Dreaming of Yemen

About June 22, 2007

Salaamun ‘Alaykum wa Rahmatullaahi wa Barakaatuh. Ahlan wa Sahlan!

My love for and desire to make hijrah as well as my specific desire to relocate to Yemen has inspired me to design a blog which will showcase an array of photos that I have found on the web of Yemen, as well as links to travel information and study opportunities within Yemen.

Inshaa’Allaah, if anyone has any beneficial links that will assist myself as well as others in making hijrah to Yemen, such as links to Muslim travel agents who provide deals to Yemen or links to institutes of learning in Yemen, anything that might make one’s hijrah to Yemen a little smoother, please feel free to email me at aneesa824@yahoo.com. Also, if there are sisters who have already made hijrah to Yemen and wouldn’t mind being contacts for those sisters who are planning on making hijrah to Yemen and might need some naseehah and support in their endeavors, please contact me.

Lastly, I am contemplating on starting some sort of hijrah fund to assist the Muslimeen in leaving the lands of kufr and migrating to the lands of Islaam. This is actually a huge dream of mine but I have been trying to hash out how exactly I would get funding, how I would determine who actually receives the funds, and other logistics. I have come up with an idea that I would like to share with you all inshaa’Allaah, as it’s success will be dependent on the Muslims coming together, pooling resources, and helping one another to make hijrah.

The idea that I have is actually based on a system that my co-wife, her mother, and sister have implemented. Each month the three of them donate a designated amount of money into a joint account they have. Then, each year, at the end of the year, they alternate on who is entitled to the entire pool of money. so it’s basically a little sadaqa fund they have established among themselves and everyone involved gets their turn to benefit from the money that they all have donated. So, for example, lets say the monthly amount contributed by each person is $20. So, each month, they are donating a total of $60. by the end of the year (12 months) they will have donated a total of $720, the sum of which goes to whoever’s turn it is that year.

What I have envisioned inshaa’Allaah is that those Muslimeen that are interested in making hijrah, whether in the immediate or distant future, will come together and will agree to donate a certain amount of money each month into a PayPal account specifically for handling donations to the hijrah fund. i would draft a contract that each trustee would have to sign. There would also be some sort of application form in order to collect personal information, such as name, address, phone number and each applicant would have to be contacted and spoken to over the phone to ensure the identity of the applicant and that they have provided a real phone number. etc. as another security measure, i would probably only send and receive applications via mail. so in this way, in order for you to apply i would have to mail you an application to the address you provide, but you would have the option of mailing, faxing or emailing the completed form back to me.

Once an applicant is accepted and they become a trustee, then you would be given information regarding the PayPal account name, how much the monthly donation would be, and any other pertinent information. However, everybody wouldn’t actually have access to the PayPal account funds. In addition to myself, there would be two other people who would be designated as Funds Managers and who would have access to the actual funds. Potential Funds Managers would also go through some sort of screening process. I might even have it that Funds Managers have to contribute a little bit more than regular trustees. Depending upon the amount of trustees and the agreed upon monthly donation amount, I am thinking that disbursement of funds, instead of being once a year, would be once every 6 months (twice a year). but again, this depends on how many people are contributing and how much is being contributed.

As far as how we would determine whose turn it is to receive the full donation, I was thinking something as random as going according to trustees’ last names, to something more structured, like an Islaamic trivia challenge whereby the first person to answer all the questions correctly wins. Or I was even thinking that entitlement to the money will be based on the order by which people signed up to be a part of the fund. So, whoever signs up first will get first dibs and so on and so forth.

So, that’s my idea and inshaa’Allaah I welcome any feedback and suggestions. Also, anyone who thinks they would be interested in actually becoming a trustee when this project comes to fruition inshaa’Allaah, please contact me and let me know and I will keep your email address on file so that I can contact you when I get things running inshaa’Allaah.

SubhanAllaah, think of all the blessings you can both help facilitate and receive by participating in something like this. Not only will you get the blessings of helping your fellow Muslims make hijrah, but inshaa’Allaah at one point you will be able to make hijrah as well and gain the blessings from that.

May Allaah subhaanahu wa ta’ala facilitate for every Muslim residing in the lands of kufr to make hijrah to the lands of Islaam. Ameen.

Was-Salaamu ‘Alaykum wa Rahmatullaahi wa Barakaatuh,
Sister Aneesa fee New York