Sanabil/Assabirun Monthly Letters - Help the Forgotten Muslims Behind Bars

[xAllahKnowsBestx]

Assalamu 'alaykum

WHY HELP THE “AS-SABIRUN PROJECT”

The situation today is such that the Muslim prisoners have not only been physically neglected (i.e. taken away from their families and locked up behind a small cell) but they have indeed been isolated from the very community that they sacrificed for. Where are we Muslims when our brothers and sisters have been locked away for absolutely no just reason? Has our worries and concern been limited to our own selves? All that we want from you is to raise their voices and this is their right though their ultimate right from us is to immediately free them.

There is indeed daleel (proof) in our blessed religion, Islam, to encourage the freeing of the captives with the intention to seek the Face of Allah (seek rewards, especially the best reward in Jannah). Here is an ayah from the Qur’an and a few ahadith outlining the importance of this:

“The believers are nothing else than brothers (in Islamic religion). So make reconciliation between your brothers, and fear Allaah, that you may receive mercy” [English interpretation of the Qur’an, al-Hujuraat 49:10]

According to Anas ibn Malik, the Prophet (pbuh) said, “Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or is oppressed.” [Bukhari]

‘You will see the believers in their mutual kindness, love and sympathy just like one body. When a limb complains, the whole body responds to it with wakefulness and fever’ [Muslim and Bukhari]

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said : “A Muslim is a brother of (another) Muslim, he neither wrongs him nor does hand him over to one who does him wrong. If anyone fulfils his brother’s needs, Allah will fulfil his needs; if one relieves a Muslim of his troubles, Allah will relieve his troubles on the Day of Resurrection; and if anyone covers up a Muslim (his sins), Allah will cover him up (his sins) on the Resurrection Day.” [Bukhari and Muslim]

This is why we are going forth with this project. We want to please Allaah in every action. May Allaah grant us all sincerity and steadfastness for without the former, it will not be counted. And Allaahu a’lam.

It's basically an organization dedicated to providing support to our Muslim brothers and sisters in prisons around the world. Every month, Sanabil comes up with a new letter (with words of advice as well as inspirational hadeeths and Qur'anic verses) and mails them to approximately 235 prisoners worldwide. They can always use some extra help with volunteers who would like to pledge to write any number of letters (handwritten) and mail them over to Assabirun in the UK or in France, who will then mail the letters to the brothers/sisters in prison.

So inshaa'Allaah, we could all use some extra 'ajr, these letters leave a huge impact on the brothers and sisters who are locked up in a cell far away from their fathers, mothers, wives, husbands, and children for years, even decades! - they just want to know that they have not been forgotten by the Ummah. All it takes is a couple of stamps and about 15 minutes of your time to help a brother/sister smile.

Here's the letter Assabirun and Sanabil sent this October for the monthly letter: http://www.assabirun.com/2012/10/09/monthly-letter-courrier-22-the-power-of-invocations/#more-1622

For more information check out Assabirun:http://www.assabirun.com/

I will update this thread with the monthly letters when they release them inshaa'Allaah.

 

[Aapa]

Assalaam alaikum,

What a generous project.

Many are scared to write to prisoners.

 

[PeacefulHumanity]

:salam2:

For those who get a connection error, here is the revised link:
Click Here

 

[Aisya al-Humaira]

Wa`alaykum as-salaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh,

Jazaaki Allaahu khaayr. I remember the "Adopt a Prisoner" thread some years ago. Not sure what happened to it.

What some can do is, copy and paste the letters here so that those who may not be articulate or good in writings can also do the goodness of sending the letters to the need. Just add a couple of sentences in the written letter.

 

[xAllahKnowsBestx]

Assalaam alaikum,

What a generous project.

Many are scared to write to prisoners.

Wa 'alaykum assalam,

Yeah, I used to be scared to write to prisoners as well. These organizations make it easier - we don't have to put our names/addresses down if we don't want to.

:salam2:

For those who get a connection error, here is the revised link:
Click Here

Wa 'alaykum assalam,

JazaakAllaahu khayr, fixed it!

 

[xAllahKnowsBestx]

Wa`alaykum as-salaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh,

Jazaaki Allaahu khaayr. I remember the "Adopt a Prisoner" thread some years ago. Not sure what happened to it.

What some can do is, copy and paste the letters here so that those who may not be articulate or good in writings can also do the goodness of sending the letters to the need. Just add a couple of sentences in the written letter.

Wa iyyaki sis.

I'll post the letters when they release them inshaa'Allaah. The good thing about this is that even those who don't speak English very well can just copy these letters - they need scribes to copy the letters word for word so they're all handwritten for a more personal touch. The letters are all the same. I think they also have some French letters that go around.

Here's a sample of October's letter:

In the Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful

As-Salâmu ‘Alaykum wa RahmatuLlâhi wa Barakâtuh
Dear brother,


We ask Allah to make this letter reach you while you are in a good health, energy and faith.

Allah (Exalted be He) says: { And when My servants ask you, concerning Me – indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me. […]}[s.2,v.186]

And what a wonderful situation in the life of a believer it is to supplicate you Lord, with the firm belief in the promise of Allah and in these words of the prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him): “When you ask, ask Allah. When you seek aid and succour, seek it from Allah. And know, that if the entire nation got together to benefit you in some way, they could never benefit you at all except for that which Allah had already decreed for you. And, if they all got together to harm you in some way, they could do you no harm except for that which Allah had already decreed for you. The pens have been lifted, and the tablets have dried.” Who, after hearing this information, will not address his requests to Allah and keep his heart attached to the remembrance of Allah? Nothing happens in the heavens and the earth without it being written and predestined by Allah and no events pleasant or unpleasant happens without His will and His creation.
Pray your Lord, noble brother, in the difficult moments, run up to Him during desolations, supplicate Him during afflictions, lay down on His doorstep, asking, crying, repenting and begging. When the doors are closing in front of you, knock at the door of the Heaven and ask The Almighty to help you because He is the refuge of the oppressed and The One towards the weak ones turn. {Is He [not best] who responds to the desperate one when he calls upon Him} [s.27,v.62]. He saves the castaway, bring back the absent to his loved ones, reassure the tested one, support the oppressed, heal the sick one and ease the pain of the afflicted one.
Call upon Him constantly, acclaim His Name, ask Him His Support, His Success and His Glory, put your forehead on the ground, His Help will come, His relief will start up and His Success will occur. {And your Lord says, “Call upon Me; I will respond to you! (…).” } [s.40, v.60]

With the supplication, situations change, the one who is infertile will have a child, the sick person will heal, the poor one will have his subsistence and the unhappy one will have happiness. With only one supplication, all the people on earth were drowned except the ones Allah protected, when Nuh said: {My Lord, do not leave upon the earth from among the disbelievers an inhabitant } [s.71,v.26]. Pharaoh were destroyed with the supplication of Mussa: {Our Lord, indeed You have given Pharaoh and his establishment splendor and wealth in the worldly life, our Lord, that they may lead [men] astray from Your way. Our Lord, obliterate their wealth and harden their hearts so that they will not believe until they see the painful punishment } [s.10,v.88]. Allah healed Ayyub from his sickness when he relied on Allah saying: {Indeed, adversity has touched me, and you are the Most Merciful of the merciful} [s.21, v.83]. When the people of Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) gathered and started a huge fire and threw him in it, he said: “Sufficient for me is Allah, and He is the best Disposer of affairs!” Allah will then say to the fire: {« O fire! Be you cool and safety for Ibrahim! »}. Our prophet Muhammad (May peace and blessings be upon him) and his companions, when they were threatened by the armies of the unbelievers and the battalions of the idolatry said: {“Sufficient for us is Allah, and [He is] the best Disposer of affairs.” So they returned with favor from Allah and bounty, no harm having touched them. And they pursued the pleasure of Allah, and Allah is the possessor of great bounty} [s.3, v.173/174].

Allah fulfills the wishes of the one who invoke him sincerely. And, among the keys of the granting of the supplications is to have a heart far from distraction, to eat from lawful things and to choose the best moments for the supplication (such as the day of Arafah, the month of Ramadan, The last third of the night, during the prostration, while fasting, ect).

Also, the believer will easily understand this authentic hadith: “Whoever does not ask Allah, surely Allah will be angry with him.” These verses are inspired by this Hadith:
“Allah gets angry when you stop asking Him,
While the son of Adam gets angry when you ask him for something”.

We implore Allah to ease your hardship like He eased the fire from the stake of Ibrahim and to give you a quick and better way out.

From your brothers and sisters of Sanabil and Assabirun.
As-Salâmu ‘Alaykum wa RahmatuLlâhi wa Barakâtuh.

 

[xAllahKnowsBestx]

For anyone who is interested, this is this month's template letter. Sanabil/Assabirun need about 240 copies so pledges would be appreciated, even if it is just one copy.

-------------------------
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
As salam ‘alaykum wa rahmatuLlahi wa barakatuh

I testify that there is no deity who is worth to be worshipped except Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger.

Over a period of time that we have shared with you, an exceptional relationship has fit into history, full of qualities, true feelings and memorable facts. So today, we will share the writings of some of you in order that will break the walls that separates you and give way to the true brotherhood, the one of Allah.

The first door that we are pushing is one of our brothers from the United-States.
He says to us : « Dear brothers and sisters at Sanabil. I received your letter on 4/30/12. May Allah’s infinite Mercy forever be upon you. Your letter was the best letter I’ve received since my capture in 2009. All those verses and hadiths gave me some comfort in this life of hardship. (…) So when I get a letter from France, people I’ve never met, reminding me to be patient and the description of the Paradise, I consider it a real blessing. I really hope you all send me more such letters that sooths some of this pain and brings enlightment into my heart and keeps my eyes on the prize. »

What a joy to read these words! So we understand the benefit brought by an act which appears small (such as a letter), but that can have a huge impact, ma shâa Allâh.

For each letter we open, anxiety seizes us, the emotion is intense, as if we open the door of your dark cells and a light shine your faces while they over shadowed .

Our brother describes to us; « I managed to call home on Monday. It wasn’t a cheerful event, my wife may Allah reward her, broke into tears and started sobing for almost ten minutes, the whole call is 15 minutes! I was trying to calm her down but she needed to cry. I was the only one talking for the most of the time, then I said let me recite a short surah of the Qur’an for you! I recited the surah of ‘Al Duha’, then finally she stopped crying and for two minutes we talked, then I spoke for few minutes to my daughter Maryam, asked about my son in law, then the call was over. »USA 16/08/2012

Harsh and trying. Words that would touch the heart of the Ummah.
On receipt of a letter from one of our brothers, the wisdom which occupy your cells spread, thus inviting reflection and meditation.

« I just wanted to say to you and to all our inmates everywhere, that everyone in life tastes prison. Some are prisoners of circumstance while others are prisoners in actual prison. But it doesn’t matter since the emotional impact of both is similiar. Suffering is suffering. [...] But there is a solution to this. [...] I say to you, see the verse 179 surah 3, where Allah says: « Nor will Allâh disclose to you the secrets of the Ghaib (unseen) » so this leave you like a blind man with a cane on a path. The cane is Taqwa (piety) and good deeds. [...] I summarize this in the following arabic words which Allah guided me to: » That Allah Ta’ala doesn’t place you in prison without reason but for a wisdom. So search this wisdom with piety, patience and good deeds. And it is impossible that you find it with sins and bad actions. »

We are aware of the infinite knowledge that is locked in in the prisons, so to us is the duty to take care of it and to not leave it fade away.

The Lord of the Universe says to us: {If you had spent all that is in the earth, you could not have united their hearts, but Allâh has united them. Certainly He is All-Mighty, All-Wise.} (Al-Anfâl ~ 63)

Your maturity in the understanding of our religion is sublime, the following words will rightly conclude that « Sanabil » is not only an association, but much more. It is a part of the body of the Ummah of the Messenger of Allah salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa salam, for indeed, he said to us: The similitude of believers in regard to mutual love, affection, fellow-feeling is that of one body; when any limb of it aches, the whole body aches, because of sleeplessness and fever.

And now for a short period of time, we were able to travel at the heart of the words of our brothers and sisters whose bodies are imprisoned but whose souls are free and entirely oriented to Allah Azza wa Jal.

Your brothers and sisters at Sanabil
WaSalâm ‘alaykum wa rahmatuLlahi wa barakatuh
-----------------------

Using colored pens to write the letters would be nice inshaa'Allaah.

*Address: 43 Ashfield Road, Evington, Leicester, LE5 1LB UK.

 

[xAllahKnowsBestx]

The deadline for the letters to be sent out: 27th December 2012