Assalamualaikum,

Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page. So here goes....

Raising money for Palestinian orphans and disabled children to perform umrah was admittedly not something which had ever crossed our minds before nor were we even aware of any charities collecting money for this cause. Having casually popped along to the "One day in the Haram" event held by Islamic Help last week, we were shown a short but moving clip of Palestinian orphan children performing umrah with such awe, joy and eagerness that Zabir and I were moved to help the much worthy 'Orphans for Umrah' campaign by Islamic Help.

It was also pretty timely as I had only just returned from performing umrah myself and alhamdulillah felt so blessed that Allah had enabled me to visit his beautiful house. So, with my own beautiful memories still fresh in my mind, both Zabir and I strongly felt that we wanted to not only share the blessed experience of umrah, but also share that excitement of seeing the kaaba for the first time, share that feeling of closeness to our beloved prophet pbuh whilst in his masjid, share that opportunity of precious duas in the blessed land alongside all the other wonderful emotions that we went through ourselves with those less fortunate than us.

Some of you may ask whether sponsoring Palestinian orphans and disabled children living in refugee camps to perform umrah is a necessity as providing for their basic physical needs makes more sense. However, by donating to Islamic Help's 'Umrah for Orphans' campaign you are aiding the psycho-social rehabilitation programme that is provided to sponsored orphans under their care. For Zabir and I, this attracted us further to this particular cause as the mental and emotional well being of these children is equally as important and is often easily overlooked. Many Palestinian orphans have already been through so much in their short lives and the opportunity to perform umrah not only provides them with hope but also an emotional and life changing experience which they might not otherwise experience. Help make a difference to an orphan's life and bring a smile to their face... show them that they're not alone in this world. Below is a link showing a previous 'Umrah for Orphans' trip undertaken by Islamic Help with the aid of donations https://youtu.be/fd0SDn2fNHs

Alhamdulillah many of us have been blessed with performing umrah or hajj (sometimes more than once)... please dig deep in your pockets and donate to this worthy cause. You can also donate your zakat money as the 'Umrah for Orphans' campaign is a means of emotional and psychological rehabilitation so alims have deemed it eligible for zakat.

Finally, I will end with a hadith... Prophet Muhammad pbuh said, "I and the person who looks after an orphan and provides for him will be in paradise like this," and he held two fingers together. [Bukhari]

Jazakallah for taking the time to read this looooong story and may you be rewarded abundantly for your donation.

Love and duas,

Zabir and Rizwana

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