah. That seems to be a recurring theme in my life over the last three years…discovering nice and helpful taxi drivers! Two of my dearest friends in the U.S. are Muslim cab drivers…subhan’Allah…one affectionately refers to me as a “headache” (hahaha) and the other one (from Morocco) has told his family that he has an adopted sister in the U.S. who looks out for him so they need not worry about him any more…masha’Allah… In return, when I was getting ready to leave, I asked my Moroccan brother to take care of my adopted daughter, Hanane (also from Morocco), the same way he took care of me…and, Al-hamdulillah, she reports to me that he has done just that. May Allah (swt) reward him for his faithfulness and good deeds in this life and in Jannah. (FYI - I was one of those rare people in the U.S. who did not drive…living in Washington, D.C., driving and parking was such a wretched headache that I just opted out! LOL!! The plus side to my not driving is that in KSA I can’t drive anyway, so I’m, Al-hamdulillah, at least already accustomed to that!


Anyhow, my not driving is how I developed a network of cab/friends and Muslim brothers and sisters to adopt as my new family.) After eating my husband and I left the restaurant and headed just up the block to a grocery store we had frequented a couple of times before. This one is kind of like a mini Wal-Mart…way mini! LOL!! Oh, I just remembered something! One of the things I just love (I say this facetiously), about this grocery store is that from the moment you pick up the first item off a shelf, you just have to forget the urge to go and wash your hands until you get home. Everything is dusty!! Mmm…this could be a plus to wearing gloves…except the black fabric would just show all the dirt!


By this time it was approaching Maghrib, and knowing that it would be useless to begin our shopping because the businesses would be closing for salat, we opted instead to walk further down towards the “mosque”…


There are two different grocery stores that we take turns frequenting for our shopping. The store we were going to on this occasion is in the vicinity of a KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken, of all things…), and an ATM machine at which I can withdraw money from my U.S. Citibank account, Al-hamdulillah! Across the street from the grocery store is a huge “park” of sorts. As I have come to understand it, with the “weekend” being Thursday and Friday here, many families gather at these parks, which you can readily find as they are sporadically laced throughout the city.


The first time we shopped at this particular grocery store it was between Maghrib and Isha, so when the adhan called us to prayer, we headed in the direction of a nearby mosque. (One thing about Taif, there is no shortage of mosques!) Well, wouldn’t you know…we had been “told” that we could find a place for sisters to pray…but I’ll be darn if we could figure out where it was squirreled away!! I got completely frustrated; I was the only sister “lurking” around outside looking for a place to pray! Abandoning my fruitless search, I ended up walking back up to the park to sit by myself and waited for my husband to return from praying with the brothers… Subhan’Allah…the men had a place to pray…


Upon arriving at the park I found a little place where a husband and wife had arranged boxes and boxes of shoes for sale. It reminded me of a scene from the local flea market in a city that I used to live in back home. There were only sisters and their daughters gathered around the boxes, as it seemed that the shoes were for the female gender, so I thought I would look as inconspicuous as possible (with my glaringly white American face…), by sitting on the curb of the sidewalk beside where the couple had set up their shoe stand.


As fate would have it (or in other words, it seems to be typical that if I am sitting somewhere, somehow children seem to migrate around me), a very young (maybe 2 or 3-years old) brother and sister (about 4 or 5-years old), snacking on small packs of potato chips, seemed to find entertainment in “chatting” with me while I sat smiling, and looking at her wide-eyed, as if I understood what she was saying. Well, the little girl seemed chatty anyway…LOL…the little boy just seemed to bashfully stare at me with equally wide-eyes…LOL…oddly enough that seems typical, too. {{smile}}


Anyway, the second adhan announcing the commencement of Isha started, and when it finished the most adorable and astounding thing happened. The little girl, in her sweet little Arabic tongue, immediately began to recite Surah Al-Fatihah, followed by short little surah’s and Allah Akbar’s that sounded so melodious that I just wanted her to keep reciting…it was so beautiful, masha’Allah, and yet melancholy at the same time. There we were in a park crowded with people busy visiting, eating and shopping, and from amongst them a single voice prayed… Is this where I say “Astaghferullah” or “Al-Hamdulillah”????


Anyway, back to the "current" grocery store adventure...(sorry, I get side-tracked sometimes!)


As Mustafa and I were preparing to leave the Chinese restaurant to embark on our latest trip to the grocery store, we sat there trying to decide which one we would go to, and ended up choosing the one in the vicinity of the “mosque” referred to above, as it was closest to the restaurant; within walking distance, in fact. Thus started our second misadventure to the same mosque…


As predicted, the adhan for Maghrib sounded just as we approached the grocery store. I was secretly dismayed as I recalled our prior experience with the “mosque”, but my husband seemed convinced that if we walked back over there a second time, we would somehow magically find what we did not find before. And once again, I walked back up to the park filled with people oblivious to the call for prayer, and waited while my husband prayed in the “mosque” that wouldn’t accommodate his traveling wife.


In retrospect, having made wudu at the Chinese restaurant before we left from eating our dinner, I have to say that on this occasion, I noted (out of all the people crowded into the park), three sisters who stood in their own short line to pray Maghrib together. Wallah, I wish I had had the courage to just go ahead and fall into line with them. But as it happened, in that precise moment, I was still in an agitated state from my experience at the mosque. Combined with the fact that I had once again found myself alone in a strange place waiting for my husband, together with the additional circumstance that I happened to be only one of a handful of women brave enough (or brazen enough), to wear just hijab and not niqab; I was virtually paralyzed with anxiety.


This anxiety was exacerbated by the fact that two children, a boy and girl that I assumed to be brother and sister, had been passing through the area where I was waiting selling scarves. I had been watching them pass among the small groups of women, asking if anyone wanted to buy a scarf, and when they were moving from the small group nearest to me, they passed right by me and moved on to the next group, as if I had not been there at all…and truth be told…I had intended to buy a scarf from them just for general principles…and not because I actually needed one…but just out of the kindness and generosity of my heart…just as I also know that I would have insisted that they accept more for the scarf than they were actually asking…just because…instead, I turned away from the scene in front of me and sat down on the edge of the curb along the sidewalk facing the street to wait for my husband. Al-hamdulillah, Allah (swt) in His infinite mercy allows us credit for a good intention even if something happens negating our ability to fulfill it.


After salat my husband found his way up the winding sidewalk from the mosque to the front of the park to retrieve me…gosh…at this point I don’t think anyone would doubt that I felt like little more than a piece of lost luggage…


Note: We are still car-less and dependant on taxis so grocery shopping is always a truckload of fun. Not… Most of the time my husband goes alone and just gets enough things for us to “survive” (which I am so completely sick of…“surviving”, that is…), and if I’m lucky, once a week, or in the alternative, once every other week, I get to accompany him so I can listen to him complain about the trip being a headache because he had to take me with him (astaghferullah…he’s just a man…). My husband’s annoyance stems from the fact that my traveling with him necessitates his getting a taxi when, if he went alone, he could catch a ride with someone leaving the hospital complex, which would cost him nothing, and on the return trip he would only pay 5 riyals for a ride in one of those little diesel engine, pollution emitting, two-seater, Suzuki taxi/trucks that he refers to as a “debaab” – which, by the time he gets home, has him smelling so badly of fumes that he has to go straight to the shower while I put away the groceries. (Mmm…I think that was a “run-on” sentence! LOL!!)


To add insult to injury, even if we run out of groceries, if my husband is “on-call” he cannot leave the hospital grounds because the signal for his pager will not travel beyond the mountains that the campus is surrounded by. So, on this particular Friday evening, we really needed to get a good supply of things because of his being on call for the next few days, and with us being together, I thought it would be a productive shopping trip. The last time we made the shopping trip I just waited at the front of the store with my grocery cart for him to return with the taxi. Gosh…it didn’t seem like such a big deal to me…the weather was great and it gave me a chance to just quietly observe my surroundings.


But on this particular shopping trip my husband seemed to want to hurry through the store without picking up too many grocery items. This really irritated me because I was calculating the number of days in conjunction with the complete lack of supplies in the kitchen, together with his on-call schedule, and I knew we would be looking at bare cupboards before our next shopping trip. However, as fate would have it…we’ve been in “survival” mode again for the past three days, and quite frankly, I am a little more than ticked off about it. Astaghferullah. I am venting now…please forgive me…I just get so frustrated sometimes because I am so accustomed to being able to do things for myself.


Back home in the U.S. I never had to depend on anyone else to do anything for me…(another monumental adjustment in moving to Saudi Arabia…) in fact, if my work schedule had me too busy, I could even go to www.peapod.com and order my groceries through the internet and have them delivered to my apartment for a mere $4.00 service charge! Yes, it’s true! And an amazingly wonderful service it is, too! If you’re East Coast, stateside, there might be one near you!!! LOL!!!


At any rate, we ended up moving through the store more quickly than would have ordinarily been possible for me to pick up all that we needed to survive comfortably for the next few days. Before you could blink an eye, we were at the check-out, only this time, with so few bags when it was all said and done, that we elected to just walk together out of the store vs. my waiting for him to return with a taxi like before.


As we walked along the sidewalk in the direction of the hospital, I noted that soon it would be time for Isha, and yet I couldn’t help but notice that the park was still full…children were running and playing, men sat in groups together on blankets playing cards, smoking cigarettes (astaghferullah), eating, drinking tea, and talking, while the women sat in little groups, clad in their niqabs, literally just staring blankly out into space; some quietly chatting amongst themselves…(a few actually keeping an eye out for their children)…somehow I felt depressed looking out at the scenes falling behind me as we walked along in search of a cab to take us home; all I could think of was getting away from there and quick.


Unfortunately, for some reason (we’re always being tested on our patience, aren’t we??) on this particular night it seemed that we would be hard-pressed to hail a taxi. As I stood at the curb waiting (something else I am growing more and more accustomed to…not!!) with Mustafa, I opened one of the grocery bags, and Al-hamdulillah, found one of the cans of Pepsi that happened to be from a refrigerated container inside the store. Aaahhh…sometimes there’s nothing like the “real thing.” (That’s one of Pepsi’s slogans…“The Real Thing.”) {{smile}} Oddly enough, for some reason Coca-Cola just isn’t the same here…Mustafa and I jokingly refer to it as “fake” Coke…boy, wouldn’t the marketing department at Coke be dismayed to hear that! LOL!!


Anyhow, after what seemed to be about 20 minutes a taxi finally happened along. Uhhhh…and these are not the famous Washington-Metropolitan-Area, Lincoln/Crown Victoria, air-conditioned, leather seated Red Top cabs, oh, no! Many of the cabs in Taif are (for the most part) out-of-production Toyota Cresseda’s, and many of them are typically on their “last leg” – or…if you can’t figure that out…it is a miracle that they get you 10 feet up the road…lol…but, Al-hamdulillah, we were finally rescued from the curbside and on our way home.


Entertainment for the journey home consisted of listening to the Arabic conversation taking place in the front seat between my husband and the cab driver as they both spoke amicably with arms flailing in front of each other…(as is the Saudi/Egyptian custom when speaking). In my Red Top cab my husband would have been sitting in the back of the cab beside me, and most likely even holding my hand! (Astaghferullah!!) Anyway, I sat (quietly of course, as women are not to be heard around here either…), alone in the back seat of the taxi holding my half-empty (give me a break…if you were in my shoes you would say half “empty” instead of half “full”, too…) can of Pepsi. As the taxi passed by the light-filled businesses inside the small city (most of which are clearly meant to be frequented exclusively by men), many of the shop owners stood in the doorways looking out into the streets; willing a customer to drop by, even if just to chat. As we hit the outskirts of town the view changed to that of barren mountainside illuminated by the moonlight settling into the evening sky…I found myself feeling quite somber…


The ride home, Al-hamdulillah, did not take long, and before I knew it, we were pulling up in front of our apartment building at the hospital complex and stepping out of the taxi. My husband and the taxi driver exchanged multiple salaams and various other un-translated well wishes spoken in Arabic, and we headed up to our apartment, at last.


When we got inside, we placed the few bags we had on the dining room table and Mustafa walked over to collapse onto the sofa as I proceeded to begin emptying the contents of the grocery bags out onto the table. Suddenly I felt almost limp, and I couldn't even think or stand there a minute longer, and I walked over to the loveseat facing the sofa where my husband sat, across from the coffee table, and slumped down, emotionally exhausted. I reached up to begin tugging at my hijab in an attempt to remove it, but my arms simply felt too weak to finish the job.


After a few moments of silence, my husband began the conversation. He said to me, "You know, Aishah...a friend of mine back home warned me about something before we left..."


I gazed blankly across at him, mustering up enough strength to ask him what it was his friend had warned him about, and my husband replied, “He warned me that bringing you here might cause you to revert back…” and before he could even finish his sentence the tears were streaming from my eyes. I pulled myself up from where I was sitting and walked across to the sofa and fell down beside him, burying my face into the warmth of chest, and as his arm fell across my shoulders to embrace me, I just cried and cried and cried…


The only thing I know to do right now is to keep in the uppermost part of my mind, the words that my husband said to me, that now seem to have been spoken such a long time ago…


If your concept of Islam is based on what you see in people you will certainly be setting yourself up for disappointment. However, if you remember that the reason you are Muslim is to worship Allah (swt)…then your focus will become clear again. And as my husband also so often says, “La’Hawla wa la quwwata ill’a bill’ah” – or “There is no power nor strength save in Allah.”


In my two short years as a Muslim what I have learned is that so much of what many Muslims “practice” is not even a part of the actual religion itself, and that somehow true Islam seems to have become so clouded, or diluted, and lost or ignored, that what I was feeling in those moments of sadness was not sadness for myself…it was grief for what I imagined Allah (swt) must feel as He looks down upon us…Is He scratching His head? Is He holding His chin and pondering what went wrong? (Astaghferullah…) When did Muslims become so self-defeated??? When will Allah’s (swt) patience run out? La’Hawla wa la quwwata ill’a bill’ah, La’Hawla wa la quwwata ill’a bill’ah. How can an entire park full of “Muslims” sit and amuse themselves; seemingly oblivious to the fact that it was time for prayer? Astaghferullah…The good deed of spending time with their families outside of their busy workweeks was cancelled when they purposefully ignored the call for prayer…


Subhan’Allah…I was so looking forward to coming to a “Muslim” country and meeting Muslim sisters (I’m still waiting for this to happen…), and experiencing the wonder of what it might to be like to live in a Muslim country. Al-hamdulillah…yes…I get to hear the adhan from my apartment window, and I am free to wear hijab without glaring or curious eyes (well, except for those who are trying to guess where I am from…the funny thing is, people guess me from Turkey or Syria, and even London…but never from America…I wonder what that says…). I am also free to pray without having to worry if I can get away from my work, but the other realities are starkly different from what I might have been imagining prior to my arrival. Like the scene in the park during the time for prayer when everyone just kept entertaining themselves, and the following time when the little girl recited Surah Al-Fatihah while everyone else around her continued with what they were doing, seemingly oblivious to the adhan…Astaghferullah…


What puzzles me the most is that everything is accommodated here for Muslims to make salat; mosques, the adhan (in stereo), even the closing of businesses, subhan’Allah. So how is it that one of the basic pillars of the religion can be ignored by so many??


Earlier this afternoon as I watched from my living room window, I noticed a doctor coming around the corner to the front of the mosque. If you are walking along the sidewalk coming from the direction of the hospital towards the mosque, immediately after turning the corner the first open doorway is the place where men can go to make wudu. As I stood watching the scene outside from the split fold of the curtain covering the window, I noticed that the doctor stopped in front of the entrance for wudu and glanced inside. There happened to be several other people making wudu, but the doctor, appearing to consider that the room was too crowded, hesitantly moved forward as if to move to the next entrance that would take him into the mosque for salat. But then I noticed that the doctor stepped back again, and in hesitancy, again moved away from the door; and, wallah, he moved towards the door yet a third time before abandoning going in altogether…I couldn’t help it, but this left me wondering…astaghferullah…did the physician, knowing he needed to make wudu, abandon the act simply because the wudu room was too crowded for his liking? Or in the least, did he abandon the need to relieve himself (which, even still you should do before making salat) because it would have meant making a fresh wudu? Either way, he was forced into a decision…to go inside or not go inside…and he chose not to…and instead, proceeded to walk into the mosque for salat.


On another occasion on a morning after the first adhan for fajr, while standing at my window perch (I am generally looking for my husband, in case you are wondering…as if I have much else to do, [unless I’m writing!]…I’m not looking particularly “at” anyone else unless something particular catches my attention), anyhow, much to my surprise, a boy of about 9 or 10 approached the mosque for salat. Subhan’Allah. I think school is out now, so a few of the younger boys have started coming out for fajr. Anyway, there is no door to the front of the wudu room and an uncovered window beside the entrance, so there is a clear view of the front area where you can sit down to wash your feet. Wallah, I don’t just sit at the window watching what is going on in the wudu area all day…LOL…but the child caught my attention…and I found myself watching intently…out of curiosity…as he performed wudu. What I saw was a child in need of tutoring…Al-hamduillah that he got himself up and came to the mosque (I also noted that he appeared to come alone), but he clearly did not know the proper way in which to perform his wudu…again, I felt saddened…


Let me interject here that there really is another reason why I keep a lookout for my husband during the times for salat, more particularly afterwards. You see…we have this arrangement. Al-hamdulillah…my husband does his best to make salat in the mosque as often as possible, but in truth…sometimes he is really pushing himself because he would prefer to just go straight to pray and come straight back home. However, it seems to be more customary for the general population of brothers attending the mosque for salat to remain in small groups outside afterwards, chatting for much, much longer than my husband cares to stay, and invariably he gets caught in a situation that takes him much longer than his liking to get himself out of. So…we have a deal – LOL!! If I notice that he is “stuck” – well…I dial his pager number…and beep…beep…beep…my husband is rescued and free to excuse himself from the conversation in order to jog over to the guardhouse whereupon he borrows the phone to say, “Thank you! I’ll be there in a minute!” (hee hee hee)


Okay, back to the story.


For the most part, I’d say roughly 6 days out of 7, my husband gets over to the mosque for Fajr (even if I have to shove him out of bed with my foot – LOL!!!). You see…he has this thing…he tells me that if he prays in the mosque for Fajr and Isha that it is the same as if he prayed in the mosque all night…now I’m telling you…this is a man who likes his brownie points! LOL!!! Al-hamdulillah! But the sad part of this is that Mustafa also reports back to me that, while there are row upon row of buildings here housing physicians, and the mosque is so close you can walk to it with ease…there is only one short row of men who appear in the mosque each morning for fajr…Astaghferullah… And do you know…(of course not!)…the one who makes the adhan, ten times a day (so as to not confuse the unlearned reader, yes, we pray five times a day, but the adhan is called ten times because it is called twice for each salat; once to let everyone know the time is nigh, and once as the Imam begins the prayer), seven days a week (well, every once in a while someone pinch hits for him…and believe me…calling the adhan is a talent, and even if our little Asian brother’s Arabic isn’t perfect…some of the others that have tried in his absence will make you appreciate him all the more when he returns! {{smile}}), is a tiny man who spends the rest of his work day in the maintenance department, and who, I am sure, is paid a pittance of the salary that the physicians here are paid, and yet he humbly serves Allah (swt) every morning (and throughout the day, of course), even if it is at 4 am, while all of these men that Allah (swt) has blessed with talent, education, free housing and relatively nice, tax-free salaries…remain in their apartments instead of coming out for fajr…Astaghferullah…


Incidentally, this same mosque has a partitioned area to the far right of the main auditorium where sisters can go inside to pray…but there is no place built for them to make wudu…in other words…you’re welcome to come and pray at the mosque…but not really…I’ve been inside there one time since I arrived and was so disappointed that I never went back.


Al-hamdulillah that Allah (swt) in His infinite mercy helps me to remember my husband's words during times of need...because if I allowed myself to think about the things I've described here too much...the possibility of the prediction of my husband's friend coming true might just become more of a reality than I care to think about. But, Al-hamdulillah, Allah (swt) gave me a husband who, even though he irritates me sometimes {{smile}}, is kind and gentle with me, and always seems to know when I need his gentleness the most, and who always seems to know just what to say to make me feel better...and sometimes it's not even words...it's just a hug. {{smile}}


I often refer to Mustafa as my very own walking, talking, breathing encyclopedia of Qu'ran and Hadith. Subhan'Allah. I was 42-years old when I met my husband...we have now been married 11 months...and I guess what I want to say here is that, Sisters...there is wisdom in everything...and Allah (swt) is the perfect planner. I know sometimes it is so easy to try to take things into our own hands when we are looking for a husband; I have done it myself in the past. But you know what? What I have learned (albeit the hard way) is that when you stop trying to hard to control things on your own...and you let go of the reins and let God's direction fill your life...that's when, around a corner, out of nowhere...you just might run right smack into your destiny...just as it happened between myself and Mustafa at a peace rally in Washington, D.C. A mere three days later Mustafa announced to me that he wanted to be with me in Jannah. As I reflected on these words, I was astounded...no one had ever said anything even remotely like this to me before...it was worth more than a thousand "I love you's" - and within two weeks we were married. Subhan'Allah.


Okay, well...this has gotten quite lengthy, so I will close with these final thoughts:


Al-hamdulillah that Allah (swt) hasn’t given up on us yet…but I fear the time is drawing close…(I guess it’s all that CNN gloom and doom I see on TV everyday). But the evidence is before us, and insha’Allah…each of us…insha’Allah…will all be cautious of how we spend the rest of the time we have in this dunya…I pray for each person that reads this story…I pray that each reader will take pause to consider the shortness of this life…and that we will each reflect on how we spend our time and, insha’Allah…we will draw ourselves closer to the one who facilitates all our needs…the one who is so merciful with us…and the one who forgives us when we seek His forgiveness in sincere repentance…Ameen.


May each of us who are Muslim seek the highest level of deen…that is Ihsan…which means worshiping Allah, as though one sees Him; that is, a Muslim must be conscious of Allah and should know that He sees him wherever he may be.


May those of you reading whom Allah (swt) may guide, find the peace that truly exists in Islam…despite what the headlines in the media say…and despite what you may personally observe around you…and may you seek to learn and accept the truth…thus, insha’Allah, causing you to freely utter the words that will take you to eternity in Jannah:


To become a Muslim you only have to sincerely believe in and say the following phrase:


"Ash hadu an la ilaha ill Allah wa ash hadu anna Muhammadar Rasul Allah."


("I declare there is no god but Allah and I declare that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.")


(Additional information can be found at http://www.sisteraishah.com/Islam123.htm)


Ubadah b. as-Samit said on his deathbed: I heard the Messenger of Allah say, ‘He who testifies that there is no true God except Allah alone having no partner, and that Muhammad is the slave of Allah and His Messenger, and His word (BE) which He said to Maryham, and a soul from Him, and that Jannah (the Heavenly Garden) is true, and Hell-Fire is true, Allah will admit him into Jannah regardless of what he did.’


Subhana Rabbe yal Aa'la - Glory to my Lord Most High.


Wa'Salaam Alaikum.


~Aishah

http://www.newsweek.com/id/190357


Army specialist Terry Holdbrooks had been a guard at Guantánamo for about six months the night he had his life-altering conversation with detainee 590, a Moroccan also known as "the General." This was early 2004, about halfway through Holdbrooks's stint at Guantánamo with the 463rd Military Police Company. Until then, he'd spent most of his day shifts just doing his duty. He'd escort prisoners to interrogations or walk up and down the cellblock making sure they weren't passing notes. But the midnight shifts were slow. "The only thing you really had to do was mop the center floor," he says. So Holdbrooks began spending part of the night sitting cross-legged on the ground, talking to detainees through the metal mesh of their cell doors.


He developed a strong relationship with the General, whose real name is Ahmed Errachidi. Their late-night conversations led Holdbrooks to be more skeptical about the prison, he says, and made him think harder about his own life. Soon, Holdbrooks was ordering books on Arabic and Islam. During an evening talk with Errachidi in early 2004, the conversation turned to the shahada, the one-line statement of faith that marks the single requirement for converting to Islam ("There is no God but God and Muhammad is his prophet"). Holdbrooks pushed a pen and an index card through the mesh, and asked Errachidi to write out the shahada in English and transliterated Arabic. He then uttered the words aloud and, there on the floor of Guantánamo's Camp Delta, became a Muslim.


When historians look back on Guantánamo, the harsh treatment of detainees and the trampling of due process will likely dominate the narrative. Holdbrooks, who left the military in 2005, saw his share. In interviews over recent weeks, he and another former guard told NEWSWEEK about degrading and sometimes sadistic acts against prisoners committed by soldiers, medics and interrogators who wanted revenge for the 9/11 attacks on America. But as the fog of secrecy slowly lifts from Guantánamo, other scenes are starting to emerge as well, including surprising interactions between guards and detainees on subjects like politics, religion and even music. The exchanges reveal curiosity on both sides—sometimes even empathy. "The detainees used to have conversations with the guards who showed some common respect toward them," says Errachidi, who spent five years in Guantánamo and was released in 2007. "We talked about everything, normal things, and things [we had] in common," he wrote to NEWSWEEK in an e-mail from his home in Morocco.


Holdbrooks's level of identification with the other side was exceptional. No other guard has volunteered that he embraced Islam at the prison (though Errachidi says others expressed interest). His experience runs counter to academic studies, which show that guards and inmates at ordinary prisons tend to develop mutual hostility. But then, Holdbrooks is a contrarian by nature. He can also be conspiratorial. When his company visited the site of the 9/11 attacks in New York, Holdbrooks remembers thinking there had to be a broader explanation, and that the Bush administration must have colluded somehow in the plot.


But his misgivings about Guantánamo—including doubts that the detainees were the "worst of the worst"—were shared by other guards as early as 2002. A few such guards are coming forward for the first time. Specialist Brandon Neely, who was at Guantánamo when the first detainees arrived that year, says his enthusiasm for the mission soured quickly. "There were a couple of us guards who asked ourselves why these guys are being treated so badly and if they're actually terrorists at all," he told NEWSWEEK. Neely remembers having long conversations with detainee Ruhal Ahmed, who loved Eminem and James Bond and would often rap or sing to the other prisoners. Another former guard, Christopher Arendt, went on a speaking tour with former detainees in Europe earlier this year to talk critically about the prison.


Holdbrooks says growing up hard in Phoenix—his parents were junkies and he himself was a heavy drinker before joining the military in 2002—helps explain what he calls his "anti-everything views." He has holes the size of quarters in both earlobes, stretched-out piercings that he plugs with wooden discs. At his Phoenix apartment, bedecked with horror-film memorabilia, he rolls up both sleeves to reveal wrist-to-shoulder tattoos. He describes the ink work as a narrative of his mistakes and addictions. They include religious symbols and Nazi SS bolts, track marks and, in large letters, the words BY DEMONS BE DRIVEN. He says the line, from a heavy-metal song, reminds him to be a better person.

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This course will be based on the chapter: ‘Virtues of the Sahabah' from the Sahih Muslim hadith collection and will be delivered by the world renowned orator Imam Anwar al Awlaki (main lecturer amongst other teachers). His commentary will be based on Imam an-Nawawi’s explanation of Sahih Muslim.


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U.S. Role Alleged in Detention in UAE


By Karl Vick


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2201953_pf.html


WASHINGTON, DC (Washington Post) March 23, 2009 - One day last July, Naji Hamdan was summoned to the U.S. Embassy in the United Arab Emirates. He drove two hours through the desert heat from Dubai to answer questions from FBI agents who had arrived from Los Angeles, where Hamdan had gone to school, started a family, built a successful auto-parts business and become a U.S. citizen.


At his apartment six weeks later, he was awakened from a nap by men who bundled him into a black Chevrolet Suburban with tinted windows. Hamdan was told he was a prisoner of the UAE and was held in a cell painted glossy white to reflect the lights that burned round the clock, according to a note he wrote from prison. Between interrogations, he wrote, he was confined in a frigid room overnight, strapped into "an electric chair" and punched in the head until he lost consciousness.


In one session, the blindfolded prisoner recalled hearing a voice that sounded American. The voice said, "Do what they want or these people will [expletive] you up," Hamdan wrote.


The prisoner obliged, signing a confession that he later said meant only that he would do anything to make the pain stop. The case might have ended there but for Hamdan's U.S. citizenship and his American attorney's assertion that he was tortured "at the behest" of his own government.


"This is torture by proxy," said Ahilan Arulanantham, an American Civil Liberties Union staff lawyer representing Hamdan through his brother and wife. Noting that the UAE had shown no interest in Hamdan before arresting him, Arulanantham filed a habeas corpus petition in November in U.S. District Court in Washington. The petition alleges that the federal government used its influence to have Hamdan arrested and insists that it should use that influence to free him.


The evidence of U.S. involvement is circumstantial and sometimes ambiguous. Arulanantham said the UAE prosecutor in the case traveled to the United States in February. He said that a week after the habeas petition made public Hamdan's detention, custody was transferred to the UAE criminal justice system, where he faces nonspecific charges of "promoting terrorism." Justice Department lawyers say the transfer lines up with the expiration of a 90-day UAE limit on secret detention.


The FBI issued a statement saying it does not ask other governments to arrest people on its behalf, but in court papers it stops short of denying the involvement of any U.S. agency in Hamdan's detention.


"In terrorism matters, we routinely work with foreign counterparts," Richard Kolko, a bureau spokesman, said in a statement.


The United Arab Emirates' embassy in Washington declined to comment "since this is a police-security matter, which involves a U.S. citizen," a spokeswoman said in an e-mail.


In the long list of individuals accused, renditioned, arrested or otherwise detained since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Hamdan case stands out. Three Americans are known to have been arrested by foreign governments at the apparent direction of U.S. authorities, each amid circumstances more suspicious than those surrounding Hamdan.


In 2007, Kenyan authorities detained Amir Meshal of Tinton, N.J., and Daniel Joseph Maldonado of Houston after they were captured among Islamist fighters fleeing a U.S.-backed offensive in Somalia. And Saudi Arabian security officers provided the bulk of the evidence against Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a Falls Church man convicted in 2005 of plotting with al-Qaeda.


Though the events detailed by Hamdan's attorney occurred before President Obama was sworn in, human rights groups and others said they will monitor his response. Obama has declared that "the United States will not torture," and CIA Director Leon Panetta said in his confirmation hearings that the United States will not turn over suspects to governments that will abuse them.


Deborah Manning, an attorney for Alkarama, a human rights organization focused on the Middle East, said the case "bridges the practices of the past, and we hope we're in a new era, but this is a litmus test."


The torture accusations are from Hamdan's accounts to relatives and a handwritten eight-page note carried out of Abu Dhabi's Al Wathba prison by a U.S. diplomat required to check on the suspect's welfare.


After being beaten on the soles of his feet and kicked in the liver, Hamdan said, "I admitted to whatever they asked."


"Sometimes when he talks to me, he's crying," said Mona Mallouk, his wife, by phone from Beirut, where she went after the arrest with their two children, born in Los Angeles.


"When they beat him hard . . . his voice changed. I said 'Naji? Are you okay?' He said, 'No, I'm not okay. They hit me, badly. I don't know why, Mona.'"


Hamdan's family and associates said they are perplexed by the FBI's interest. The businessman was known to be religious, but in the mainstream vein of fellow Muslim students who set aside a dorm room as a mosque at Northrop-Rice University, where Hamdan studied aviation engineering in the 1980s.


After the worship space moved to downtown Hawthorne, Hamdan often presided during the holy month of Ramadan.


The FBI knocked on Hamdan's door in December 1999, when several other local Muslims were approached after the discovery of the "millennium plot" targeting Los Angeles International Airport. After Sept. 11, 2001, official attention became more routine, often in airport security lines.


"We get used to it," said Hossam Hemdan, Hamdan's brother, who runs a smog-inspection shop. "They always, always, always ask the same questions: How long you been living here? What's your business? What's the phone number?"


Hemdan said that as many as three Crown Victorias began following his brother in 2006. Jehad Suleman, a friend and business associate of Hamdan's in Los Angeles, said it was around that time when his own airport interrogators began asking him about Hamdan.


No one claims to know why. The ACLU encouraged Muslim residents to request their FBI files, and Hamdan was surprised to find that the agency had started his file in the mid-1990s, his relatives said.


The attention on Hamdan came from several directions. FBI agents visited his business, jotting down serial numbers on an acre of car parts. The IRS audited him twice.


Hamdan, 42, chafed at the surveillance, so conspicuous that the imam at the Hawthorne mosque asked him to keep his distance. But confidants said his decision to return to the Middle East was equally grounded in unease with Hawthorne's schools, where gangs and drugs remain problems.


In August 2006, Hamdan moved the family to Dubai. At the Los Angeles airport, he was questioned for so long that he missed his flight. When he returned in 2007 for a visit, the FBI surveillance was continuous, associates said.


Things were not going smoothly abroad, either. In early 2008, while waiting for a flight in Beirut, Hamdan was arrested and interrogated for four days by Lebanese authorities. Hamden said a lawyer the family later hired to examine the court file said his detention was at the request of "outside influences."


Last July, FBI agents passed a request to Hamdan to report to the embassy in Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, then flew there to question him. "What did they want?" his brother recalled asking Hamdan, who he said replied: " 'Whatever they ask at the airport, same thing. You can't imagine how much they know about us. If you ever forget something in your life, a certain spot, call them. They'll tell you.'"


Six weeks later, the security police took him away, then returned to carry away all things electronic.


In Los Angeles, Hamdan's banker, Dan Suie, of the Asian Pacific Revolving Loan Fund, said an FBI agent delivered a subpoena in early January. The bureau wanted paperwork on loans for Hamdan's business, records the banker said contained nothing suspicious.


"I deal with people who, you know, shake their hands and count your fingers," Suie said. "But [Hamdan] was a very decent person, a very nice guy."


The mosque has mounted a campaign demanding Hamdan's return to the United States to face whatever charges he is suspected of.