A few weeks ago I joined two of my fellow photography enthusiasts on a street photography venture. I did plan to blog about it and upload some of the pictures once I completed to edit the photos. I tend to use Adobe Lightroom for editing my photos but I liked the collage feature on Google Picasa which I still haven’t got hang of yet. I will blog about our endeavor but I had to blog about an issue which has been on my mind.
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| Where is the Justice? |
This month is drawing to a close and it has been filled with numerous messages and emails to sign petitions for two causes; The Free BabarAhmed Campaign and the Save the family Campaign. The Save the Family Campaign has really been on my mind. It felt more real to me in the sense that I know these people affected by this injustice.
Munir Farooq is an elderly man well known in the Manchester Muslims Community, who was recently convicted on grounds of terrorism. He used to work at his book stall in Longsight market. I know him and his family and mashaAllah they have great character. I have come across some radical individuals and there’s certain qualities they possess and I can tell you that Uncle Munir and his family are far from that.
One time I was in Longsight Market where he worked and there was a Christian lady who was shouting at him in an intimidating manner saying “You are wrong, You’re a Fool, Jesus Is God” and the likes of such. Munir Farroqis responded by staying calm, smiling politely and being very patient whilst the lady cursed and carried on humiliating Munir. And what for? Because she passed by and saw that the Islamic books consisted of Book of Tawheed (Oness of Allah), the life of the Prophet Muhammed (Peace Be Upon Him) and staying away from sin such as gambling, drinking alcohol etc. We actually wanted to go back and tell the lady to back off because her behavior towards Munir was unnecessary and he didn’t deserve that. Would any of us want that for our own Father, Grandfather or Uncle?
The allegations in court seem totally false to me. Reports state that undercover police visited the stall and Munir told them about jihad training in Pakistan. Let say for arguments sake he was a terrorist, wouldn’t you think that if approached by someone interested in Islam you would tell them about islam first, such as belief in God etc. I mean why would you tell someone about Jihad training straight away. Anybody would be scared off by that. I know I would. It sounds really unrealistic to and I know Munir as he has been doing the stall for many years and know that is not his agenda.
And if you feel that isn’t injustice, hold on to your horsey because now the family are also being punished! They are being thrown out of their home! I went to their home earlier this year on a makeup assignment (I freelance as a makeup artist) and Wallah no exaggeration I have never met a family so impeccable, mashaAllah. Whilst I was there I saw the 7 year old daughter of Munir Farooqi who was having Hifdh (memorization of Quran) lesson via Skype. MashaAllah she has almost memories the whole quran with tajweed! A friendly sweet girl who has so much love for her learning mashaAllah.
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| A muslim woman with her child waiting for her husband |
Munirs Wife, whom I called Aunty out of respect, was very welcoming. When I was getting the daughter in law ready (they were getting ready for a wedding) she insisted I take a break and eat. I said I would rather complete my work although I was famished. She started to feed me with her own hands. Now at first she caught me off guard but I was truly moved by this woman’s high spirit and warmth. In fact the whole family were like this, despite the hardship they have been going through with the father detained waiting for trial.
It was Auntie’s turn to get ready and she was quite a funny lady, down to earth and pretty cool mashaAllah. Then Uncle Munir called from prison. Speaking to his daughter-in-law they asked how each other were and she told him that she was wearing her walima clothes that he gifted her and joked how she looked like a fish (as it was a fishtail lengha) I found there relationship so sweet. Something you don’t really see between Father In Law and Daughter In Law in the Asian culture MashaAllah. And the fact that they were not miserable and talking as though they would do so on a daily basis made me think that this is indeed a patient family.
The daughter-in-law dropped me off to the station and on my home I was just thinking about this beautiful family mashaAllah. Every Muslim family should have that type of relationship, character and Islamic values.
Of course this is all a test from Allah. The more pious you are, the greater the tests, because Allah wants to raise them in ranks so they are amongst the best in the Akhirah. SubhanAllah. I know some of you dont know of Uncle Munir, his son Harris, his daughter Zulekha and his daughter in law Juvaria. But they are our fellow muslims and would we want this injustice to happen to our own families?
I only hope my family has as much ihsan as their family by spreading awareness and helping them. Please sign the petition it only takes a few minutes. Anyone can sign it so long as they are a British citizen and have an email address, even a baby! Do remember them and me in your prayers.
One more image to share from our street photography for now!
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| Even animals are treated better than humans in this country |
JazakhAllah Khair for reading.
Peace & Love
Akeedah
