Farewell

My journey on the road to searching myself and who I am, is almost about to reach its climax. It all began exactly 2 years ago with the death of my grandma, and now, on the very same date she passed away, I am about to embark on the journey of a lifetime. Hajj.

It's a little weird how the initial date of my departure, was to be on the 9/10th of September. But the date, due to visa issues, was moved back to the 19th, the very date, 2 years ago my grandma died. It is as if, Allah has chosen this date, to remind me of where and how my journey began, to remember death as I embark on what could be a life changing experience.

Firstly, ever since the day we buried my grandma, there has not been a day that we have not visited he grave. Snow, rain, sun whatever the weather, we have always visited. It has always felt to me, because of these visits, that she has never truly left us. For the first time in exactly 2 years, I will not be visiting her grave for an entire month! Not going to say it won't feel strange, because during today's visit, I could already feel that I would miss it.
Visiting the graveyard gives me a sense of escape from the world. It reminds you of your ultimate destination and I would urge anyone, even if they do not have a member of the family that has already deceased, to frequently visit graveyards. Life to me, is death. It is death that has made me change my way of lifestyle and living, arguably for the better. I can say today, I am a better individual than I was 2 years ago in all aspects of my character and personality.

"When Ibrahim (peace be upon him) completed the structure of the Ka'bah, Allah commanded him to call the people to Hajj. Ibrahim (peace be upon him) pleaded, "O Allah! How shall my voice reach all of those people?" Allah told him that his duty was only to give the call and it was up to Allah to make it reach the people.
Ibrahim (peace be upon him) then climbed Mount Arafat and called out in his loudest voice, "O People! Verily Allah has prescribed upon you Hajj, so perform Hajj."

Allah revealed in Surah Al-Hajj, (22:22)

"And proclaim the Hajj among mankind. They will come to thee on foot and (mounted) on every camel, lean on account of journeys through deep and distant mountain highways."

I'm not going to sit here and say I'm really excited, in fact I am petrified! To imagine all these centuries later, I am on the very verge of responding to that call, is quite daunting and to imagine the scale of what I'm doing, makes everything seem so surreal! 

"Here I am O Allah, (in response to Your call), here I am. Here I am, You have no partner, here I am. Verily all praise, grace and sovereignty belong to You. You have no partner."

The words that will echo around the whole of Makkah and to be a part of that, will be magical.
In essence, I have no idea what to expect. To stand in the very places where our Prophet s.a.w once stood, and where the revelation first came down, I am utterly lost for words! There are so many places I want to visit and see and so many things I want to do, I just don't know where to begin!

And of course one of the most important things to me during this journey, is the chance to receive ultimate forgiveness! I wasn't the guy who you all may thin I am today. I have had a very dark past; one I would do anything to rectify. Not only will this journey allow a fresh start, but Allah is providing me with an opportunity for me to start afresh! No one, including myself can hold me back from my past, and all I can focus on is my future! I have met some amazing people in my life; some who I have no contact with anymore an some that I do. As for those who I don't have contact with, they will all be in my duas without a doubt and as for those who I do have contact with, I hope you all remain in my life because one thing I don't deal well with, is losing contact with those whose company I love most. And believe me, I am very cautious about the company I keep.

But all in all, this blog post has been a bit all over the place I know, but from the bottom of my heart, I hope you all make dua that this journey will be a successful and life changing journey for me, one that will help me become a decent person at the very least! You will all be in my duas and if I do have free wifi at the hotel I'm staying at in Makkah & Medinah (I expect to!), you shall all be receiving the low down from Saudi!  

Who knows, this may be the last journey of my life, farewell..

Aspire Swim Challenge

As Muslims, we are told to give charity in abundance. Help the orphans, the needy, the travellers and anyone who requires aid. Often, we help our own (fellow Muslims), that are in distress. But what we are also told to do, is play a part in our community. Our Prophet Muhammad s.a.w was always a key figure in his community even before receiving knowledge of his status as 'The Messenger of God'.

When the Quraysh were rebuilding the Ka'baa, a dispute had taken place. Cutting a long story short, the chiefdom's of the different tribes decided to sort the dispute out by listening to the opinion of the next person that came inside the area they were discussing the matter at. It was none other than our Prophet s.a.w that walked in. At this point in time, every sub-tribe felt a sense of happiness that it was him; goes to show how much they valued him as a member of the community to make a fair decision and outlines the community figure he was.

Fast forwarding to our times, we must also learn from his example and aim to play a part in our own communities. Not only will it help you become a part of your community but it helps  with spreading the message of Islam through actions. When you are a respected figure amongst your peers, more value is placed on what you say and do. People begin to look up at you. Imagine if someone was to ask, "What motivates you to give so much?" And you were to respond with, "Islam".
Imagine how much people would want to know about Islam and its teachings simply by playing a part in your community!

Through the example of our beloved Prophet s.a.w, I want to try and emulate how active he was in his community. And one way I want to do this, is through the 'Aspire Channel Swim 2014'.
This swim challenge involves swimming 22miles from September 8th - December 1st, which would be equivalent to the length of the English Channel! It works around 118 lengths a week to the pool I will be swimming at. I'm a fairly good swimmer so I thought why not? I have never done anything of the sort before so support would be greatly appreciated!

"Every eight hours, someone in the UK sustains a spinal cord injury. There is no warning, no preventative medicine, and no time to prepare. A spinal cord injury can happen to anyone at any time. Aspire is a national charity that works with people with spinal cord injuries to create opportunity, independence and choice."

If you would like further information about where your money would go, should you decide to sponsor me, then you can simply type, 'Aspire charity' into Google and everything will come up. 
I really want to lay a part in my community and I need your support! To sponsor me you can follow this link, https://www.justgiving.com/TheFursaansAspireSwim/

or simply text, 'FRSN99' followed by, £1, £2, £5 or £10 to 70070!

E.g. 

FRSN99 £1 to 70070

I aim to raise £1,500 so support would be greatly appreciated! Even £1 can go a very big distance!