Travel diary- Umra 2016

December 6, 2016

Alhamdulilla it is only through the grace and the mercy of the Almighty that we completed our umra with ease. Taqabbal Allah minna wa minkum sali7al 3amaal. May Allah accept all our efforts. We received excellent service from Saudi airlines at O R Tambo international airport. On boarding the flight we were allocated with seats that had more leg space than expected. The seats were also located adjacent to the lavatories for convenience. I must admit though that as a Muslim woman I am quite disgusted and embarrassed at how fellow Muslims utilize the toilets without giving a damn about the next person. The poor stewards and air hostesses spent half their time trying to fix up blocked toilets and clean up wet floors. What the hell does a person do in a plane toilet for more than twenty minutes. We need to address these kind of issues within our communities. We need to educate people about basic hygiene and cleanliness when travelling.I sat next to an elderly lady from Bangladesh. She was returning to her country of birth after spending three months with her son and nephew. Her son is an engineer working for a well known corporate company and her nephew is a specialist doctor residing in Pretoria.In general our South African Muslims are very judgemental. Anyone who does not conform to a particular standard dress code is automatically looked down upon and ignored. Hundreds of people walked right pass this elderly lady but no one bothered to make salaam or greet her. She was dressed in a sari with the one end of the elegant attire adorning her head. Her English was not fluent and hence we conversed in Hindi for the duration of the trip. She told me colourful stories of her childhood that lit up her face. Her bright smile quickly turned into tears as she spoke about her husbands death more than 20 years ago. She became emotional as she spoke about how she always wanted to visit the holy cities of Makkah and Medina. She stated how unfortunate she was for being in transit in Jeddah but not being able to perform umra. She is so close yet so far. She made lots of dua for my family and I and with sincerity and humility she asked us to make a special prayer for her asking God Almighty to invite her to His home before her soul leaves this world. With regards to South Africa she mentioned that whilst the infrastructure is beautiful the country in general is not safe at all. She found people to be class and status oriented. This irritated her immensely. She stated that in her country people are poor. They have very little yet they are ready to give you all they have. On arriving at King Abdulaziz international airport we bid each other farewell after exchanging contact details. 

Well done to the management at King Abdulaziz International airport. There has been so many positive changes at the airport that left me speechless. We were received at the entrance with smiles and ushered to the customs and immigration counters with much haste. The staff were friendly and the entire process took half an hour including baggage collection. Of course there were more surprises to follow. As we exited the airport our Saudi friends from Jeddah and Medina were both eagerly awaiting our arrival. In fact they were arguing as to who will play dinner host and treat us to a sumptuous meal before driving to the holy city of Makkah. Naturally we chose the restaurant and our wish was their command. Saudi hospitality is the best in the world. We were totally overwhelmed by all the love and care we received. Apart from dinner we were handed over 2 big goody bags containing imported sweets,snacks and chocolates for us to munch on at the hotel room. We headed for Makkah just before midnight and checked into the palatial Hyatt regency hotel. The hotel is one of the finest in Makkah and boasts a number of amenities apart from being a stones throw away from the haram. The culinary experience at this hotel truly surpasses most other five star hotels. After settling down we then freshened up and proceeded to perform umra. We completed the entire process before the morning prayers. Gazing at the ka3ba after 3 years was an absolutely surreal experience, an experience I simply cannot explain.......

Say NO to BULLYING

2nd October 2016

Last week my niece came home from school quite upset and almost in tears. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that a child in her school has a bullying attitude towards other kids simply because her mom is a teacher in the same school. She addresses the other kids in her class as baboons. She also threatens other kids by saying that her mom is a teacher and she will make sure that they do not do well when they reach her moms class next year. My niece is a very soft child. She is very sensitive at  heart. She is brought up in a way where she is taught to do her best without worrying about other kids or without being competitive. She is taught to share ideas and learn from others. I am disgusted that kids as young as 7 and 8 can grow up to be so catty. Is this kind of behaviour inculcated in their homes? When the teacher of the Islamic institute was contacted, we were told that this is supposedly normal behavior and that the child will outgrow it. NO! This is not normal behaviour. The child needs to be reprimanded so that in the future the child is aware that bullying is not acceptable at school especially in the light of the suicide cases that have recently emerged due to bullying. Another big issue I have been witness to in my own life is favouritism by teachers within our schools. I was a victim of this during my own schooling career whereby my marks were swopped and given to another child who supposedly hailed from a well known family. This was in primary school. In high school I was subjected to bullying as well whereby books and assignments were stolen from my bag on due date. I knew who the culprit was and guess what, the same idiot turned out to be a pathetic loser in life with absolutely no direction whatsoever. My upbringing encompassed working extremely hard, being focused, reading a lot and of course achieving my goals without minding the next persons business. So the bullying didn't bring me down. It actually motivated me to do better. Some countries are looking into implementing a law whereby the parents of bullies get fined a hefty amount amount money as compensation. I think this law needs to be implemented in this country as well. A child is born innocent. Children adopt the behaviour of their superiors in most instances......

Be the reason someone smiles today

8 September 2016 So this afternoon I walked into Pick n pay to buy some fresh rolls. I noticed a pensioner wanting to buy croissants but she opted not to take it as it was out of her budget. My heart sank. For a minute my eyes welled up with tears. I told myself how grateful I need to be to my Lord for being able to eat anything my heart desires. I went to the bakery counter, bought the croissants and left it at the cashier so that when she finally made her way to the till, the cashier would give it to her. I'm not sure if she took the croissants but my intention was to make her day. Over the past few days I have come to realize how short and precious life really is. A person close to me has been diagnosed with cancer. Whilst he is always the one encouraging everyone around him to be positive and vibrant, he has not taken his diagnosis very well. I can't imagine not having him in my life. He has been a tremendous pillar of strength and support in my life. He has always encouraged me and guided me in life. I can't forget his words to me as we chatted on his balcony overlooking the highway, "You need to grow big wings to fly high in life. Think big.. live large. follow your dreams.If you need advise I'm here for you anytime." When Medix opened almost 3 years ago, he stood with me through thick and thin. There were days when I seemed despondent but he use to say life is not a straight line. You must be able to ride the waves like a surfer. Watching a person close to you suffer is not an easy task. May Allah grant total shifa and cure to everyone out there who is ill. We sometimes tend to take life and people for granted. Only when they gone do we appreciate their worth. I have taken it upon myself to try doing one good deed everyday for someone else. Helping others is a form of sadaqa (charity). Sadaqa wards of calamity. I request my Facebook family to wake up in the morning and live your day as it were your last. Try alleviating someone else's troubles. When you do good to others, God Almighty will bestow his blessings upon you.The intention of this post is not to make me look good on a public platform (trust me I have many many flaws and weaknesses) but rather to encourage all of you to spread good within our communities so that together we can build a better country for our youth. Don't take the beggar on the street for granted either. Go up to him. Talk to him. He too has a heart and a life story to share. The day he is not there on his spot you will miss his presence too. There is far too much emphasis on acquiring materialistic wealth yet the wealth we should be aiming for is undoubtedly a heart of gold to serve humanity....

When hypocrites and bigots become community leaders

Islam is indeed a religion of peace, a religion that calls for unity, a religion for the whole of mankind. Yet it is sad that as Muslims instead of preaching and trying to inculcate the concept of unity within our homes and communities, some of us are hell bent on causing division and segregation. Instead of our religious scholars bringing people together by means of establishing common ground, not all, but some scholars have chosen to cause division. In various suburbs including my own, the masjid which ideally should be a place of worship has now become a building whereby people within the community feel as though they own the masjid. A masjid is the House of Allah. Anyone has the right to pray in the house of Allah whether you have a beard or not, whether you wearing a trouser or shirt or a thobe. Allah is the judge of mankind. Not us humans. The masjid is not your home or family business. I am so livid at the sheer hypocrisy that exists within our communities. It deeply aggrieves me. 

On several occasions religious scholars visiting from other countries were not allowed to perform prayers in the masjid as he was branded a salafi or branded a hundred other names. Yet, when we South Africans go to Saudi for example, we are all performing salaah behind the same Imaam. We have the very same Imaams CD’s and DVD’s playing in our homes. There has been incidents whereby a visiting brother was asked to recite a nasheed or Quraan in the masjid and because he did not have a beard due to the political situation in his own country, he was prevented from reciting the Quraan in the house of Allah by the very same crooked trustees who are hypocrites in every sense of the word. These same people refuse to listen to the Quraan live in a masjid setting because the Sheikh does not have a beard but will choose to listen to the same Shiekhs recitations in the car or at home. Where is the logic? Some of our religious scholars have seriously lost the plot and they are leading their followers astray as well. They have forgotten about the beautiful teachings of our Beloved Muhammed (saw), the manner in which he welcomed people of all races including his enemy. Nowadays when a scholar comes to SA from abroad, it’s a huge hallabaloo. A hundred and one people have to be consulted in order to welcome them. Should we allow them to read in our masjid or not. ( No.. it is not your masjid or my masjid or our masjid. . It is Allahs masjid).They will first judge the individual, criticise, etc etc etc and then permission is granted. There has been situations where trustees of one masjid condoned the visiting scholar to perform the prayers and yet the trustees of another masjid in the same suburb prevented the scholar from leading the prayer due to internal politics.

It is an absolute joke. For heaven sake, the person is a Muslim. As long as the person loves Allah, has the sunnah in his heart and the quraan in his soul,welcome your brother with open arms in unity.We expect western countries to welcome muslim refugees with open arms but we can't welcome our fellow Muslims from other countries with open arms just because they do not have a beard. In my opinion when a scholar from abroad comes to South Africa, the trustees of the biggest masjid within a suburb should take the initiative to host the scholar.All the ulema of that suburb should support the program and make themselves present. Not act as though they are more virtuous or more superior.Today it is so easy for our youth to go astray through drugs and alcohol abuse.Pornography is available at their finger tips. We should rather support the programs in our masjid whether it is facilitated by local or international scholars. Whether the person has a beard or not does not justify your actions of not wanting to listen to the words of the quraan.As Muslims we need to build bridges. That is what Islam is all about.South African Muslims are not the only Muslims in the world. We are not the best Muslims in the world.Infact we are a minority group.How the heck can the umma be on the straight path when our religious scholars are calling each other by derogatory names on social media. How can the umma unite when we fail to establish common ground on various topics. How can we achieve world peace when we have bickering and disunity in our own small communities?