Before I begin today’s entry, I would just like to give my sincerest thanks to all the fellow Singaporean tumblr peoples who stepped up to purchase the soaps from Palestine. May Allah bless each and every one of you, ameen! <3 Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah!

Image Source: Boston.

UPDATE 23/08/11, 2:26PM : SGD$720 Pledged! Alhamdulillah, we have pooled together enough for TWO braille Qur’an! Let’s see if we can waqf one more, biiznillah :)

As we find Ramadhan coming to a close and a bigger number of us see ourselves spending more time in the masjid, doing sujud after sujud on the intricate patterns of the carpet and reading more pages of the Qur’an in an effort to reap the gargantuan benefits found only during the last ten days of this blessed month, perhaps it is time that we take a breather and look to see if there is anything that we have forgotten.

The thing is, perhaps a great number of us in our du’as for forgiveness and wanting to be given the rezqi of iman, of ‘ilm, of wealth and health etc, have forgotten to actually be thankful, to have syukr, for all of the blessings that Allah swt has already given us.

In the first paragraph of this entry itself I have highlighted an example of just ONE of the blessings that almost all of us overlook on a daily basis - the gift of sight.

Without sight, we can never see the straight lines that automatically form, shoulder to shoulder, with just one verse, “Hayya ‘ala as-salah!”. Without sight, the beautiful designs on the carpet of the masjid would remain something etched perpetually only in our imagination, without any real confirmation to the reality of things. And most importantly, without sight, we would only be able to hear the beautiful miraculous verses of the Qur’an, with but a remote chance of reading it and reciting it ourselves.

When we are at our lowest, many of us just have to reach out to the countless Qur’ans lying around our house or in our iPads and iPhones to seek comforting words from Him… but how about our fellow Muslims who are blind?  

My dear sisters and brothers, do you realize that in Indonesia alone there are over 3 millions Muslims who are visually-handicapped and have no means to purchase a braille Qur’an (One braille Qur’an costs 1.5 million rupiahs)? And how can we forget our own Muslims in Singapore who too, have no access to the Book of Allah swt due to their disability? 

Project Waqf: Braille Qur’an from Nur Fadhilah on Vimeo.

My fellow tumblrs, BAPA is currently running a Waqf Project to purchase the Braille Qur’an for blind Muslims in Indonesia and Singapore and perhaps it is time that on top of the words of gratitude that wet our lips, we actually give up just a little of the money He has given us and share this immense blessing of being able to READ the Qur’an with those who are unable to do so.

As each set of a complete braille Qur’an costs SGD$350 which I understand is a big amount of most of us who are students, I was thinking that perhaps, if just 35 out of the 827 (that’s 4%!!)  followers of this tumblr were to donate just $10, we could all pool together enough funds to help a blind Muslim read the Qur’an, for the first time in his/her life... MasyaAllah.

For those who are interested to work together with me in this project, please drop me an email at fadhilah.wahid@gmail.com and insyaAllah once we reach 35 people who want to work together, I’ll elaborate further on the technicalities :) 

OR otherwise, you can also go directly to BAPA’s website (click!) for details on fund transfer, cheque, or-nets! :) Whichever way is good as long as the niyyah is the same, insyaAllah <3

Let us not be amongst those said in the Qur’an:-

And We have certainly created for Hell many of the jinn and mankind. They have hearts with which they do not understand, they have eyes with which they do not see, and they have ears with which they do not hear. Those are like livestock; rather, they are more astray. It is they who are the heedless. [Qur’an 7:179]

Abu Qataadah r.a. reported that Allaah’s Messenger s.a.w said:

“The best that a man can leave behind after his death are three things: a righteous child who makes du’aa for him, an ongoing sadaqah whose rewards continue to reach him, and a knowledge that continues to be implemented after him.” [Ibn Maajah]

Sadaqah AND knowledge, masyaAllah! Please help to spread the word! Jazakillah khayr :D