Haroon Mota is a man on a mission. A Coventry University student and enthusiastic climber, Mota has committed to the Islamic Relief K2 Challenge: to climb the second highest mountain on Earth to raise money for orphans. And now, SISTERS Magazine is asking Muslim sisters up and down the country to get behind him with a SISTERS Challenge of their own. The Islamic Relief K2 challenge in August 2008 is set to raise money for orphans worldwide. The challenge requires Mota to endure a strenuous expedition consisting of a 2 week trek to the basecamp of K2 reaching an altitude of 18,000 feet. K2 is the second highest mountain on Earth, located in the Himalayan range at the Pakistan and China border. The peak of K2 is elevated at 28,250 feet above sea level and is said to be a tougher trek than Mount Everest.
Zaid Al-Rawni, Challenge Events Co-ordinator at Islamic Relief, is inspired by Mota's challenge attempt. "It's a big one, K2, a very big one. So I find it inspiring that Brother Haroon is going for it."
"It's a great opportunity for me," explains Mota. "The orphans desperately need our help and this is a way we can all make a difference, insha Allah. The Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) was an orphan himself and we all know the reward for looking after the orphans: to be close to the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) in Jannah. And that is a great thing to aim for!"
SISTERS Editor, Na'ima B. Robert said, "When I first read about what Brother Haroon was planning to do on Facebook, I was very impressed- and excited! I thought we could help him to reach and, hopefully, surpass, his target of £10,000 by harnessing the sisterhood and generosity of our readers and other sisters out there."
The Muslim women's magazine is now one of Mota's official sponsors and has pledged to promote his cause to its readers and sisters across the UK.
"I'm just as inspired by SISTERS Magazine's support of Haroon," says Al-Rawni, "It's really great!"
So far, Mota has raised over £7,500 so is well on his way to achieving his target.
"We are raising the stakes a little bit," explains Robert. "We want to challenge the sisters to really take this cause seriously and donate as much (or as little) as they can, to pass the information to others, to tell their friends and family about it, to fundraise locally. I believe that, if we all make an effort, we will be able to raise alot more than £10,000, insha Allah!"
Mota is grateful for the support and enthusiasm shown by SISTERS and acknowledges Muslim women as his primary supporters.
"I've been fundraising since last year and, I have to say, the majority of the money has been donated by sisters. They have been so generous and open-hearted, really digging into their purses and handbags. I think this is a great opportunity for sisters to get involved in a challenge like this because, normally, it is the brothers who are able to participate in these challenges. Now the sisters can really make a difference."
Robert hopes that the SISTERS Challenge will spur sisters into giving even more. "We are throwing down the gauntlet and challenging the brothers: let's see who can raise more! We are confident that the sisters will come tops but you never know..."
Mota agrees: "Maybe this will encourage the brothers to get more involved and dig deeper. I know they can do it - so let's see it!"
Robert believes that the competition is healthy and is, after all, all for a good cause. "We will be encouraging our readers and other sisters we come into contact with to get behind this - in our magazine, on the website, on Facebook, on our mailing list, any way we can! We pray Allah preserves Brother Haroon, makes him successful and accepts all our efforts."
Donations are being accepted online, via credit or debit card, at a secure web address: http://www.justgiving.com/k2orphans
Sisters are being asked to enter the word 'SISTERS' in the message box when donating to allow SISTERS Challenge donations to be tracked. All funds that are raised will contribute to the Orphans General Fund which supports orphans worldwide with finance,clothing, food, shelter, education and medical care.
Links:
Haroon Mota's Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8237980839
Sponsors
http://www.sisters-magazine.com
http://www.eurodrive.com
http://www.mesmereyez.com
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Assalamu alaykum everyone,
I just want to thank everyone from SISTERS for their support so far. Keep up the good work and Insha Allah we can collectively make a difference and help the orphans out there insha Allah.
Haroon :)
The very fact that slaves become all powerful rulers over the rich, the free and the noble of Islamic land, negates brutality experience by slaves in America. Slave king is normally a contradiction but only because today, slavery is associated with the treatment of African slaves in America and other parts of the British Empire. The so called North Atlantic slave trade was unique and that is why we have no example of slaves becoming extremely rich, powerful or leaders over white men and women. Formal segregation and theories of inferior race only ever existed under the North Atlantic slave trade and were absent under Islamic, Roman and Greek system. Hence in other realms slavery was never a life long condition.
Excessive injustice and violence may have been due to the fact that the white Europeans established a myth of inferior/superiority of race. Other civilization did not confine slavery to a particular race and allowed upward mobility to slaves. For example, the position of magistrate were occupied by slaves in Ancient Greece and under the Roman system slaves could accumulate vast amount of wealth, fame and power too. The demand for millions of African slaves to work industrial style plantation of cotton and sugar did not exist in the Islamic realms and thus there was no demand for millions of slaves to be bought into the system as unpaid workforce. Islamic regimes did not have industrial style production of sugar cane or cotton and there were ample poor people willing to work in exploitative conditions within the realms of Islamic dominions hence there was no need to kidnap millions of people from Africa and create the necessary barbaric conditions which will persuade them to work for no reward.
With the exception of the North Atlantic slave trade free slaves were able to live as full citizens with upward mobility in ordinary society due to absence of legal segregation. Islamic slavery existed at the same time as the North Atlantic slave trade but it was very different. It was multi racial, rich black men had white and Asian slaves; there was no segregation between slaves and masters in communal places. The system allowed upward mobility and thus slaves attained positions of ultimate power. Hence vulnerable and impoverished people were at times able to rise from the depth of degradation to the pinnacle of power. This book gives examples of white, Black and Asian slaves who rose from destitution to rule over the free, rich and the noble. Obama is not the first black man to rule over Muslims as countless others have preceded him. Muslims never incorporated superior race concepts in to state policy to disadvantage other races.