-
Where Your Ramadan Food Boxes Reached in 2019
A Truly Blessed Ramadan Words fail to fully describe how abundant the blessings were during this past 2019 Ramadan. We spent lengthy days and even longer nights where we sought and shared mercy. There’s something we should never forget about this bountiful month: from the moment it begins, millions of people unfortunately still face the same challenging trials they face year-round. Hunger doesn’t stop during Ramadan; poverty doesn’t press pause either. Hunger doesn’t stop during Ramadan; poverty doesn’t press pause either. IRUSA was fortunate to receive donations from so many donors like you who remembered this reality, and acted on it as part of your month-long spiritual reflection. You remembered…
-
Ramadan Reflections: Day 23 Nafs Hack with Sami Shaban
Nafs Hack: Evaluating Goals in Ramadan Salaam wa alaikum! My name is Sami Shaban, and here’s my Nafs Hack. Often times throughout the year, I find that I get caught up in the daily grind. Going from work to family to other really important things, but things that might not be on point for the goals that I’ve set out for myself. I like to use Ramadan as a point of reflection—a spiritual checkpoint, where I get to look back at the past year and see where I may be hitting the ball out of the park or coming up short, or maybe even adding a goal that I didn’t…
-
Ramadan Reflections: Day 20 Nafs Hack with Preacher Moss
Nafs Hack: Be Kind Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatalahu wa barakatu. My name is Preacher Moss, and I’m here with my Ramadan Nafs Hack. So, the moral of this story that I’m about to tell you is be nice to people during Ramadan and especially outside of Ramadan. My reflection is this: Years ago, I was a young Muslim, and I was struggling with Ramadan. I basically took my shahada two weeks before Ramadan came. There I was man—going through Ramadan, starving, waiting in line. The people weren’t bringing the food fast enough. I got really upset, and I stormed out because they didn’t know I was fasting. I remember I…
-
Ramadan Reflections: Day 19 Nafs Hack with Lisa Vogl
Nafs Hack: Being Consistent with Prayer and God My name is Lisa Vogl, and this is my Nafs Hack. Last year, I was in the most traumatic state of my life. It was the most difficult time I’ve ever had. I had changes going on. I became a single mother. I was newly divorced. I was moving, and I was trying to figure out so many changes in my life. At the start of Ramadan, I went to Allah (SWT) with so much dua’a, so much passion, so much dedication and devotion. I was in the masjid, and I was praying because I needed Allah (SWT). I needed his guidance.…
-
Ramadan Reflections: Day 14 Nafs Hack with Amin Aaser
Nafs Hack: Intentionality I was 24 years old, I come home, and my mom looks at me, she says, ‘Amin, I need a grandchild.’ The problem was I wasn’t even married, so I was like, ‘Mom, c’mon.’ But what that meant for me was that I needed to find my wife. So, I took it with the same level of seriousness that I do everything else in life. I created a PowerPoint presentation, created an Excel spreadsheet, started thinking about all of the things I needed to find in my wife, and alhamdulillah I found her. When I did, I remember going to jummah and meeting one of my teachers,…
-
Ramadan Reflections: Day 13 Nafs Hack with Nancy Khalil
Nafs Hack: Mandatory Vs. Optional When I was in college, I worked with a team to organize logistics for a very large Muslim college students’ retreat that was taking place in Boston. It was the first of its kind. I spent months organizing with my team, and a few weeks before we were supposed to go on the retreat, the option for me to go to Hajj emerged. I struggled. I didn’t want to let the committee down. I didn’t want to let the retreat down. I wanted to go on it with my friends, but Hajj is a really big deal. So, I talked through it with a friend,…
-
Ramadan Reflections: Day 12 Nafs Hack with David Hawa
Nafs Hack: Increasing Your Giving Assalamu alaikum! This is your brother, David, with Islamic Relief USA with today’s Ramadan Reflection, Nafs Hack edition. This month, we have increased our worship and ibadath, we increased our salah, we increased praying, we increased our fasting, we increased our sadaqah, our charity that we’ve been giving. Now, some of us will ask, how do we, if we give throughout the year and we kind of live almost paycheck-to-paycheck, how do we give extra during the month of Ramadan? Well, this is a little hack that I’ve done for myself to increase my giving during the month of Ramadan. What I’ve done is calculate…
-
Ramadan Reflections: Day 10 Nafs Hack with Hamdy Radwan
Nafs Hack: Be Grateful for Your Food Assalamu alaikum. My name is Hamdy Radwan, and I am the vice chair of the board of trustees for Islamic Relief USA. This is my Nafs Hack. There are some people that are not as privileged as you are, and they may be short of food. I heard some stories coming from Africa recently. The mother and the father gave their kids the option to eat either in the morning or in the evening because they couldn’t afford two meals a day. I’m not saying that to feel bad about them because Allah (SWT) is the provider, and he provides everyone with his…
-
IRUSA Hosts Iftar with US Department of Agriculture
An opportunity to break bread with government officials in charge of administering food policies remains one of Islamic Relief USA’s longest running annual rituals. On May 9, we were especially pleased to sponsor an iftar with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). It was the eighth consecutive year that IRUSA sponsored the annual USDA event and the 11th straight year the USDA haled the annual interfaith event. More than 100 people were in attendance, a cross section of faith leaders, representatives of elected officials, farmers, and friends and family of USDA and IRUSA staff. Mike Beatty, acting director of the USDA Office of Partnership and Public Engagement, said he…
-
Ramadan Reflections: Day 9 Nafs Hack with Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf
Nafs Hack: Contemplating Death Assalamu alaikum. My name is Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, and this is my Nafs Hack. When I was in Sacramento (prior to a game), I was taking my pre-game nap, and I had a dream. To this day this dream bothers me. I had a dream I was walking over a bridge, and right underneath the bridge there a was a fire—hellfire. As I was walking, the bridge collapsed; when it collapsed, I went with it. But there was something that stopped me. And I didn’t want to shift and move my head. I’m looking up to see what prevented my fall, and it was a string of…
