Today I missed Suhoor (the blessed morning meal before fast) and I thought to myself, how am I going to get through this 15+ hour fast without some food and water early but then something hit me, I realized that this was an immediate reality check for me to relate to our brothers and sisters in Somalia who are fasting yet they don’t have any food or water to break their fast with. Many of them are desperately seeking help and are unintentionally fasting, at this point it doesn’t matter whether they want to fast because they don’t have anything.

Suhan’Allah (Glory be to Allah), lesson in life: Don’t complain about your current situation, things can always be worse. Yea I know it’s easier than done, but it all starts with self reflection. For those that don’t know, 12 million people are suffering from an extreme famine in Somalia. The worst it’s been in the past six decades. Not to mention, the 20 years of civil wars that are happening concurrently.

We all know our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the most generous in Ramadan, and while it’s good to build awareness, real action is giving whatever you have to help them + keeping them in your dua’s. We can look at this extreme tribulation they are going through many different ways but ultimately it’s a blessing for us because it allows us to step up and contribute to their well being and by the will of Allah this is all happening in the month of Ramadan.

Lastly, as a witness to this crisis. Allah (swt) will ask us on the day of judgement what did we do to help. Here is a powerful hadith to remind us all.

Hadith Qudsi, our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:

Allah will say on the Day of Judgment, ‘O son of Adam, I was sick and you did not visit Me.’
He will say, ‘O my Lord, how could I visit You, when you are the Lord of the Worlds.’
Allah will say, ‘Did you not know that My servant so and so was sick and you did not visit him? Did you not know that if you had visited him, you would have found Me there?’
Allah will say, ‘O son of Adam, I asked you for food and you fed Me not.’
He shall say, ‘O my Lord, how could I feed you and you are the Lord of the Worlds?’
And Allah will say, ‘Did you not know that My servant so and so was looking for food and you did not feed him? Did you not know that if you had fed him, you would have found that to have been for Me?’
‘O son of Adam, I asked you for water and you did not give Me to drink.’
The man shall say, ‘O my Lord, how could I give You water, when You are the Lord of the Worlds?’
Allah will say, ‘My servant so and so asked you for water and you did not give him to drink water. Did you not know that if you had given him to drink, you would have found that to have been for Me.’
(Muslim, Hadith no. 4661)

Here are a few tips on how we all can help out: (A reminder to myself first)

1) Build awareness! This is key. As the reported highlighted, this crisis deserves much more attention than it is currently getting. Tap into and leverage your social network via facebook and twitter to spread links around and let people know what’s going on and how they can help.

2) Use your skills as a means to make charitable contributions. If your a writer and have a blog, dedicate a post to this. If your a film maker, produced a short clip, be as creative as possible in presenting what’s going on and post it on Youtube. Send to it bloggers to post. You want to gain exposure through every possible digital marketing channel available. Essentially, we all need to extract our skills and work towards a common goal of helping people who are suffering out. It’s up to each and every one of us to evaluate our skill sets on a individual level and make something happen insh’Allah.

3) Donations + Dua = baraka combo. Try to help out monetarily, even if it’s a little, Allah (swt) looks at your intention and how much you are sacrificing. And while helping out local is very important, in the world of globalization it’s becoming just as easy. Of course it’s not feasible for us to be there physically and help out but technology has allowed us to be engaged much more. Don’t ever underestimate the power of dua, we never know who’s is going to get accepted.

Here are a few links on how we can all help out.

http://www.unicef.org/emerg/index_59445.html (United Nations Children’s Fund)

http://islamicrelief.com/ (Islamic Relief USA)

Below is the video by the UNICEF

May Allah (swt) accept our efforts, dua’s and allow help to reach our brothers and sisters in Somalia, Ameen.

insh’Allah I will try to post more and build awareness for more humanitarian crisis that are happening all around the world.

Please keep me in your dua’s as well, I will keep you all in mine, appreciate it. If you have any other ideas post them below!

It is our sincere hope that one way you can support this beautiful faith of ours and, insha’Allah, please our Lord this Ramadan is by supporting Zaytuna College, an institution committed to preserving, to understanding, and to teaching this extraordinary religion, and, along with that, to teaching a holistic and rigorous general education curriculum.

We ask you to help us during these days, during this time in your life, so that your children and your children’s children won’t have to go to colleges that do not reflect what they be- lieve, but instead receive a purposeful education where they can understand that the primary and most fundamental purpose of this life is to know their Lord and to serve His servants.
May Allah give us all tawfiq. Jazakallah Khayran. – Sheikh Hamza Yusuf

May Allah swt make the establishment of this college a success, Ameen.

→  Donate to Zaytuna College

“Let me be clear, as a citizen and President, I believe Muslims have the right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan with local laws and orders. This is America and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcomed in this country and that they will not be treated differently by their government is essential to who we are.” – President Barack Obama

Sorry Pamella Geller, it is what it is!

As promised, for two straight days M100 has given two grants.

The grants were given to:

• Inner-city Muslim Action Network DC (IMAN)

• Bread for the City

If you want to help donate for the 30/30 Campaign, click here.

May Allah swt make this project a success and reward everyone who’s volunteering and donating, Ameen.

I’ll be updating all of you on the campaign inshallah, oh and don’t forget to sign up for the webinar.

Are you all ready to start fasting next month insh’Allah? Good news, Shaytan is getting ready to bounce and won’t bother us for one whole month.

Anyways, I came across a pretty cool production I wanted to share with all of you called Sameer’s Eats. Basically this brother Sameer travels across America and eats at Random halal spots and shares his personal review.

I think it’s a great idea for anyone who loves to explore new halal restaurants in advance. It’s definitely smart marketing for these restaurants who get a chance to come on Sameer’s show. Sameer gets to eat, we get the inside scoop, and the restaurants are happy. Well as long as Sameer is after he’s finished eating. Guess it’s a win-win-win situation.

So Here is the latest Episode. I’ll take the rest of the information from his own YouTube page.

Br.Sameer decides to take a weekend trip down to Maryland to visit RJ Cafe. This place is familiar to the local Washington DC crowd and highly recommended. Sameer is in for a surprise as he sits down for dinner! Not only does this restaurant serve food but it serves prayer rugs for all the guests! Sameer was humbled to see the Owner/Chef call the Adhaan (Call for Prayer) and lead his staff and the patrons in Salat! WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!

Shout out to Br.Saad Malik for the official video production, mash’Allah.

Before you know it, Eid will come and we will look back at this blessed month and tell ourselves ” I wish I didn’t waste my time doing such and such”.

Like people say “You don’t know what you have until you lose it”, well no one is promised another Ramadan. So in these last ten days, let’s step up our game and try to stack up on good deeds, sincere repentance, perform the night prayer and perhaps spend some extra time in the Masjid.

Let’s not miss out on this opportunity of seeking Laylatul-Qadr (the night of decree).

Allah (swt) says in the Holy Qur’an:

“Verily! We have sent it (this Qur’aan) down in the Night of Decree (Lailatul-Qadr). And what will make you know what the Night of Decree is? The Night of Decree is better than a thousand months. Therein descend the angels and the Rooh (ie. Jibreel [Gabriel]) by Allah’s Permission with all Decrees, Peace! until the appearance of dawn.” [97:1-5]

BETTER THAN A THOUSAND MONTHS? That’s 83 YEARS.

On another note, most people don’t even live that long. The average lifespan in the U.S. is about 77 years.

So if you seek this blessed night and it’s accepted, then mash’Allah that was a night well spent.

Abu Hurairah (R) reported that the Messenger of Allah, (peace be upon him) said : “Whoever stands (in prayer) in Laylatul-Qadr out of Eman (faith and sincerity) and seeking reward then his previous sins are forgiven”. [Bukhari]

So when is Laylatul Qadr?

According to one hadith:

Aishah (RA): “Allah’s Messenger used to practice I`itikaf in the last ten nights and say: ‘Seek out Lailatul-Qadr in the (odd nights) of the last ten of Ramadan.” [Bukhari and Muslim]

What are you waiting for? Make moves..Meep Meep.

Jazaks to Shaykh Faraz Rabbani for sharing this on facebook.

It was made especially for the month of Ramadan.

Nando’s Halal or Haram? According to their company website, these particular locations in the U.K. are.

Remember not all of them are halal! I guess they serve Halal chicken in selected restaurants where they feel the Muslim Market is strong.

Have any of you ever gone there?

Ramadan Message from Shaykh Hamza Yusuf from Zaytuna College on Vimeo.

I was searching through twitter to see what people are tweeting about for the blessed month of Ramadan and it was very interesting. I’d thought I share it with all of you to see what your reactions are.

I didn’t put the users names to protect their privacy. If you have something you would like to share, just let me know and I’ll put it up.

Random Ramadan Tweets

1. Decided in growing my beard out for the month of Ramadan
2. Oh is it still Ramadan? I can’t remember how long it lasts.
3. Just ate, and I’m feeling great now. Ramadan is hard, damn.
4. Know your intentions especially during Ramadan. Make sure ur good deeds are for the sake of Allah only. Be aware of insincerity
5. Wow week 1 of Ramadan already over – Eid will be here before you know it!
6. DON’T: call be ‘baby’ when I’m walking in the street this month. It’s Ramadan, not Haramadan.
7. One week into Ramadan.Three more days left of the first phase of the month i.e.Mercy of Allah.May Allah shower His Mercy on all (My Favorite Tweet)

Follow me on twitter – SaadYo