Hijrah to Jordan

Sent in by Muwahida in Jordan

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

الحمد لله و الصلاة و السلام على رسول الله

I am a muhajirah currently residing in Jordan, I have been living here for the last 2years. Here is some basic information about Jordan for muhajireen.

Study visa’s are easy to obtain here in Jordan but as for work it is scarce and unlike some other Arab countries qualifications are very important for teaching or work in other departments but tutoring English privately can be an option for income.

Life in Jordan is expensive but in outer lying areas rent is cheaper than other areas. A normal apartment is about US$300 a month that’s not including electricity or water.

There are Islamic schools in Salt and a few good schools in Amman, but when I say good I don’t mean perfectly Islamic but as in better than any western school.
There are many good kindergartens as well mashaAllah and all pick the students by bus and bring them home.

For a low budget family I don’t advise Jordan as a place of hijrah but for those who want to implement the hadith of the Sham and be around the very small community of muwahideen, who are very hard to find these days, then Jordan is an ideal place.
Jordan is not picture perfect as say Yemen for example. Here there are a lot of women who do not cover and westernised areas especially in Amman. Some muhajreen live in Salt which is more or less conservative.

Jordan is one of the Al-Sham countries that the Prophet s.a.w told us to go to in the last days (akhir zaman) and for those who cannot then they were told to go to Yemen.

What I love about Jordan is the strong community of muwahideen here and the ability to show your true Islamic identity. My son has really adapted to the people here and has discovered his Islamic identity. He doesn’t have to hide who he is Alhamdulillah, which is a very big help in his tarbiyah. He is free to wear his Islamic dress whether it be Afghani style or Arabian style and head wear and not have to hide every aspect of his belief. This is something you cannot do in many Arab countries like the rest of the Sham countries (Syria and Lebanon) or countries like Egypt. The fact is that you can build yourself decent Islamic environment. The number of muhajireen here are scarce but Allah willing hopefully it will grow.

It is possible for single woman to live here alone. I for one am without husband and alhamdulilah the community is very helpful mashaAllah and Salt is the safest area to live in as it is still very tribal and protected by culture.

The thing is there is no perfect dawla yet and inshaALlah our aim of hijrah is to please Allah swt and we do it because it is wajib upon us so may Allah swt open the way for us and assist us in gaining or goal. Amin

Hiding Behind Walls

One of my first observations of the Gulf apart from rampant consumerism, was the social distance between locals and ex-pats. After 16 months living in the Gulf, I cannot count a single local amongst my acquaintances and not through lack of trying.

I figured that if I was living in a particular country I would get to know the locals and spend time with them on a social level, but that was not the case. I found the locals very polite and generous, but in no way interested in going beyond basic interaction. They lived in what seemed a parallel world protected in their houses behind high concrete walls. And it may be as simple as that – protection. Protecting themselves from what is happening to their country. The speed of development and change threatens their cultural traditions, conservative ways and family structure. A lot of ex-pats are kafir or not practicing Muslims and too much mixing with them has affected the younger generations who are starting to shed tradition and Islamic practices to copy the western trends.

Ms al Atiyat (Emirati events manager at the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding in Dubai) said that there was growing anger and resentment among Emiratis witnessing a blatant disregard for local laws and culture. One notorious example was that of two Britons caught having sexual relations on a beach hours after meeting at a champagne brunch. Both Michelle Palmer and Vince Acors were jailed and deported in a sign of an increasingly hard line against offenders. (The national, 24/10/09).

“The barriers have been put up on both sides,” reported The National. “Perhaps because they (ex-pats) are here temporarily and the law does not encourage a long-term commitment to the country, expats can be very cliquey. There are those whose lives revolve around the country club on a Saturday and golf on a Sunday, and they get annoyed if they are reminded they are in the UAE.”

I had the intention to stay in the Gulf long term, perhaps for my whole career, but if I was not able to interact with the local people and their culture I felt no point in staying. Ex-pats come and go, and I wanted to make stable and long term relationships.

The outcome for Muslim non-Arab ex-pats can be a very lonely existence where one cannot befriend locals easily nor Arabs ex-pats and that leaves the eroding force of kafir ex-pats who have a great social life because they have managed to implant their munkar activities into the Gulf.

Most ex-pat Muslims came to the Gulf for money and duniya opportunity so finding actual muhajireen fi sabilillah was rare and sisterhood was sparse. There were a few good ex-pat sisters around, but very, very few, and in very spread out locations, so it was not always easy to meet up.

I fear the Gulf has lost its soul and cast over itself a glitzy shell and fancy lights which will one day fade and crack.

Yemen Hijrah Blog

Assalamu alaikum wr wb,

Al-Ghariba blog has decided to split into two separate blogs.

This blog - Glad Tidings to the Strangers will stay as it is, with hijrah information, Islamic issues and the occassional humourous story.

Yemen Hijrah Blog will specialise in what the title suggests. So no more Yemen articles will be appearing on Glad Tidings, they will all be on the new blog.

www.yemenhijrah.blogspot.com

We are slowly transferring all the Yemen articles from the past year to the new blog and will be adding new Yemen Hijrah information soon.

Wa salam
Al-Ghariba and Team

About the Strangers - Link

Read what the hadith means by "strangers".

Our Brothers Behind Bars

Last week after more than a month of deliberation, a jury found five of our Muslim brothers guilty of planning and/or supporting terrorism.

It was a massive trial, hidden behind a smokescrean of national security. It is only now that we are finding small parts of it emerging in the mainstream media.

The trial is reported to have cost over $30million Australian taxpayer dollars (another report estimated the cost at a more modest $9million). 300 witnesses gave testimony and the court was presented with more than 3000 exhibits of evidence during their 170 days in court. They spent 30 sitting days listening to or watching material related to police surveillance of the accused, including 18 hours of phone intercepts.One of if not the most expensive trial in Australian history and for what? To convict a few brothers on circumstantial evidence fuelled by years of anti-Islamic and anti-Foreigner government propaganda to life imprisonment.

Let them spend their money and Allah will make them regret it later as Allah swt revealed to us in Surat al-Anfal:36 when He said,

"Verily, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to prevent (people) from the Path of Allah, and they will continue to spend it but in the end it will become an anguish for them. Then they will be overcome. And those who disbelieve will be gathered into Hell.

The Judge was quoted in the Australian Newspaper as saying that, "The crown does not suggest that the evidence reveals that they had reached any firm conclusion as to what precise action was to be carried out, what targets were to be selected, who was actually to carry the bomb, where it was to be placed, how it was to be placed, how big it was going to be, whether it was going to be in a vehicle or in a backpack, or how it was going to be taken to the relevant target."

Indeed, the jury only needed to be satisfied that there was an agreement - unspoken or otherwise - to commit the crime. "It is not like entering into an agreement for a house or anything like that. You do not need to have written it down. You do not even need to have spoken it. An agreement, in this context, can be reached by an understanding," Mr Maidment said.

While details of their planned target remains a mystery, the jury was told the group was motivated by "a perception that the participation of Australia in the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan ... were acts of aggression against the wider Muslim community".

The brother of one of the men said the guilty verdicts would increase the threat of attacks in Australia. "If you really go through the case and the words in the brief, you'll know it's bullshit," he said.

"If they think this will stop terrorism, imprisoning these people, I don't think it will stop terrorism. I think it will increase the threat on Australia."

The sister of one of the terrorists claimed the verdict against her brother was unfair, but said he would be prepared to endure a lifetime in jail.

She said her brother was a devoted Muslim, not an extremist, and accused ASIO of using extremist or terrorist tactics in investigating the men. She said the verdict was unfair because the jury could have been influenced by negativity in the media about Muslims, and that the decision would further damage the public's perception of the Muslim community.

Referring to samples of the cleaning product Domestos that police obtained from her brother's home, she said: "Everybody uses Domestos in their house ... it's my favourite cleaning product, not that I'm a terrorist and going to use it for explosives."

The brothers appeared defiant to the end. Yesterday, when the foreman read out the guilty verdicts, none of the five showed any emotion. Indeed, a couple of them smiled.

May Allah swt keep our brothers strong and steadfast and grant them Jannah. Amin.

Dilsi Does It.

In an earlier post it was claimed that Yemeni sidr honey cures all. It still does, you can catch up on that post here.

Recently a muhajirah sister claimed that Dilsi cola (Yemeni Coke) cured her stomach upsets. "It kills the bacteria", reported the sister, and then she promptly added that it probably killed a bit of stomach lining too, maybe even worms.

"The best way to drink medicinal Dilsi is to scull it," advised the sister. The sister highly recommended other sisters to try it, but also warned of the high likelihood of chronic burping.

We at al-Ghariba blog have not tried out this method of ridding oneself of stomach bacteria and do not necessarily endorse it.

More about Dilsi here.

Letter from a Muhajirah 7

We were a bit sick the first few weeks so now we boil the water that we buy for drinking for five minutes because it does not go through enough treatment. It’s pretty cheap here; about 25c US for 10L.

My grand-daughter is happy at her new school. She started about a week after we arrived. She is picking up Arabic now and knows lots of Islamic songs, duas, Hadith and Qur’an, marsha Allah. She goes on the school bus every day and goes off to school happily and comes home happy every day, alhamdulillah. I am so relieved that she is not being brought up in kaffir land.

Alhamdulillah, the main street here has lots of different stores and businesses so usually we can get whatever we need and only sometimes have to travel further to get other stuff.

The masjid is about one minute walk away so you can imagine how loud the athaan is. It is amplified too, so wow! At fajr you can hear about half dozen or more athaans going all at once and it is so beautiful. Every day when I hear the athaan I thank Allah for letting us be here.

We have met quite a few sisters who are also here studying Arabic and Islamic studies. They are from all over the world; America, Kenya, Britain, Somalia, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Philippines, Kosovo Russians, Germans, Saudi, Egyptian....and more!

There is a brother here from Kota Bharu who has under his care about 20 teenage boys from Malaysia. They are here to study Arabic and Islamic studies. There are a lot of Malays studying here at the Universities and also at a special Islamic University called Jamaat ul Emaan.

Insha Allah if we ever get a car we can do a bit of sightseeing. There is a variety of places in Yemen with different landscapes and vegetation. Sana’a is one of the coolest, most temperate places in Yemen. Everywhere else it gets very hot. Subhanallah. The temperature range here is between about 17 to 26 in winter and 19 to 33 in summer. It has been very pleasant since we got here. Never had to say ‘it’s so hot!!’ And some mornings have been a bit cold. I had to borrow a jumper from a sister. It really freaked me out to feel cold after being in Asia for five months.
Sometimes you see a big willy willy (small tornado) ripping along. I spotted one a couple of weeks ago; it was picking up paper and plastic bags and lots of sandy dust about 30 metres into the air, I watched as it went along passed some buildings and then crossed the road and hit the qat sellers and chewers – hahahah! Serve them right, may Allah guide them.

We went to “Old Sana’a” about a month after arriving. It was like stepping back in time. So amazing; narrow cobblestone streets lined with little shops selling all kinds of traditional stuff, clothing, jewelry, crafts, spices as well as some modern stuff. One brother was so amazed that we were Muslims all the way from Australia he wouldn’t let us go without giving us gifts and a big discount on our purchase of post cards, masha Allah. He was not chatty, alhamdulillah none of the men here are, but he noticed that we were foreigners and because he meets many foreign tourists who are all kaffirs, so he was so amazed and so happy that we were Muslim alhamdulillah.

I bought my son a gift of a traditional Yemeni sarong (mawas) and a jambiyah and belt (short curved dagger that most men wear here) Marsha Allah. My son was really surprised and he wears it sometimes on Jumah.

The butchers here are, well, different. They have their young cows and goats tied up outside the shop on the footpath, so you can see the condition of the animals before they are slaughtered. Chickens are done in three mins flat – "bismillah" – then skin and feathers all off in one quick action, insides cleaned, head and feet off, liver and heart washed and put back in, all tied up neat in double plastic bag and ready to go! Now that’s fresh! I haven’t got used to taking it home still warm though. Ewww!

One day when I got the chicken home (already cut into four) I put it in the sink to wash it and prepare it when a breast piece started twitching. I didn’t see it at first – my son did. He was laughing and telling me it was moving – I didn’t believe him and told him to stop teasing me. Then I saw it! Oh my goodness! It was really freaky. I threw it into the fridge and left it for a while before I cooked it up. Ewwww!

Getting gas tanks for cooking is not a problem, you can borrow the baqala’s (grocery shop) wheel barrow as my son does or you can pay a boy to roll it down the road for you. It’s scary to see these kids rolling these freshly filled 10kg gas tanks down the road, and the sealed road is scary enough – wait till you see them trying to get them down the unsealed roads! I hear them rolling down the road sometimes and make dua that they arrive safely. No one here seems to worry about it though. Subhanallah- not much OH & S here.

Hard to find Asian foods here though. Have to travel a long way to a big store to get particular spices and sauces.

Taking the (debaab) mini bus is one thing but some of the taxi drivers are lunatics! But you know, although they drive fast and seem a little reckless they are good drivers. They use their horns a lot to let other drivers know they are coming up beside them and not to move into their lane etc. I still find it hard to get used to being on the right side of the road. I keep feeling like we are on the wrong side and are going to crash into something.

Trying to cross any busy street here is very dangerous. Some drivers overtake even when there is traffic coming towards them. And some overtake cars that are overtaking other cars, so you see three lanes of traffic driving down a road meant for one lane of traffic on either side only. They are really mad.

The Yemeni people are interesting. Some women are very quiet and keep to themselves and others will come and give you salams cause they notice you are new in the area and are foreigners – they know when they see the kids. The men are very polite and not chatty alhamdulillah and will help you if they see you need help without talking to you or looking at you.
Every day the power goes off for a couple of hours, sometimes two or even three times a day. You get used to it though. Sometimes it means no water too because we need to run the pump when the tank on the roof is empty. It means more time for Qur’an reading because you can’t do the washing or the ironing or anything else that needs electricity, alhamdulillah.

Daily life here is sort of split into different shifts. Fajr at about 4.50am, kids go to school at 7am, (start at 7.30am) uni students maybe same time or a bit later. Shops and businesses open between 6 and 10 depending on the business. Most places shut from thuhr salat (about 12.15pm) until 'asr salat finished (about 4pm). School finishes at 1.30pm and kids are home by 2pm. They have a snack and then a rest till asr. Then after asr play time and home work time (or go to extra Qur'an class etc), dinner, maghrib, isha and bed by 8pm. Some businesses are open till about 7 or 8pm and others till late, up to 10pm. There is more barakah in time here alhamdulillah. School is Saturday to Thursday and only have Friday off. Most businesses shut Jumah morning at least but open again after asr prayer.

There is a park down the road which is only open after asr on most days but open from early morning on Jumah. It is nicely kept with nice green grass to sit on and some trees and pretty garden beds too. Lots of swings and slippery dips and see-saws. The kids love it. It gets very busy on Jumah. It’s about a 15 minute walk down the road and in the background the huge mountains, Allah Akbar.

A couple of weeks ago we took the kids to the park to play for a while on Jumah in the afternoon. On the way home it was nearly maghrib time and the sun was shining on the mountains and there were huge clouds piled up above the mountains and it was awesome to see that the clouds were huger than the mountains. It was so spectacular – two of my most favourite things together – clouds and mountains, (my other favourite thing is the sea) Subhanallah! Nothing is better than the creations of Allah swt.

The night sky here is so beautiful too. The sky is very black and the stars so bright subhanallah.
We can get Islamic satellite TV stations here. It is so good. There is Islam; Questions & Answers, there are tajweed lessons, Qur’an recitation, Hadith, Islamic history, Seerah of Rasoolallah saaw, seerah of the Sahabah and sahabat. Science in the Qur’an, kids Islamic cartoons and al Jazeerah in English and BBC news channel. So good, alhamdulillah – what a relief from the garbage on television in Oz. So if you need a little break and have a little spare time you can watch something of benefit – alhamdulillah.

I am sitting typing this and it is isha time, I can hear the imam reciting Qur’an in the first two raka’ah of the prayer, echoing down the roads and across the buildings. It is so beautiful.

Thank you Ya Allah! Ya Rahmaan! for sending me out of the land of kuffr and thank you oh Allah! Ya Kareem! Ya Ghafoor! for providing me with so many ansar and so much barakah!

Wa alaykum salaam warohmatullahi wabarokaatuhu

Your sister in Islam

Muhaajirah from Oz.

Letter from a Muhajirah 6

MY NEW HOME!

Well subhanallah, after many months of travelling I finally made it to Yemen, alhamdulillah and I don’t miss Australia at all! I miss Kota Bharu very much but I do like it here too alhamdulillah. They have very different physical environments and climates. K.B. is so green and a bit humid and Sana’a does not have much greenery and is very dry. The thing I like about both of them though is the Islamic environment. It is such a blessing to be in an Islamic country after living all my life in a kaffir Western country.

When we flew in we couldn’t land because of a dust storm. We had to circle Sana’a for about 40 minutes until visibility improved enough to land. Then we were given a hard time by the authorities at the airport. Seems if you are a kafir tourist you are welcome but if you are a practicing Muslim from outside Yemen they immediately suspect you. They find it hard to understand that a Muslim would leave a “Western” land and prefer to live in relative hardship so they could learn Arabic and live with Muslims and be able to hear the athaan five times a day and Qur’an and thikr on the tongues of the people instead of hearing the athaan of the shaytan – music, and the foul mouths of the kaffirs. Anyway alhamdulillah by the mercy of Allah swt we did get in and we are now studying Arabic and we all have a one year visa.

We stayed with a sister for about a month before we rented our own place which is just across the road from her alhamdulillah. It is just behind a “baqaala”, a grocery shop in a side street, so we don’t have the full noise of the traffic and it is still so close to the main road and shops.
It is a brand new three bedroom house that has a separate lounge and bathroom for the visitors. It has a small driveway / courtyard outside (with a huge 3m high metal gate) and until the owner extends by adding another level on top of us, it is private.

Masha Allah the house is very comfortable and we are very grateful to Allah swt. The windows are classic Yemeni design, large with arches and beautiful metal work on the security bars. Metal workers have plenty of work here making the ornate gates and security bars for windows. They are really good craftsmen, masha Allah. All the houses and apartments are painted inside with gloss paint – which is really good for cleaning but the workmanship on just about everything else is shoddy.

There was paint, plaster, sealant and even concrete splattered everywhere. No corners are 90 degrees. Door frames left unfinished, filling and painting left undone, bad scratches on beautifully carved wooden doors, damage to the bath and sink etc. Never mind, alhamdulillah after a couple of weeks we don’t notice any more and it’s not really important on the scale of things but just sad that the work is not done properly and care is not taken. It is amazing to watch them building though – all timber scaffolding – they build floor by floor, timber bracing everywhere while the concrete is setting. And these buildings are really solid, masha Allah. The walls on most buildings, even interior walls are a foot thick or more and make good noise and temperature insulation. A lot of the homes have beautiful coloured glass work in the windows. It’s not stained glass work but similar.

The masonry work is very attractive too. Some are highly decorative especially in the top part of the window arches. This is where a lot of the coloured glass work happens too. Some ceilings are beautifully decorated with floral or classical designs that are also beautifully painted. I think when you see the view of a suburb or town area it may look a bit hectic, crowded and plain, but when you get to see up close the beautiful work that goes into the buildings inside and out, it is very surprising.

Of course some homes are highly and lavishly decorated inside. Maybe it is because there is a lack of colour in the natural environment so they fill their homes with colour. But subhanallah! – the mountains!! Allah Akbar!! I never get sick of looking at the mountains. The hugeness, the grandness, the changing colours and textures in the different light at different times – I just love them. Sana’a is surrounded by mountains. Some days you can hardly see them because of the dust storms. They’re not storms in the sense of high winds etc, the sky is just full of very fine sandy dust that just seems to hang in the air for hours and hours.

During the summer here we have the ‘wet season’ so it rains a couple of times a week and even thunderstorms sometimes. We had hail one afternoon. Apparently the rest of the year it just doesn’t rain.

None of the streets have storm water drains so when it rains the streets stream with water and because most of the side and back streets are dirt roads they get very muddy.
The air here is very dry, no humidity at all it seems. It’s great for drying the washing. The dryness means lots of static electricity too so you have to watch out touching the car doors and stuff.

You do see trees and plants here and there in people’s yards and the odd public park and some of the main roads have been fixed up and have paved footpaths and median strips with nice trees and flower beds planted along them. You see some native Australian trees here too. Bottle brush, acacia and eucalypts – I guess because they are drought resistant. There are also Bougainvilleas around and they are in colour now, beautiful crimsons and reds.

You don’t see many birds here – sparrows and pigeons and a few others. My daughter in law said she saw some very pretty yellow birds, I haven’t seen them yet. There are cats around, but not as many as Kota Bharu, (Kelantan, Malaysia). A common feature amongst the black and white ones is that they have black spots under their nose so they look like they have black moustaches. It’s very funny looking. One has adopted us. She is about 4 months old, black and white, fluffy like a Persian cat but has a normal cat face, not one that looks like it survived a ‘head on’ with a Mack truck. She was very timid and nervous at first but now thinks she owns the place and even waltzes into the house sometimes. I think she may have been someone’s pet as a small kitten because she is definitely not feral. Most cats you see here look quite healthy and well fed.

One day my daughter in law and I saw a huge tom cat with a head as big as a soccer ball and a big jaw walking along the top of a wall. He stopped and looked up at another wall about a meter away and was calculating his jump to the top of that which was at least a meter higher than the one he was on. Well he took his jump; Wallahi we were amazed to see that only his right foot caught the top of the wall and his other feet were on the wall's side. He paused for a moment then hoisted himself up with that one foot assisted by his other feet scrambling up the side. My daughter in law and I looked at each other with our mouths open in surprise and my daughter in law said to me "I wonder if he has a chin-up bar at home," - we cracked up laughing.
There’s plenty of garbage here for the cats to eat as everyone just chucks their garbage out onto the street. The cats and goats usually get into it before the garbage collection comes.

The goats really make a huge mess ripping open the bags and strewing the rubbish around. They sure look healthy though. Goats eat just about anything. I have seen a couple of different herds around here, but I think they stick to their own areas. Some people even have chickens running around.

There are some dogs around but they stay in their territories and are very shy of people and don’t come out around the neighbourhood until late at night when everyone is in their homes. They are not dangerous at all. They look very healthy too. My son said he saw some dogs and cats sitting around relaxing together! People here generally don’t have cats or dogs as pets. Some people keep dogs as watch dogs though – I have seen them guarding the big brick and tile yard down the road and the ‘qat’ field.

My son said he saw some amazing lizards the other day. Bright blue/green heads and orange / tan bodies. They were sun baking on a wall. I would love to see them.

Letter from a Muhajirah 5

It was monsoon time and it rained non-stop. The streets were flooded and the water kept rising so we had to move the cars to higher ground at 10 o’clock at night and when we walked back the water was almost up to our knees.

The next day when I thought about it – there could have been snakes in the water –alhamdulillah, Allah protected us. During the night the water came right up to second step of the house which would have been thigh high on the street. I couldn’t sleep all night watching the water rise.

Subhanallah. I was reading surah Nuh 11: 25 to 49 (esp ayat 44) and kept making dua that Allah would make the flood stop. I was pretty nervous I can tell you. I didn’t like the idea of climbing onto the roof. Alhamdulillah by fajr water receded even though it was still pouring rain.
The poor ants nests got completed flooded out and so they decided to move in! Under my pillows! They even bought their eggs with them. I had an ant farm in my bed! One morning in the twilight I found a frog in the bathroom sink! Under my toothpaste that I just spat out! Poor thing. I washed him off and put him out the window.

This sister took me to my first Thursday night thikr session between maghrib and isha! – more like a religious jam session. The imam was revving up the team! Astaghfirallah – it is not possible that the Prophet saaw or his sahaba would have behaved like that – it was humiliating and not worthy behaviour for worshipping Allah swt.

The next morning, Friday, I went with the sister to a local masjid for fajr salaat. I was astonished to pray THREE RAKAAT FOR FAJR! After the prayer I asked the sister if the imaam had made a mistake and prayed three rakaat instead of two. She told me that one rakaat was for salaatul sajda immediately followed by 2 for fajr. I had never heard of this before and since then I have asked about it and unfortunately it was another bida’ah.

On Saturday we went to an aqeeqa where I was intrigued to watch from a distance the rituals of Qur'an recitation, cutting the baby's hair and then thikr and salawaat on the Prophet (saaw) which took a long time while the baby was taken around the room three times for each of her many male relatives to stroke her head. In the afternoon we visited the sister's mother. She still lived in the family home with some of her (thirteen) children and grandchildren. I was sad to see that half of the old timber home had collapsed and they were living in what was still ok. The original building was a huge old home with maybe around ten bedrooms and a couple of visitor’s rooms.

What was still usable had about four bedrooms and one visitor’s room and a kitchen and eating room. It was built up on high foundations because they were only about twenty metres from the river which was actually in flood this day but had not reached the house this time.
The people are used to the floods and don't seem too worried about them. About every forty years they get a really big flood that comes in through the town and other low lying areas sweeping away buildings.

On Sunday we visited the graveyard - a quiet, lonely, forgotten place – our destiny for a time until our resurrection on a TREMENDOUS DAY of 50,000 years! (may Allah (swt) grant us shade on that day). The sister and her daughter wanted to make dua for her husband who had died just two years ago.

I was sad to see that so much bida’ah was being practiced in Kota Bharu, but after some time I discovered that not all Muslims there follow these practices. There are Muslims there who do not strictly follow any madth-hab or if they do follow the Shaafee madth-hab they avoid bida’ah.
I didn’t want to wear out my welcome with this sister and her daughter so decided to accept another sister's persistent and insistent offer to stay with her for a while. She was extremely kind and generous as all the sisters were, but after a few days I was really starting to feel that I needed my own space and get my own routine happening. I have been a very independent person for many, many years and after travelling around and staying with people for over 2 1/2 months I decided it was time to get sorted. I was also concerned about that maybe my son would be prevented from leaving Australia by the authorities, as I heard that it was happening more frequently, so I knew I had to prepare myself for the prospect that I would have to get a job, get my own accommodation and so on.

So after explaining this to my ansar I found myself a nice hotel close to the masjid Muhammadi and got settled.

I managed to set up house for under $50 for an electric jug, a bucket, a glass bowl with lid that I used to cook noodles in, cutlery, a can opener, a coffee mug and some cleaning products. The electric jug I bought was a bit of a worry – I got 2 days warranty on it – it had a strong plastic smell – Allahu ‘Alim – I didn't know if maybe I would die quickly from electric shock or slowly from poisoning.

My hotel and Masjid Muhammadi was only separated by a large park called ‘Padang Merdeka' where up to the early 1900's the villagers (men only) used to meet to watch the bull fights. Villagers would bring their bulls to fight each other. If there were ever two evenly matched bulls the fight would last all day until a winner was declared. I saw photos in the Museum there of this. It was so interesting to see the men dressed in their traditional sarongs, long white shirts and turbans.

It was wonderful to be so close to the masjid. Of course I could hear every athaan very clearly and loudly and Qur'an recitations and could pop over to pray and attend the sister's Qur'an class too.

One day when I was walking down the street an older Malay sister saw me coming and stopped me. She asked me (in perfect English) who I was and why was I in K.B. After telling her my story and exchanging names and contact details her son and his wife called me and came to visit me. They were so kind. Subhanallah. They wanted to know what they could do to help me. Wallahi, such ansar! I was very touched by their kindness. May Allah (swt) reward them and all of my ansar.

I visited the War Memorial in Kota Bharu. The exhibition is very, very good but there was a very, very noticeable problem. The entire ground floor of the building is devoted in great detail to the World Wars I and II and the battle against communism and the development of the political parties and the eventual Independence of Malaysia from the Commonwealth (which I personally prefer to call “Common – give me your – Wealth”) I thought to myself “but this is a land of Muslims, so where is the Islamic history?!”

Well, upstairs in a back room, at the back of the room was a photo and a little bit of information about “Tok Janggut”! Who was described as “anti – British”. Allah Akbar! This is a complete understatement as after I did some research on the internet I discovered the truth – Hajji Muhammad Hassan ibn Munsar is a Shaheed! (insha Allah). He lead an uprising against the British who were imposing kafir laws and unjust taxes on the Muslims. He was hunted down by the British and executed, his body then hung upside down in public view as a deterrent for others, and a photo of this awful treatment now hanging in the war memorial. The Islamic history of Kelantan has been suppressed and this is very sad to see. I have heard that the Museum is run by the Federal Government of Malaysia and not the State Govt. but I do still hope that there is something that can be done to correct this terrible suppression – or rather “erasement” of the truth.There are some other very good and very interesting Museums in K.B. and if you ever go there I recommend you visit them.

The "Islamic" environment better in KB than KL. Most of the women cover appropriately Alhamdulillah, but very colourfully. I guess because they all do then it is not so noticeable or "attractive". There is colour everywhere, masha Allah. Even the men wear bright coloured Pakistani style (sorry I don’t know the correct name) outfits. There were some women who wore plainer coloured clothes and the larger style hijabs and some wore niqaab. I did not wear niqaab in Australia because I just didn’t have strong enough emaan to tolerate the constant vicious verbal attacks, hatred and discrimination there. So when I was in K.B., after having had some time to contemplate many things I decided there was absolutely no reason why I shouldn't start wearing the niqaab and I have worn it since, Alhamdulillah.

Some other interesting things about Kota Bharu in brief;



- The CATS! 1 dog per 10,000 cats in KB
- The many faces of Kelantan – Malay, Islander, Uzbek, dark, light, Chinese, New Guinean; I see faces I know – so similar to people I have known in Australia.
- The river is very big and runs right beside the town.
- FOOD! – CHICKEN FEET STEW!, HOT CHILLIES! FISH SAUSAGES! Fruit and vegetables I had never seen before – -



EATING OUT!!! – 3 restaurants per head of population! Delicious variety of foods available in restaurants, and really cheap and safe to eat - I only got sick once I think from a suspect fish ball in my noodles.
- BBQ corn on the cob – yum!
- MARKETS!!! Wet markets, dry markets, morning, afternoon and night markets. Very interesting stuff!! TURTLE EGGS! and “WHOLE” chickens – no feathers - but everything else - heads and feet too!



- WILD LIFE!!! Saw a huge black snake with bright yellow patterns on it being handled “on show” at a market. Beautiful snake masha Allah. BEES – huge 4cm long black fat bees with bright yellow shoulders – middle section and with iridescent wings. - A tiny metallic silver spider. The tiniest ants in the world! Subhanallah! - Butterflies, butterflies, butterflies!! Masha Allah!



- PRACTICAL ME; Being the fashion trend setter (ha, ha) I thought that the ladies of Kota Bharu needed to change their style in footwear so I bought a pair of shiny marone/brown WELLINGTON BOOTS for the monsoonal afternoons. I am sure it will catch on – everyone seemed to notice them! I don’t care – I am practical – not fussy!
- You can always pick me at the masjid – I am not the one in white.
- Lots of museums in Kota Bharu.
- Indigenous Malays! Just like Australian aboriginals but look different of course. They live in a primitive way in the jungles.



- FABRIC SHOPS! Lots and lots!
- Rickshaw ride to Masjid Muhammadi from the post office. Kind, humble old man masha Allah.



- Nasty taxi drivers (some are ok) they overcharge – cheats. They see me coming and the price goes up the closer I get.



- Br. Muhammad Michael (Ghanian) and his wife Aminah (Thai) – converts over 20 years in KB. Br. Michael (as he likes to be called) founded and runs the International Islamic Dawah Centre in KB. – a very helpful, sincere, worker for Allah swt. Sister Aminah runs free dressmaking classes for converts in small workshop down the road from her husbands dawah centre.



- Sister Hara (also Thai) runs the small restaurant next door to Aminah’s workshop. She is a great cook masha Allah, so if you ever go to K.B. you have to eat at her restaurant; great Thai / Malay food.



- Malays – patriotic – don’t like USA (they say) and look down on Indonesia due to propaganda.



- The tap water is a bit yellowish - I wonder if it comes from the river?



- Beautiful plants in Malaysia and flowers too.



- A feeling of fitrah in harmony with the environment – alhamdulillah. It’s easier to contemplate and appreciate the wonders of the creation of Allah swt and understand more clearly and with stronger conviction the purpose of our creation and the many aspects of life and even death. It's not perfect but where is it perfect? It’s still way better that Australia or even KL.



- Alhamdulillah for mobile phones and technology that allows us to stay in contact with our loved ones so far away. Imagine how hard it was for the muhaajireen in times before this technology – Allah Akbar! And travelling and getting supplies, accommodation etc is so easy in comparison too! Subhanallah! How can we imagine our deeds to be equal to those who suffered greater hardships for the sake of Allah swt than us. Astaghfirallah!



- Renewing your visa is as simple as a pleasant 45 minutes bus ride to the Thai border. Go into the small town, have a meal, do a little browsing at the markets then go to the border again, get your passport stamped with a three month visa and off you go. alhamdulillah.



- Flushed my hijab cap down the toilet by mistake! Was washing it with my dress - took out the dress and was pouring the water out of the bucket into the dunny and then woosh - I didn’t even flush it – the power of all that water just sucked it right down! Oh ‘oh! Hope it doesn’t block up the system – maybe I should leave the hotel quietly during the night?





- Don’t forget surah al Imran 3: 200 and read the tafsir for it.

Letter from a Muhajirah 4

While Al-Ghariba is away, we will be posting hijrah experiences from other sisters. May Allah swt bless those who hijrah for His Sake and raise them in status in this life and the next. Amin

May 2009
Rabi II 1430
Assalaamu alaykum warohmatullahi wabarokaatuhu

I am a middle aged, Anglo Saxon revert to Islam. I have been Muslim for about 33 years alhamdulillah. In August 2008, about a week before the start of Ramadan I left Australia on my hijrah alhamdulillah.

I first went to Indonesia for a month but unfortunately the corruption of the visa system made it financially impossible for me to stay there. I found Indonesia to not be an Islamic environment although the majority of people there are Muslim. I am sure that there are some places there with Muslims who are very good. So I went to Malaysia and stayed with friends in Selangor province for a couple of months.

The first month I stayed in an area called Seremban. It was a very nice older suburban area with plenty of masajid. The people there seemed to aspire to the "western" life style and were cultural Muslims, their Deen watered down by secularism. Then I then stayed with friends in an area of Kuala Lumpur called Sunway Damansara. It was really sad to see the country side literally carved up; small mountains cut in half and excavated for building materials, the run-off of soil from water erosion severely polluting the waterways of Malaysia.

The new residential areas were poorly planned. They had few shops or other amenities within walking distance and if you didn’t have a car it was extremely difficult to get around. There were no buses, no public transport system, unlike the extremely efficient private mini bus services of Indonesia. The train stations were too far away to walk to. If you were fortunate you could maybe catch a taxi, but not on Sundays.

K.L. is just a big modern westernized city, full of huge fancy shopping malls, and lots of crazy speeding traffic. To get there by car from Sunway Damansara was really terrifying. They drive so fast; I'm talking 80 to 120 kph down these endless looping motorways, without using blinkers, without even looking when they change lanes.

Few Muslim women dress properly, and you can't even recognize if the men are Muslims or not. The main thing I noticed about K.L. was that there were lots of really big masjids, but hardly anyone attended them for salaat. I said to myself – "Majority Muslim population; plenty of masjids; but where are the Muslims? Something is very wrong here!" There are transvestites brazenly walking around – and women in mini skirts - YUK!!!. I felt like I was back in Sydney and it made me sick and depressed.

There are also many Buddhists there and they have huge shrines in their front yards – 'aoothubillah- shirk a plenty. There are many Hindu there too. Well it sure wasn’t for me and I couldn’t wait to get out. I was waiting to join my son and daughter in law in the United Arab Emirates but they were still in Australia and wouldn’t be able to leave for two more months. I couldn’t wait in K.L. so some friends in Indonesia advised me to go to Kelantan, so off I went and I was so glad I did.

I did not know anyone there but trusted that Allah swt would help me. I pre-booked my hotel room and my taxi. Flying toward Kota Bharu I saw sparsely populated areas. Many areas seemed to be in flood. I did not see the town of Kota Bharu because the airport is a half hour drive from there.

I remember when coming in to land at Kota Bharu airport I was so emotional - so happy and thankful to be making hijrah and also a little anxious. My taxi driver arrived on time and the drive to town took about 25 mins. The hotel was really a bit of a dump and it was raining a lot. I studied my maps well and figured out where I was and where I wanted to go; Masjid Muhammadi; one of the oldest, most famous masjids of Kelantan. First I got some supplies from the local supermarket and had a brief look around. I lost my bearings a few times over the first week and did lots of extra walking due to that, but learnt my way around and found out about the place more.

It was pouring rain for the first two days and my first impressions of Kota Bharu were not so good. I was expecting a more Islamic environment so I was disappointed to see and hear street stalls pumping music and selling music, movie and game cd's. I was sad and felt down. I remembered how the Prophet (saaw) made dua for the sahabah that Allah (swt) would put love for Madinah in their hearts, so I made dua that if Kota Bharu was good for me that Allah (swt) would put love in my heart for it. Well subhanallah, I woke up the next day feeling completely different.

I was happy and light hearted and full of confidence and sakinah. I made my way to masjid Muhammadi. I entered and prayed two raka'ah, then sat watching a group of women who were sitting reciting Qur'an. I was psyching myself up to go over to them when a sister around my age walked passed me and gave me salaams and a big smile and she joined the group. That was it; I stood up and went over and sat quietly listening to them recite.

One of them handed me a Qur'an and they told me it was my turn. I recited a few ayat but stopped because I was so slow. They were very patient with me. The Ustaatha encouraged me and corrected my mistakes. After the class was finished they were all very polite, curious and wanted to know who I was and why I was there. I told them that I had made hijra and came to Kota Bharu while I was waiting to join my son in the United Arab Emirates. They were very delighted and so kind. They asked me where I was staying and when I told them I was staying in the hotel they all insisted that I stay with one of them.

The sister who had initially walked passed me and given me salams insisted I stay with her. Her English was very good, (most Malays can speak English to some degree) and as my Malay is only basic, I felt comfortable to accept her invitation. She had me stay with her for four days in a semi rural / suburban area ten minutes outside of town in an area called Cherang. There were horses, cows, sheep, goats, geese, chickens roaming around the kampung (village). At night Allah’s “night orchestra” puts you to sleep – crickets, frogs and chi’ cha’ (talking lizards!) At salaat time the athaans filled the air! It was so beautiful.

We found that we had a lot in common and got along very well. After four days she had to go to K.L. as she had a relative’s wedding to attend there so she passed me onto another sister I met at the Qur'an class who was also her neighbour. Well what an experience I had staying with this lovely sister (who was a widow) and her 16 year old daughter. They were very kind and generous. I stayed with her for four days.

We will continue with the sister's experience in Malaysia next week inshaAllah.

Letter From a Muhajirah 3

For the coming months, the stories from muhajireen will be featured.

Bismillahir Rahmaanir RaheemAssalaamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakaatuhu

My personal reflections about hijrah;

Hijrah is fard (obligatory) when your imaan and your Deen is in jeopardy. There are many Muslims who talk about making hijrah, but that's all they do – talk. If you are serious you need to prepare yourself – make your niyaah (intention) firm fi sabilillah. Plan as much as you can and then rely on His help.

Strengthen your imaan by gaining knowledge, making dua, extra salaat such as qiyaam al lail, reading Qur'an both in Arabic and your native language, keep company with Muslims who are encouraging and supportive and observe extra fasting.

Increase your physical fitness and health. Change your diet and get used to eating simple foods and maybe less food too. Live as a "traveller" which is prescribed for Muslims anyway. Get rid of everything non essential – live out of a suitcase or as simply as possible – minimal or no furniture, basic essentials only, and learn to improvise. Sell or give away all that junk you have been collecting and hoarding. You will be surprised at how free and relaxed you will feel, once it is all gone, insha Allah.

Select and keep only the most important books from your library if you have one – books are too heavy to take with you anyway. You can maybe sell them, give them away to friends or donate them to an Islamic library section of a masjid or musallah. Try selling your stuff on e-bay and whatever is leftover, have a garage sale (yard sale). DO NOT keep anything in storage for "just in case" - this is just a symptom of hanging on and not really letting go. You should be making the intention to leave and not return.

Do research about where you can go. Where you go will depend on different things; employment opportunities, your qualifications and skills etc. Learning Arabic and the language of the country you are going to live in is important, but don’t think you need to be fluent before you can go, just start with the basics if you can.

My eldest son used a good analogy about making hijrah – he said to think of the things that hold you back as "anchors" – all you have to do is cut the ropes! Bite the bullet and do it, stop procrastinating and just talking about it, especially if you have children. The younger they are the easier it will be for them and you in many ways. I know it is harder with very young kids, like babies or toddlers, but don’t wait till they are older than 7, then it gets harder for them and that will make it harder on you too. Experts say that children below the age of 7 can learn languages very easily and fast too.

Taking teenagers who don’t want to go would be a nightmare and maybe even a disaster. The culture shock would be too much for many teenagers who are used to living in the west, so you have to make a decision about that situation – maybe you can stick around for them until they finish high school if they don’t want to come with you. But you should make it clear that you have every intention of going, with or without them. Insha Allah they will soon have enough conviction and faith to make hijrah themselves. Trust the promise of Allah that He will help you. Don’t fear sickness, poverty or death, because these things are already written for you and it won't matter where you are because it will still be the same, at least if you die on hijrah you have Allah's promise of Jannah but if you die in the land of kufr without having the sincere niyah to leave then fear the message of the following verse of Qur'an.

"Indeed, those whom the angels take [in death] while wronging themselves [by preferring to stay among the disbelievers, although they have the means to emigrate] – [the angels] will say 'in what [condition] were you?' They will say, 'we were oppressed in the land'. They [the angels] will say, 'Was not the earth of Allah spacious [enough] for you to emigrate therein?' For those, their refuge is hell – and evil it is as a destination.

Except for the oppressed among men, women and children who cannot devise a plan nor are they directed to a way.- For those it is expected that Allah will pardon them, and Allah is ever Pardoning and Forgiving.

And whoever emigrates for the cause of Allah will find on the earth many [alternative] locations and abundance. And whoever leaves his home as an emigrant to Allah and His Messenger and then death overtakes him – his reward has already become incumbent upon Allah. And Allah is ever Forgiving and Merciful." Surah an-Nisa' 4:97 - 100

If you are happy living in a kafir country and the evil that saturates the very air that you breathe – then you should stop and question yourself. A Muslim should hate and love what Allah hates and loves, if you don’t hate it there, then you better check your aqeeda and your emaan.
I left Australia; a wealthy "Western" country that had highly developed technology, good infrastructure, health and welfare systems, education system, etc. It was clean, organized, physically beautiful, had all the fancy shopping malls, entertainment and so on and alhamdulillah I have made hijrah to a poor country, with inadequate and poorly planned infrastructure, it is disorganized and dirty, and I have not been happier because I hear the athaan five times a day, Qur'an and thikr on the tongues of the people, the men and women cover their awrah properly, and behave appropriately. They live simply and are not drowning in debt with riba, content with having enough instead of chasing materialistic desires.

I loath to return to the misery of life as a Muslim who has to compromise more every day until I look in the mirror and don’t recognize the person I am looking at – or live in a bubble, isolating myself as much as possible from all the ugliness of kufr all around and sinking into depression.
Living amongst the kufar is against the natural fitrah of Muslims. If you can get out; then get out before it is too late, go to a land that is in harmony with your fitrah. If it is Allah's will that you are stuck there (in kafir land), then He will provide for you and help you because he would not leave you there without good reason, and don’t give up hope.

May Allah swt help all the Muslims who sincerely want to make hijrah. I am now 50 years old. I left Australia in August 2008. I made my sincere niyah to make hijrah a very long time ago. Many circumstances prevented me and I thought that maybe I would never be able to get out. I could not have made hijrah without Allah's swt help, alhamdulillah, Allah (swt) organized my affairs for me and made it possible – alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah. Insha Allah I will never have to return.

Never give up hope!

Ameen.

Wa alaykum salaam

Muhaajirah from Oz.