There are no cats in America and the streets are paved with cheese!

Or at least, this is was the little jewish mice sang when they dreamed of the promised american dream in the cartoon - 'an American Tail.'

Assalaamu alaykum,
peace be upon those who follow righteous guidance,

This post is regarding the hopeless optimism that some people have regarding the Muslim lands when it comes to Hijrah, there is no land which is perfect or where you will be welcomed and given a job, land, wife / husband, cash, benefits etc or where you will be totally safe from oppression and can even practice Islam totally etc.

Life just isn't like that, life is a test, and Allah is testing us constantly to see how we will cope. Hijrah is mean't to be a struggle that is why the reward is so great!

These brothers and sisters, often themselves sitting comfortable in the West are happy to tell you to just up and go, drop everything, don't save, don't bother looking before leaping, not realising that the Prophet Muhammad (saws) spent three years planning his Hijrah and he had others to help him!

So if so hard why bother? well because it's an obligation and besides, Jannah isn't free!

Two of my favourite verses from the Quran are these two,

Do people think they will be left alone because they say "we believe," and will not be tested?

And indeed we tested those before them. Allah will certainly make known those who are true and certainly make known those who are liars.

Surah Ankabut (chapter of the spider), verses 2 and 3.

So life is a test, finding a halal income is a test, finding a good spouse is a test, raising your children upon righteousness is a test, and moving yourself and your family half way across the world to start a new life is certainly a test from Allah!

To some, even though they know Hijrah is a Fard obligation, these tests seem so big and so insurmountable that they don't even bother trying, they don't even make effort and hope that that way they won't be counted by the Angels of death as those who are to be sent to the hellfire because they were unable to find a way to make Hijrah.

But this attitude is incorrect, if something is an obligation then that means you work towards it, you strive and struggle to attain it and the rewards of it and then having done all that you know that if you fall short, Allah is most merciful and that Inshallah he will forgive you your shortcomings.

If you never even tried, never even made any preparation could you seriously say that you had intention to do this act of ibadah? Would it be enough for someone who missed their salaah on a regular basis to just say 'well I wanted to do it'

You see, if that is the attitude then really it wasn't a very serious intention was it? and You're not going to fool Allah that way, only yourself.

So it is a balance, not to be too hopelessly optimistic and not to be so overwhelmed that you don't know what to do or where to start, so where to start?

Assalaamu Alaykum,
Abu Abdillah

Who am I?

Assalaamu Alaykum,

to the non-Muslims, peace be upon those who follow righteous guidance,

No this post isn't one of those fancy philosophical questions... 'WHO AM I?' No, this is just a straight forward explanation about who am I, i.e the person writing this blog.

Well I am a youngish, English revert to Islam, married with kids, trying his best to please his lord.

(we use the term revert not convert, because as Muslims we believe everyone is born in a natural sinless state of submission to the creator, that by becomming Muslims later in life we only return to that state)

I am not some sort of scholar or even a student of knowledge, though I do have a tendency to read a lot so have a bit more knowledge than the average Muslim and I respect those Ulema (pl. of Alim) who are truthful and pass on the message of Islam, undiluted to the people.

But I have unfortunately come across too-many of the other sort of Ulema, the yes men to the Masjid Committees, to the Governments of the west and the Muslim lands, to the people they are supposed to guide, when an Alim isn't supposed to suck up to any man, but to speak the truth and clarify the rulings of Allah to the people and rulers alike without fearing any worldly authority or seeking any favour.

any Alim who twisted the word of Allah to please anyone other than Allah is like a Rabbi or Priest, he is hiding a portion of the book and showing another in order to gain something and Allah will hold him to account on the day of judgement.

One day Inshallah I hope to study a little more in depth with some of the good genuine scholars, but right now my main priority in life is getting out of the UK as Hijrah has become a Fard Aiyn obligation at this time (see last post on this blog).

For those Muslims seeking to put me in some sort of 'pigeon hole' and attach a label, I tend to be difficult, some people consider me a sufi as I tend to talk about Zuhd a lot, others consider me a salafi as I also talk about sticking with the Ulema who cling to the methodology of the Salaf, others consider me Hanafi, though many hanafis don't as I don't believe in blind Taqleed.

In beliefs I follow the athari aqeedah, as what was good enough for the Sahabah and other Salaf was good enough for me, and consider myself part of the main jammat of Islam, the ones on the path of Rasoolullah (saws) and his companions, not those like the Khawarij and Shi'a who split away from this main group - Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jammat.

So I don't tend to have labels so easily attached to me, and prefer the label given to us by Allah in the Quran, that of Muslim. if you push me I will say, Yes I am Sunni, my aqeedah being Athari, my manhaj being Salafi, my path being one of Zuhd, my fiqh being Hanafi. make of all that what you will.

Like most reverts, I tend to have some stubborn tendencies... very few people come into the fold of Islam without being strong enough willed to reject their upbringing and the culture around them to follow the path of Allah. That stubbornness can get us into trouble occassionally...

My interests other than Hijrah, are writing, reading (lots and lots) giving Dawah (also a Fard Aiyn), spending time with family - both Muslim and non-Muslim and being the best believer I can be.

If anyone would like any further info they best ask me as I think that is enough to get to know a little about the person writing this blog. Umar ibn al-Khattab (ra) said you can never know a man unless you live with him or travel with him, but please feel free to ask me questions if you wish.

Assalaamu Alaykum,

to the non-Muslims, peace be upon those who follow righteous guidance,

Abu Abdillah

So we made a decision...

Assalaamu Alaykum all,

For the non-Muslims, peace be upon those who follow righteous guidance,

To Start... (How are you supposed to start a blog anyway?)

Ever since I entered into Islam, several years ago, I have wanted to travel and indeed move from the UK to the Muslim lands, to which the usual response from friends and family is...

'what are you crazy? don't you know that all Muslim countries either run by loonie tin pot dictators, hotter than YOU can stand white boy, poorer than a Peruvian peasant and possibly all of the above.'

Even many Muslim friends, whose families moved to the UK often generations ago, but maintain links to 'the old country' think that this kinda thinking is a little weird. After all, haven't we got it all here in the UK?

We've got benefits coming out of our ears, we can call to Allah as much as we please (more on this later), lots of jobs, ease of travel (everyone loves those British passports), people here don't carry AK47's as fashion accessories, I could go on and on.

But there are lots of negatives also... hence the desire to quit the UK, despite my many friends objections (or should that be many objections of my few friends... nether mind, to continue).

The UK has many questionable traits which make it not so good a place to live if you happen to be a Muslim (or non-Muslim if you really are honest with yourselves for any non-Muslims reading this)

These include heavy taxation, what didn't the Sheikh actually tell you it is haram to pay taxation? Funny what the imams and moulana's don't tell you whilst they are living here in the UK themselves off this system.

It is reported that Rasoolullah (saws) said, "the One who collects taxes will not enter paradise.''
(Ahmad and Abu Dawud)

The only taxes we have in Islam are Zakat and Jiziyyah, this is why the Ulema say it is forbidden to collect other sorts of taxes, they are forbidden in Islam and a form of oppression. All other services are mean't to be taken care of by society as a whole, not by the rulers demanding your wealth and then spending it as they please.

Also, we all get our bodies mutilated on death...

Hmm, OK Time out there, I can see this is going to lose a few readers who will find this point very disturbing and most people these days prefer to tune out, switch off or change channel when confronted with something that is going against their nice comfortable world view.

But aren't we as Muslims supposed to think of death often and it happens to be the law in this country that if you or a loved one dies in the UK then the authorities can order an Autopsy if they please, and almost always do. That means your body and the bodies of those you love will be cut up and mutilated. TOTALLY HARAM!

Let me guess... the imam didn't tell you this either? Maybe he was going to but was building his way up to telling everyone this next Friday Khutbah about the issue of taxation being haram and was working his way up to this one.

The right to practice Islam here isn't that great either, not when you can be arrested these days for making Du'a for those who the Government considers the wrong people. Didn't any of you notice how the Du'a after the Jummah Khutbah changed a couple of years back? No? well maybe you should have been taking more notice and learning Arabic so you can hear what the guy is talking about not just pretending you are listening to the imam go on in a language you don't understand and thinking about what you're going to get up to tonight.

One of the biggest reasons for getting out of here pronto is to be found in the Tafsir of Surah an-Nisa, verse 97 and 98.

Lo! as for those whom the angels take (in death) while they wrong themselves, (the angels) will ask: In what were ye engaged? They will say: We were oppressed in the land. (The angels) will say: Was not Allah's earth spacious that ye could have migrated therein? As for such, their habitation will be hell, an evil journey's end;

Except the feeble among men, and the women, and the children, who are unable to devise a plan and are not shown a way.

'What?'
'That is on about hijrah?'

O' Yes these verses were revealed when some of the believers who had remained behind in Mekkah were caught up in the fight and killed by mistake and here is Allah saying they have wronged themselves and reserved their seat in the hellfire!

Here is a fatwah from Islam Q and A on the issue...

http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/13363

So we are all supposed to chip from here and go live in the Muslim lands, clear?

Well no not really, you see where do we all go? Some of the Muslim lands are actually worse than the lands of the disbelievers where you can be followed around by the secret police for turning up at the Masjid for Fajr salaah or where sisters are attacked and raped by soldiers and police for keeping themselves modest.

This is where the 98th verse comes in,

Except the feeble among men, and the women, and the children, who are unable to devise a plan and are not shown a way.

So it is obligatory to look to make hijrah if we can, to prepare for it and if the opportunity comes up to take it but if you cannot genuinely find a way, rather than some feeble excuses some people come up with like 'but I won't be able to watch big brother and eastenders, they don't even have TV there!'

SO GETTING TO THE POINT OF THIS POST...

Me and the Mrs, we puzzled about this, and for a time we remained indecisive, undecided where to go. So the decision we have made (and hence the title of the post) was that we were going to get into some serious researching, looking at each option, no longer paralysed by lack of knowledge and then once we've made our choice of destination... going for it.

I also decided to write a blog, actually that isn't true. My wife decided to write a blog and I copied her idea so here it is... a blog on Hijrah (I'll link her posts in later when she gets around to writing her's).

The idea being that others who are like minded, also wanting to leave the UK or elsewhere can benefit from what we learn and not make the same mistakes we make on our way to wherever it is we end up going Inshallah.

Right, that is it, my first post. I hope everyone who read it gained something good from this and that we all learn to get serious about Islam, not just taking the bits we like and leaving the bits we don't.

Assalaamu Alaykum,

peace be upon those who follow righteous guidance,
Abu Abdillah