An Other Blog

A few days left

mohamedtimol — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:34:12 +0000

We only have a few days left in Morioka and Japan. I have mixed feelings, I`m sad to be leaving but I`m also happy to come back to England and resume my studies.

There are many things I`ve learnt from the Muslims here and especially the Japanase people. The Japanase people embody the spirit of Islam yet theyre not Muslims. Its amazing how the crime rate is extremely low and the streets are so clean!. I pray that Allah guides these people to Islam.

Another note worth mentioning is the amount of sacrifice some of the Muslims give here. Just today I met a few brothers who travelled over two hours just to come for Jumuah. There are also a couple of brothers who travel over an hour everyday just to attend Taraweeh!. May Allah accept their sacrifices.

Just another reminder that you can find my photos on the following site http://www.flickr.com/photos/41721829@N07/.

Finishing the Holy Quran

mohamedtimol — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:36:27 +0000

Alhumdulillah, by the grace and help of Allah we managed to finish the Holy Quran in taraweeh. I really do not have the words to describe how I`m feeling. I pray that Allah accepts our Taraweeh and I request everyone to make dua for us. This is only the third the Quran has been completed in Morioka. Mashallah, some of the brothers and sisters travelled a very long distance just to attend, I pray that allah accepts their efforts, aameen.

The Uyghurs

mohamedtimol — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:22:34 +0000

Ive mentioned these people in my blog and Ive posted some pictures of their food. I just thought I`d talk about them and mention a bit of their history.

The Uyghur people are mainly found in Xinjiang which is situated on the Eastern part of China. The Uyghur people trace their roots back to Turkey and nearly all the Uyghur people are Muslim.

However, life is very difficult for them in China. As they are a minority they are oppressed and are not allowed to pratice Islam openly. For example, children under 18 are not allowed to go the Masjid and if you work in any government job you cannot practice Islam. They also tell me if I was in Uyghur than I would probably get arrested due to my beard. Just recently there have been clashes between the Uyghurs and the Chinese. Their situation is similar to the Muslims who lived under the old Soviet Communist regime. I pray that Allah helps these people and helps all those people in the world who are being oppressed.

Time

mohamedtimol — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:09:15 +0000

Time goes so fast!. I think this expression has become a cliche now but seriously time has just flown and we just finished our twenty second taraweeh today. Theres only about one week left for Ramadhan and for our stay in Japan.

An interesting incident happened the other day. There was this Japanese man going around in his truck selling watermelons. He saw my friend praying the Quran so he called him over and they started talking. He asked my friend if he could sing and he handed him the mike so that everyone could hear. My friend just recited a few verses of the Quran and upon hearing this the man gave him a free watermelon, subhanallah!.

Japanese Lessons

mohamedtimol — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:31:12 +0000

After two years of coming to Japan we finally had a chance to go to a Japanese Lesson. There weren`t many attendees so we ended up having four teachers between the two of us. It was quite interesting and the lesson lasted for over two hours!. I think instead of learning Japanese we ended up teaching them English but nonetheless it was still worth going. We learnt alot about the Japanese culture and they learnt a lot about Islam.

The Houses and the Ceilings

mohamedtimol — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:35:03 +0000

Most of the houses and apartments here are made from wood. The apartments are very small and the ceilings are quite low aswell. I think I hit my head nearly everyday when leaving or entering a room. I dont think they accommodate tall people very well!

A Quick Reminder

mohamedtimol — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:38:31 +0000

Im sorry I havent been able to post for a while but I just wanted to remind everyone that I have my photos posted on the following website http://www.flickr.com/photos/41721829@N07/?saved=1

Our talks

mohamedtimol — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:05:48 +0000

Every day after Taraweeh we usually give a short talk. We have two talks; one in urdu which is done by my friend and the other talk which is done by myself in English and Arabic. My talk is also translated into Uyghur, which is a district of China. Its quite hard trying to accommodate for all the different nationalities when you can`t speak Japanese – the native language. Nevertheless, its still quite interesting trying to talk and getting your message across. I`ve also improved my Arabic when trying to converse with the Egyptians which is an added bonus.

My thoughts so far

mohamedtimol — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:30:51 +0000

This is the third time for me coming to Japan and everything seems to be the same, although there are a few new faces and a few people have left. I still dont understand a word of Japanese and its still a joy trying to converse with the Japanese with half English and sign language.

On a side note if anyone is planning to go to Japan than I would advise not taking a transit flight. We took a transit flight, which lasted 18 hours and basically two days due to the time zones which than resulted in two days of insomnia due to jet lag!.

Back to Japan

mohamedtimol — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:39:24 +0000

Alhumdulillah were back in Japan this year for another Ramadhan and I should be posting throughout the month Inshallah, albeit less frequently than last year. However I will be posting my photos on flickr on the following website http://www.flickr.com/photos/41721829@N07/sets/72157621994455521/.

I request everyone to remember me and Nadeem in your duas and I pray that Allah gives me and all of you the ability to spend Ramadhan in the best way possible.