Umrah Pilgrimage: An ever memorable gift from my parents

Date: May 29, 2016

The author Jameel Syed expresses his experience in Umrah that he witnessed while his pilgrimage. He says nobody can walk empty handed from this place of purification. He first visited Umrah in the month of Ramadan in 1998. The pilgrimage journey was a gift from his parents for graduating from the University of Michigan. Pilgrims chanted loud and loud as they moved closer to the object of desire. His heart beats started to beat faster and faster when he reaches the place of Allah. His eyes started to fill with tears and while walking towards the object of desire he was in a dreamy state. Finally he stopped and he knew that he was in the presence of majesty. People come from far and near to have their prayers heard. Different people believes in Islam with different skin colors eat different foods, speak different languages, wear different clothes and practice different customs all gathered in one place to celebrate peace, brotherhood and unity. The pilgrimage places like Mecca and Madinah have their own flavors. Both cities carry the wonderful air of devotion and humanity and both are complimentary to one another. Both cities make you feel safe and privileged. While the trip to Madinah, he could meet many notable personalities who are working for Islam and its teachings. Qalam Institute, Ustadh Wissam Sharieff, Imam Dawood Yasin, Imam Khalid Latif, imam Omer Bajwa, Ustadh Jameel Besada were some among them. The ever loving and memorable thing that the author could do was being given the permission to raise the adhan in two masajid of the holy city: Darul Hadith and the famed Islamic University of Madinah. Since this greatest thing happened, he believes that nobody can walk away from this place empty handed.

Precious Gifts a Person Leaves Behind

"The best of what a man leaves behind are three: a righteous child who supplicates for him, ongoing charity the reward of which reaches him, and knowledge that is acted upon after him."

Sunan Ibn Mājah

Angelic Daily Prayers for Generosity

"Every day two angels come down from Heaven and one of them says, 'O Allah! Compensate every person who spends in Your Cause,' and the other (angel) says, 'O Allah! Destroy every miser.'"

Sahih Bukhari

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Why United States still addicted to Pain Killers?

Here is the story of a young woman of 23 named Kearney-Argow who has been using pain killers over years. She had been in three car accidents and was suffering from consequent neck pain and migraines. She started using pain killers for each time. When ever she approaches her doctor, she used to get dangerous pain killers in the prescription. Every time she took Opioid stupors to relieve from pain. She says that it is easy to get Opiates here in the cities of New Jersey. She used cannabis, ketamine and some other powerful pain killers that doctors normally prescribe to cancer victims. Due to the over dosage in using pain killers, her weight fell to 43kg and she did even stopped going college. Some how, this lady is getting back to her normal state and started going for a job. Al Jazeera reports say that “According to the US government&8217;s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), opioid abuse is an &8220;epidemic&8221;. The number of overdose deaths involving opioids &8211; including some strong painkillers and heroin &8211; nearly quadrupled between 1999 and 2014”. Reports say that 78 Americans die every day due to over dosage of pain killers and other pills mixed with Alcohol. 2017 budget request of President Barack Obama allotted $1.1bn to treat opioid addicts who want help. In fact the crisis is that every single family in United States is facing the pain killer addiction, that one of the family members would be using a pain killer. And this addiction turns to serious sickness to them. former politician Patrick Kennedy said that spending a little more for treatment would be far better than filling the addicts in courthouses, jails and emergency rooms. Now America has banned hard drugs like heroine, but still uses opioid pain killers. Oxycodone and Hydrocodone were once reserved for severe pain of those recovering from car crashes and surgery, and those getting palliative care for AIDS, cancer and other killers. Some reports say that in 2013, physicians prescribed nearly a quarter of a billion opioid drugs. Various recommendations and reports say that it is time to stop using pain killers in United States for diseases and move with some other healthy alternatives to this issue.

Baba; My Soul and My Guide

Hiba Masood a writer, speaker and a story teller talks about her Baba's influence in teaching Quran and its holy threads in her wonderful opinion piece "Baba, The Quran and Me". When she was in her younger age, she had to recite Quran every day, that her Baba taught her to do so without fail. She memorizes her childhood experience in the holy month of Ramadan as well as her Baba's powerful Ramadan experiences. Her Baba looked after all his children with extreme care. She had not faced poverty or any other means difficulties in life. Baba used to talk about his life and his days spent with his eight brothers and sisters used to look like. They were like in abject poverty, splitting one bowl of food for Iftar amongst a family of eleven and so on. Baba used to say that once all the work is done, you should recite Quran in every single possible minute. Every letter you recite during Ramadan has 70 times the regular reward? That means every letter, like saying Alif, gets you seven hundred good deeds. Years passed and with all the impetuous, rebellion of youth, of spending my days in smoke-filled rooms, strategizing with socialist/activists, and my evenings protesting against the Iraq war on the frozen streets of Toronto. Of not praying at all, of not so much as glancing towards the dusty shelf where my Qur'an sat the entire year. Next year Hiba got married and her brand new husband got astonished by her behavior and activities. She never proper placed her shoes and she always misplaced her cell phone. And she blessed with a baby boy just before the month of holy Ramadan. And there have many, many more years filled with anxiety, scary financial strain and a stormy marriage of sickness and grief. Years passed with no changes. Hiba recited Quran verses just as a routine, or just like fasting in the month of Ramadan without knowing the rewards of reciting. At last wisdom came to her brain at the age of thirty and she started to settle in life. Slowly, as an enthusiastically expected reconnection, she started reciting Quran well to Allah to the Qur'an to her childhood, to her father and to herself. Now her beloved father is aging and sick and she is in great agony by thinking about her sick dad. She used to caress his dad's grey hair, press her cheeks to his. She says that she misses him a lot and she is afraid of the future. But most of all, she whisper her gratitude. Gratitude for gifting her so freely all the things, all the lessons, all the beliefs, all the forces of habit and inspiring stories and abiding, enriching traditions that have blessed her life. Ultimately he was the lighthouse when he was able.

Umrah Pilgrimage: An ever memorable gift from my parents

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Listening to Quran While Doing Other Activities.

Why United States still addicted to Pain Killers?

Baba; My Soul and My Guide

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