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Pay More Attention to Your Creator, Not Your Critics
Nada Shawish is Communications Specialist at Islamic Relief USA. Feeling exhausted? Maybe there’s too much negativity vibrating in your ears. And maybe these devilish voices are not exactly the post-human creature “the devil”— that negativity is likely coming from the people around you. And I hate to break it to you; you’re the one letting them in. Trying to earn the approval of others is exhausting. People are people: They have a human quality of never being satisfied: Not with themselves, not with others, and certainly not with you. And another very human tendency is for people to turn their dissatisfaction with themselves and the world on others (and it…
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3 POWERFUL Islamic Reminders About Your Neighbors For Eid
Nada Shawish is Communications Specialist at Islamic Relief USA. In the throes of celebration — Eid al Adha (Happy Eid!) is a time to rejoice with family and friends—but in celebrating, it’s easy to forget people in need that live among us, like neighbors. Forgetting our neighbors during holidays is about as un-Godly as you can get in Islam. Your neighbors have rights over you every day, Allah (swt) says. It’s that serious. And you need to remember them, especially on holidays. (One of them is to share Eid al-Adha meat on Eid (be amazing and do this!) with your neighbors in need—more on this point later). Here are the reminders…
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With Love, From Lesbos, Greece: A Video Postcard Addressed To You
Nada Shawish is Communications Specialist at Islamic Relief USA. Have you ever wanted to go to the Greek Islands? A postcard has arrived from Greece, and it’s addressed to you from Islamic Relief USA’s CEO Anwar Khan. He’s virtually inviting you there. Watch with an open mind and heart—And see for yourself .. The Greek Islands are a place that people often go to for vacation—this is what they’re like right now: Instead of floating leisurely on calm waters, imagine traveling in dinghies and rafts unsuitable for sea travel, like this one, to try to get across the Mediterranean Sea. These people aren’t site seeing on the beach. Humanitarians have…
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How to Be A Superhero: Show Up for Baltimore with Super Iman
Nada Shawish is Communications Specialist at Islamic Relief USA. This blog is dedicated to the superheroes doing the best they can for the city of Baltimore. What’s the difference between the superheroes in comic books and you and I? Not much. Human beings have a lot of potential. In The Holy Qur’an, Allah (swt) says: “Surely, We created the human being of the best of forms.” (Surat At-Tiin, 4) Every fictional superhero quality is a metaphor for a very human, but highly undervalued, underutilized attribute. Being a superhero in Baltimore City isn’t that far-fetched or super human, for example. It means being just a little bit more human—by showing up…
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A Dua and 4 Realistic Ways to Help Syrian Refugees Now (and it’s not just about your money)
Nada Shawish is Communications Specialist at Islamic Relief USA. “People are dying and they need our help. If we cannot see that, then we have no right to look away from the consequences of inaction.” –The Independent, September 3, 2015 The world is currently in the worst refugee crisis since World War II, and most of the refugees are Syrians. More than half of them are under the age of 18. There’s a lot of work to do to remedy this massive tragedy. While leaders bicker about how they’re going to reverse a crisis that started under their noses, there’s a lot we as individuals can do to help…
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How To Be Charity Itself: Mother Teresa’s International Day of Charity
Lina Hashem is communications specialist at Islamic Relief USA. Islam teaches us simply to always keep some charity in our everyday life, and to make our lives a blessing to others. But in a world filled with suffering, it’s hard to see what one person can do to help. And when we’re stuck in our daily routine, it might seem like the wrong time for charity, or even too late. It makes sense why we might feel that way in our hectic, troubled world. But next time you’re stuck in that way of thinking, remember this story … There was a little girl born in a city between the mountains…
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Hurricane Katrina: Islamic Relief USA’s First Big U.S. Disaster Relief Effort.
When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, Elouise Kensey was traveling. Her home in New Orleans was destroyed, but she called herself lucky. “I have custody of my seven grandchildren, and had we stayed somebody would have died,” she told Islamic Relief workers after the storm. “A tree fell on the house. We were lucky, blessed , however you want to call it.” The Category 5 hurricane devastated large parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and its floodwaters surged right over and through the levees protecting New Orleans. More than 1,800 people were killed. Hundreds of thousands were left homeless, including Kensey and her family. Hurricane…
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Flood Waters Unexpectedly Drown Lives, Islamic Relief Renovates Homes in Bosnia
Fareeha Amir is Media Specialist at Islamic Relief USA. Maglaj was one of the first flood-affected regions in Bosnia when the worst flood in almost 100 years washed away homes and land. During the worst of the flooding, the water level in Maglaj climbed over 2 meters. It took four whole days for the water to recede. And when it did, 53-year-old Verica Marti only had the ceramic tiles left in her house. For two days and two nights, everything in her house was underwater. Everything needed repair—from the ceiling to the insulation. Walking among her soaked belongings, Verica remembers the despair she felt sifting and searching for anything she…
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Getting Gaza’s children off to a “Right Start” at school this year with IRUSA and ANERA
Laura McAdams is International Programs Coordinator at Islamic Relief USA. Back-to-school season is approaching and while many parents are preparing themselves for their children’s first day of school, only about a third of all four and five year olds in Gaza will be enrolled in preschool in the fall. The preschools that are available to children in Gaza are overcrowded and expensive: There are only four public, no-fee preschools in all of the West Bank and Gaza. Moreover, the quality of education children receive at these schools is reportedly poor. During school hours children have neither the opportunities or materials to be creative. They don’t even have places to play…
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#Sharehumanity with Islamic Relief USA on World Humanitarian Day
Nada Shawish is communications specialist at Islamic Relief USA. 19 August 2015 – There’s nothing connecting humanitarians and the world better than social media today—And on World Humanitarian Day the United Nations has launched a call to people around the world to share stories of humanitarian heroism on their social media feeds. At Islamic Relief USA, my colleagues and I are dedicating our feeds to humanitarian heroes for World Humanitarian Day—Are you? In 2015 nearly 78 million people are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance @islamicrelief #Dosomething #sharehumanity Islamic Relief USA humanitarians are tirelessly working in some of the most dangerous places in the world to reach people who need…
