Assalamu alaykum
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I must admit, I found it difficult, I thought It'll be all right, I imagined it to be a natural thing to do. Nevertheless the more I want to do it the more I feel inadequate, the more I feel inadequate the less motivated I feel. Never thought I'd feel like this but I did....
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Writing letters to detainees, its something I am sure everyone has thought of doing, but maybe questioned as I did, as still do... What can I write about? what do I know about talking to total strangers? Strangely enough I have found it a great way of remembering Allah. When you go through the process of writing an essay you think about an introduction a main body and a conclusion. Much the same a letter, you think how to introduce yourself, how to start the conversation. Then you go into the whole bunch of quoting hadith, dua, and Quranic ayahs, talking about the main point of the letter, saying words of encouragement, echoing the words of Rasool Salahi wa alyhi wasalam when he would say his blessed words of comfort to those who were suffering at the hands of the kufr, the same words he used to make the companions smile, I would try to use to make my sister in Islam, even if it was for a second, for her to smile. Then finally words to depart on, even though you don't know the other person opening your envelope, you feel a connection when you say those final words, a final departing dua. A connection that is strengthened every time you write, every time you seal that envelope. Cant wait for the next one so your connection is revived and strengthened.
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Subhnallah what a connection we feel when writing to our sisters, what about the lifetime connection to our Rabb, our salah, every time we pray our connection is revived and the eagerness that should occur ever time the next salah is due, where is that eagerness now.. anyway, I've digressed...
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What an honour that is. Making someone in unimaginable conditions, cut off from family friends, sons, daughters, husbands, parents all those who they hold close to their hearts... make them smile, what an honour!
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When Salahuddin rode into battle holding the flag of the Shahadah up high, when Umar ibn Khatab (RA) struck fear into the hearts of the disbelievers, when Summayah (may Allah be pleased with her) stood firm against the mushriqs of Makkah, when Asiyah (may Allah be pleased with her) raised her head high and supplicated to her Lord... What was their encouragement, what was in their hearts, what was going through their minds. When our brothers and sisters are detained here or abroad... what did we do?
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Who would raise up to the challenge, who would do the honours of making a troubled face of our detainees smile.
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I look forward to hearing your experiences of writting to the detainnes :)
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Wassalam
20 comments:
Jazakallah khair for highlighting this as it is something which only takes a few minutes, yet can make such a difference to our brothers and sisters incarcerated.
Addresses to write to can be found at:
http://www.cageprisoners.com/page.php?id=9
Assalamu alaykum
Absoluely.. i find myself imagining myself in their shoes...and how I would love to recive letters from complete strangers. May Allah make them steadfast in the face of adverity. May Allah make this is means of expiation of their sins.
Nazia, I would like to know how you have written to detainees and how you felt etc.
Look forward to hearing about your experience!
Walaikum salam,
I was apprehensive at first and then thought in my situation where i am home with my family and Alhumdulillah happy, I would appreciate someone giving me an Eid card so imagine how the brothers must feel with everything that is going on to know that people care, that their felllow Mulsims have not forgotten about them and that they are in our du'a... all the above was what motivated and Alhumdulillah, the brothers really appreciated it!!!
Insha'allah, more people will do the same.
Wasalam.
Assalamu'alykum sis
mashaAllah beautiful post! yeah i was a little apprehensive about writing, but i thought to myself subhanallah this is my brother in islam, im sure if i just take a little time out and write a few words, then it would cheer him up. so inshallah i wrote...i wasnt actually expecting a response and one day i received a letter! i was really suprised but he did and subhanallah what he wrote really had a deep impact on me! so you can imagine what kind of a positive impact you would have on our brothers and sisters if you wrote to them im sure 10 fold what i felt when i read his words of advice and duaa and his positive tone mashallah. Even though they are in the most worst place, think about it dull prison cell, ugly prison clothes, bland food,identified by a prisoner number subhanallah but then they feel joy knowing that a brother or sister whom they dont know, from a far place has made the effort to write to them, it would bring them such joy and comfort and some ease in their the trials they are living, i wouldnt know how to cope. so it is our duty as muslims to help them cope through words of encouragment and to keep them strong, for we as the ummah need to respond to our brothers and sisters in their times of need because we are muslims and we are one ummah and who else do they have but you and me!
Assalamu alyakum
Jazkallah khair for sharing your experience, I hope Inshallah this will make others more motivated to write to our forgotten brothers and sisters.
Subhnallah all I think about when writing them letter is of the Shiekh ul Islam, Ibn Taymiyyah rahimahullah. What can our enemies do to us that will not allow us to closer to Allah. What a superb outlook on life and trails, Allahu Akbar!
May Allah give us all the ability to face our daily lives as the one on a journey, attached only to the hereafter.
Be thankful to The One who has given us such blessings in the dunya. May He also give us better in the Herafter. Ameen.
Wassalam
As salamu alaykum why in the world are sisters coresponding on a regular basis with male prisoners? WHY?????????????????? i even read CP advising against this but ppffffffft some sisters didn't get the message.
why not just ask your husband to write to them instead of you writing and if u dont hve husband thn ur brothers women now adays are just fitnaa even though some mean good will these brothers mgiht get attached we should try to stay away from fitnaa
would the sisters who have brothers or husbands in prison want women writing to them regulaly chit chatting/corresponding with them? i know i don't want any sisters writing to my brother. we know of brothers who refuse sisters writing to them, may Allah increase them in patience and only increase them in their steadfastness and firmness ameen
Wa alaykum as salam brother anonymous
I understand your concern. I agree with what you are saying, however Sisters are doing the job of brothers because brother are not stepping up to the plate and delivering what is needed in this Ummah. I myself do not write to male prisoners, but the sisters who do do not intent to create fitnah, they would not have to write to them if the rest of the ummah didnt forget hem. Unfortunatly half the ummah, if not more have forgotten about our brothers and sisters in prison.
So I would advice those who wish to see a change in this ummah of ours and its conduct is to do something about it with your hands, i.e. get physically involved in these sort of activities. If you look at cageprsioners for instance most of the volunteers are sisters, and not just that they are mothers and wives too, but because our beloved brothers of our ummah haven't got involved in such vital activities us sisters have had to fill that gap. Yes we would rather not, but if we dont then beleive me none of what you see cageprisoners do would be there. If you dont beleive me ask Asim Qureshi, I believe he has strong views on this too.
So instead of telling us to stop what we are doing, rather provide the alternative and get brothers more involved so that there would be no need for sisters to write to the forgotten detainees. If we stop now, there would definatly be a void, have the man power and motivation to fill that void before you prevent sisters from doing the job of brothers.
But yes, I would ask sisters to encourage brothers of their families to write to brothers in prison. There are many sisters in prison who need to be remembered. If not then be support for the families of the detainees, as I am sure there are many wives and children who would love to see a friendly face now and again, to show them that we havent forgotten their fathers, husbands and sons.
If you dont beleive me ask Asim Qureshi, I believe he has strong views on this too
who is asim qureshi? a shaykh?
he is not a student of knowledge, i suggest you ask a shaykh or a strong student of knowledge if its permissible for sisters to write to brothers in prison ! a handwritten letter is something very personal and ofcourse after a few letters...the brother will try to picture you, espeically if you start talking about personal issues. we need to refrain from that inshaallah
Ofcourse if sisters print out articles for the bros thats okay but they should stay anon or write a male name.
also sis i know quite well what CP promote hence why if you read my other statement i mentioned that even CP diaprove on their forums of sisters corresponding with male prisoners on a regular basis and they have som guidelines regarding this.
and sister some of us were working for the prisoners before anyone had even heard of CP or it had become mash-hoor. please sisters if you are a sister writing to brothers on a regular basis, my advice to you is to desist..... baarak allaahu feekum.... trust me we know the state of our brothers - allaahul musta'aan.
Assalamu'alykum,
I just read the previous post, jazakallahkhair for the advice anonymous, didnt really think about that aspect. When i wrote to that brother, it was not chit-chat my younger brother, sister and I made pictures and cards and we wrote duaas for the brother to supplicate not a personal letter and he wrote back with words of advise and duaas for my younger brother and sister so i was really touched by the brothers words of naseeha and also his positive tone which made me feel real terrible because his situation is bad and yet he is hopeful and still grateful to Allah. I know the men in my household would not do this which is why i felt the need and urgency to do so.
you are right sis, there are many sisters in prison who feel very sad and weak with their situation so we need to continue with our words of encouragement, duaas and action!
Assalamu alaykum
ok chill ppl!
Brother anonymous, I said I dont write to brothers in prison, so can you stop attacking me. Plus I said I agree with you so chill!
I was merely giving a sisters' point of view, wether or not its a correct view is a different matter. Sisters dont go out of their way to find things that others may see to be causing fitnah. How do you know these sisters dont already give a brothers name when they write to the brothers in prison. Dont assume things, what happened to giving 70 excuses to your fellow muslims?
As Bint Aziz has stated, she only sent cards which her younger brother and sister made, I know this sister and her younger brothers and sisters are children, I can safly say that they didnt cause fitnah to the brother, and Im doubt they even know what it means!
Dont assume. Give 70 excuses. Then advice in the best of manners.
Anyway!!! lets remember why we are getting so hot and bothered about, our beloved brothers and sisters are in need of our support. So if you are a bro please write to brother in prisons and encourage your wives, sisters, daughters and mothers to write to sisters in prison and possibly help HHUGS with their ongoing endevours.
If you are a sis reading this then please write to the sisters in prison, and encourage your husbands, brothers, sons and fathers to write to the brother in prison and also help HHUGS where possible.
Subhanallah, if only we looked out for others the way we looked out for ourselves in this dunya! May Allah grant them patience and perseverence while in this test that Allah has granted them and let it be a means for the expiation of their sins. Ameen
wassalam
sister bint yaqoob, my posts werent directed at you, they were directed to sisters in general. sister bint aziz there was no need for your post,as you didnt really need to clarify anything to me.
why not write to sisters in prison. why not send sister bouchra some words of wisdom, the sister and her husband are prison, may allaah hasten their release ameen. they also have one yr old son. subhanallah just think how hard it must be for her
her address is:
Bouchra ElHor NR 9277
HMP Bronzefield
Woodthorpe Road
Middlesex
TW15 3JZ
sister bint yaqoob, i didnt assume anything.
it was general nasheeha, sheesh.
Assalamu'alykum
Well going back to bintyaqubs original post, insha'allah i pray many more brothers and sisters will do the honours and write a few words for our brothers and sisters in prison(brothers to brothers and sisters to sisters!) and also encourage others to do the same
and no we haven't forgotten our sisters, I know there are sisters writing to sister bouchra we have not forgetten our dear sister who is going through a very difficult time. May Allah relieve her hardship Ameen.
wasalams
to anon its halal to write to them and please ask the student of Ilm not Asim!
When you write to them dont tell them you are a sister just a genral letter giving salams tell them whats going on out side and stuff inshallaah and then get a sister to send it to a brother.. do you i.e the sender doesnt know who its going to!
Why do you always get so hot under the collar!
Why do we not see the good and always see the bad! This is the sick state of some people
I pray Allaah sets of affairs STRAIGHT and returns us to the deen of Haq ..
And also to ANON dont be promting SISTER address because my a bro or non muslim will get it inshallaah and we dont we any harm to the sisters! bro can look after them self/...
All good is from Allaah !
salams muhammad tariq,
firstly i didnt say ask Asim anything.
When you write to them dont tell them you are a sister just a genral letter giving salams tell them whats going on out side and stuff inshallaah and then get a sister to send it to a brother.. do you i.e the sender doesnt know who its going to!
^^ that doesnt even make sense
secondly why can't anyone accept simple nasheeha? instead they accuse the poster of being hot and bothered etc.
Assalamu alaykum
BintAziz, Inshallah if we all do ourpart and encourage letter writing, we can make a small difference in someone's mood Bi'idnillah.
Jazakallah khair brother muhammed for your level headed advice, it made sense to me.
By the way, I said to ask Asim about how many sisters are involved in Cage Prisoners. I did not say to ask him about the permissability of writing to prisoners of the opposite gender.
wassalam
sister i didnt know you meant asim had strong views on how many sisters work for CP. But yes i know there are more sisters involved than bros..
...but like you said make 70 excuses for ur fellow muslims righht? well make 70 excuses for the brothers who don't want to help CP.
i'll end it here inshallah
wasalam
Really Alhamduiliaah.... If there was a need for all this then inshallaah i would go on i made my point thats all i care about!
The sister is doing some things for Allaah swt sake and all people want to do is look down at it ..
Bro anon or sister!
Read a book called
Manhajul Ambiyaa fee daw'ah ilallaah.
(The methodology of the Prophets in calling to Allaah that is the way of wisdom and intelligence.
By Shaykh Tabee Ibn Hadee Al Madkhalee..
And if you give Naseeha! give it the right way... not turn people away!
At the end of the day there is a Halal way around it. inshallaah. and im sure Bint Y ,, is trying her best and any sister!
Im sure the dont start writting OH HI BRO ITS ME JAMEELA :# u KNOW WHAT IM SAYING!!!
Alhamduiliaah Also if you bro .. then Hmmmm why you on here if you dont think its allowed to send letters to non mehrams what about talking to them on here!!!! Just asking :D
and if your a sis i will stop i dont want to talk to you :D
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