Feedback From Saudi...

[Abu.Sakeena.Ahmad]

Bismillaah

Feedback from another Canadian

Ponder on the fact that there are tens of millions of muslims all over the world, how many get to make hajj and/or umrah?

Ponder over the limited number of salafees all over the world, how often do they get to unite? Even if just 4,6,7 or eight countries?

Now ponder over the barakah of making umrah and doing it with other salafee brothers and sisters… from the same community… what level of closeness has your friendship now reached? Now multiply that for each country that participated in this dawrah. I hope the picture is taking shape.

So umrah is finished and now we turn to encouraging each other with prayer in the masjid al-Haram, du’aa, dhikr and reading of the Qur’aan. What an environment to be in, with other salafee brothers and sisters, this really makes a HUGE difference. Staying in the masjid after fajr, reading Quran and making du’aa and dhikr until that 15mins after shurook so that you can make the extra ibaadah of salaatul Duhaa --- this was quite often the habit of many if not most of the brothers.

Then we moved from that city to that of the Madinah al-Munawwarah. On top of the favour of Allaah to have an opportunity to visit Madinah, we had the additional opportunity to take directly from one of our present day scholars – Shaykh ‘Ubayd al-Jaabiree, may Allaah preserve him. Likewise from the other shuyookh that participated. How many of us just read books by the ulemaa, listen to their lectures and so on but never get the opportunity to “see” them with our own eyes. Never mind to sit and benefit from them for several days in a row, in a program tailored specifically for you – the visitor.

By the mercy of Allaah the Five Pillars umrah organized by the brothers at SP is a serious venture that brings benefit, layer upon layer. There are so many angels one can describe as beneficial or key highlights --- from the umrah itself, to the knowledge disseminated from the shuyookh, to the countless encounters with brothers that produced those memorable moments.

On a personal note I was very pleased to meet our brothers Abu Yusuf Khalifah and Isa Underdue in a setting such as this one. I ask Allaah to put barakah in our sittings. Not to mention our elder and dear brother Taalib Abdullaah, I must say that I had never met him personally before and was more than happy to have met him and benefited from him in many ways. There were many other brothers that made this umrah a special type of gathering, many of whom were mentioned in the initial post. Some of the brothers at Umm al Qura and Medinah University took time off their schedules to visit us and facilitate different activities that also added to the special characteristics of this type of Umrah. May Allaah reward our brothers Abu Adam J. Finch and Saleem from PA for their continued efforts.

Having participated in last year’s umrah and this one I must thank the organizers for their tireless striving to make each year better than the one before, and a-hamdulillaah this year that was accomplished.

“Is there a reward for good other than good” –al-Quraan

Abu Sakeena

[Abu.Sakeena.Ahmad]

Sisters from Toronto feedback:

As Salaamu 'Alaykum Warahmatullaahi Wabarakaatuh

All praises is due to Allaah for giving my family and I the opportunity to perform umrah together with FivePillars. It was truly a ni’mah from Allaah, that He azzawajal allowed us to travel with the salafis from all over the word, wallaahi it was beautiful seeing the unity between the brothers and sisters, unity upon the Quran and Sunnah, walhamdulilah. I would like to thank our beloved Shaykh Ubayd al Jabriee hafithahullaah, our brothers Abu Hakeem, Abu Khadeejah, Abu Iyaad and everyone else who was involved in organizing this wonderful dawrah, even if it was something as small as a supplication for us, BarakAllaahu feekum. I would also like to thank our brothers from TROID for working hard and diligently in facilitating this trip for the salafis in Canada, especially brother Ahmad for guiding us through our trip.

After performing Umrah for the first time in my life, the best part of this trip was benefiting from our ulemah in Madeenah. Sitting in the same room as the maashaayikh and hearing their speech was not only a benefit but it also increases your love and respect for them. I ask Allaah to protect and preserve Shaykh Ubayd, Shaykh Muhammad ibn Haadee, Shaykh Abdullaah Al Buhkaree and Shaykh Muhammad Aqeel. I also ask Allaah the Most High to reward them for their beneficial knowledge and time.

Alhamdulilaah it was also beautiful seeing so many salafis from different parts of the world, this helped in strengthening the ties of sisterhood/brotherhood and it causes you to reflect on the bounty of Allaah for aiding and blessing dawatus salafiyyah. I enjoyed meeting my sisters from U.K, U.S.A, and Madeenah, may Allaah bless them. By Allaah only in salafiyyah will you see pure love between one another, solely for Allaah’s sake.

With that said, I encourage everyone to participate in the next umrah/dawrah with FivePillars, may Allaah grant you success! Don’t think it is difficult, I never thought I would have this opportunity anytime soon, but alhamdulilah, Allaah has answered my prayers and made it easy for my family and I. I pray Allaah allows us to have this beautiful experience again, this time with an even larger group. Many brothers and sisters are excited about next year as well, in sha Allaah it will be a benefit for us. I pray that Allaah accepts our du’as, our prayers, ebaadah and most importantly makes us sincere in that.

Wassalamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatu