Muslims Giving Back’s annual project to spread Suicide Awareness & Prevention: #Walk4Life

Salam/Hello!!!

Allah says, in the Qur’an, “As a result of this, We have ordained upon the Children of Israel the following: ‘Whomever kills someone, whom has neither killed anyone, nor has cause Corruption, within the Earth, it’s just as though they’ve killed all of Humanity. Yet, whomever saves them, it’s just as though they’ve saved all of Humanity.’.”.(Noble Qur’an: Chpt.5, V.32)

The following are just some, of the many, startling facts about Suicide:

1. Suicide is attempted, every year, 1Million people within the United States, alone.

2. Nearly 40,000 Suicide attempts within the United States, alone, are actualized.

3. Women are 3-times more likely to attempt Suicide than Men.

As a Muslim, I take great interest in seeing Suicide come to an end. And, even if I never live to see it end, I owe it to Allah, the Creator/Lord of the Universe, to at least do my part, to help prevent at least one less person attempt Suicide. Every year, since 2011, I have made it my business to participate, as a walker, in the annual “Out Of The Darkness Overnight”, a Suicide Walk, sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, which helps to spread awareness, as well as raise monies, to help others from entering the road of no return, which is Suicide.

Muslims Giving Back, would like to inform you that our organization will be embarking upon our annual Suicide Awareness & Prevention project, known as #Walk4Life. 

This project aims to do the following:

1. Give a real face to the reality of Suicide.

2. To help raise Suicide-Awareness.

3. To establish an Islamic/Muslim presence, to allow Non-Muslims to know that the Muslim-Community cares about the issue of Suicide, and regards it religiously, as a momentous & tragic act.

4. To inform Muslims of the reality of Suicide within the actual Muslim-Community.

Now, on to what’s needed, for the success of this project:

1. Sponsorship/Money: We, at Muslims Giving Back, want to raise no less than $5,000, which is intended to cover registration, donations to the AFSP (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention), promotional paraphernalia (such as Wrist-Bands: MGB: #Walk4Life, T-Shirts: Muslims Giving Back: #Walk4Life, etc.)

2. Manpower: We need People to make announcements about this project, at Masajid, Schools, businesses, community-centers, etc.

3. Participants: We need People who are willing to actually come join us for this walk, scheduled for June 28th & 29th, 2014, in Philadelphia, Pa

Muslims Giving Back is going to be participating in the Out of the Darkness Overnight Suicide Walk, promoting Suicide Awareness & Prevention, in Philadelphia, Pa, on the 28th & 29th of June, 2014. It would be great if you all could join us in this walk. But, if you’re not able to, at least donate online to our profile donation page, or tell others in the Philadelphia area about this event. Suicide is very serious, especially among our youth. Please support us in our efforts to raise awareness about suicide.

The Out of the Darkness Overnight Suicide Walk is 16-18 mile trek, from sunset to sunrise. All proceeds benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, funding research, advocacy, survivor support, education, and awareness programs – both to prevent suicide and to assist those affected by suicide.

To register and/or donate for this walk, go to:

http://www.theovernight.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=10754

Thanks in advance,

Gareth Bryant
National-Spokesperson, Muslims Giving Back

 

Gender Equality Lowers Women

riverthrujahiliyyah

So there is this big thing now, about women walking around with no shirts in New York! Apparently they’ve been granted the right to wear no shirt! The police have allegedly been instructed, that if a crowd forms around the bare breasted woman, to disperse the crowd and protect her right to toplessness.

I have never been a puritanical person, so I do not get in a tizzy about the world ending because of toplessness as my motivation to write this blog, but I DO get in a tizzy when I see a thing that is backwards to the objectives of womens rights and the status of women, and it makes me want to expand on a greataer issue.

Western Women are being lied to! Men are trying to cut you chicks loose, so they dont have to honor your real rights above them, by giving you these stupid “equal”…

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In Memorandum of Suicide-Victims: To those whom are gone

Author’s note:

Allah states, within His Noble-Book, “And, do not kill someone, whom Allah has sanctified, except with justification.”.(Noble Qur’an: Chpt.6, V.151)

When it is mentioned, within this verse, “whom Allah has sanctified”, it also applies to one’s self…Each and every one of us has a life, given to us, by Allah, the Creator/Lord of the Universe, which is sanctified, sacred, full of relevance & purpose. Unfortunately, sadly, we allow ourselves to be negatively-influenced, to such a staggering degree, that we deem it necessary to terminate ourselves, to remove ourselves, via Suicide, from this Mundane-Life. My teacher/mentor, Jeffrey Kearse (AKA Imam Siraj Wahhaj), made a very poignant point, about the reality of Suicide: I heard him once say that, “Suicide is a ‘permanent-solution’, to a ‘temporary-problem’.”. I, myself, no longer want people to choose Suicide as “permanent-solutions” to their “temporary-problems”; rather, on the contrary, I, myself, as well as others who are of liked-mines, deem to establish putting a definitive end to Suicide, any way that we Humanly can. This also includes being sensitive to the sensitivities of others, to not make people feel low, to not berate them, that they no longer feel Human, or loved, or self-worthy of anything, or view Life as something that’s worth living any longer.

The following poem is a summation of all that has been mentioned previously:

We wish You were still with Us!!!

We love and miss you.

We wish that we knew.

We were too oblivious to the fact that you were in pain & needed our help.

Us losing you is like suffering from a beating, scared by a permanent welt.

Why didn’t we ask, “How are you doing?”, we should’ve looked for the signs.

We should’ve known that your laughs & smiles were hiding your many sighs.

You should’ve been told, by us, “I love you”, so much more often.

Now, we can’t say anything, but “good bye”, to you, from a coffin.

Alas, it’s just monumental regret, that you’re gone, today.

We could’ve & should’ve helped you to find another way.

You meant so much to so many.

Our hearts are sad and heavy.

I wish that I had never teased you.

I regret anytime I made you blue.

Should’ve never laughed, when no one wanted to go with you, to the Prom.

Mocking the fact that you never sat with the cool-kids at school was wrong.

You were full of life and love & it is so sad you’re not here.

I wish that you were still among us, that you were still near.

Gareth Bryant/2013

Israeli forces open fire on Palestinians, injure 11

No Palestinian-Israeli peace without Hamas-Fatah reconciliation

The True-Story of an Apostate from Islam to Christianity: How do we as Muslims deal with this issue?

Allah states, in His Noble-Book, “Whomever wills, let him believe; and whomever wills, let him disbelieve.”.(Noble Qur’an: Chpt.18, V.29)

I’ve just found out that Umar Lee, the controversial author of “The Rise And Fall Of The Salafi Movement”, which exposed the fallacies & hypocritical elements of the Saudi/Oil-Rich Arab-States sponsored Salafi-Movement sect, has once committed Riddah/Apostacy…he has left Islam, the Path of Allah, the Path of Allah, the Path of Guidance…He had, during that time, unfortunately, allowed ash-Shaytan/the Devil to corrupt his heart & mind, and also the negative statements & actions of fellow Muslims, via horrible character, to turn his heart away from at-Tawhid/the Oneness of Allah, to ash-Shirk/Association. He has now, via a YouTube video, converted to Christianity, claiming that worshipping a man, a Prophet, a Messenger, al-Masih/the Christ, Jesus, the Son of Mary (Peace be upon him), whom never, ever called people to worship him, is the “Son of God” & the key to Salvation…He was so wrong about that, for so many reasons, and I’ll only pick one of those reasons: According to the Bible/Chritstian-Theology, Jesus was nailed to a cross, bleeding, dying, and utterly helpless. Now, if you’re looking for true-salvation, are you really gonna turn to someone whom is falsely-depicted as not even able to save himself from torture & death?!!! If I’m placing my soul on the line, looking for guidance, I think it’s probably not a good idea to wager on someone whom couldn’t even prevent others from harming him, especially if that person were to claim any type of divinity. But, fortunately, Jesus never called people to worship him, nor did he ever die on a cross, claiming to be able to deliver others from Hell, when he couldn’t even deliver himself from death.

I was truly saddened, by his poor choice, to leave Tawhid & accept Shirk. It is obvious that he had allowed the negative actions of Muslims, to cloud his better-judgement, and leave Truth, in exchange for Falsehood. And, let this be a serious-lesson for Muslims: we all must learn from this…Even though there is no valid-reason to leave Islam, we, as Muslims, can never, must never, allow ourselves to be the reasons which people use to leave Islam.

Muhammad (Peace be upon him) has said, “The Muslim is one who protects other Muslims (other people generally as well), from his statements & actions.”.(an-Nawawi) Now, the fact that this Apostate can pull-out so many examples of the open flaws of Muslims actually speak a lot of sad amounts of volumes. This actually reminds me of when I had first reverted to Islam: I had known a member of my former Church-Community, for years, whom was constantly attempting to pull me back into Christendom, and although, ignorant as I was, when I first became a Muslim, Allah, the Creator/Lord of the Universe, had still chosen to protect my mind & heart, from the evil of his lies & deception-It was very obvious that this person was inspired by ash-Shaytan, in a devious attempt to pull me away from Tawhid, and her’s the proof: I remember one day, this guy & myself were talkin’, he was it as usual, with his lame antics about how Jesus Christ (Peace be upon him) was both god & man, and all that jazz, even though, in the beginning of the Book of Matthew, where it states the lineage of Jesus, “God” isn’t mentioned, anywhere, in the bloodline of Jesus. Also, there are several individuals mentioned in the Bible itself,as being the “Son of God”, whom are not even Jesus…Let’s name some of them: There’s Adam, the Father of the Human-Race (Peace be upon him), mentioned as being the “Son of God” in the Book of Luke; then, there’s Jacob/Israel (Peace be upon him), whom is not only mentioned as the”Son of God, but also mentioned as “My first born”, in the Book of Exodus; finally there’s David & Solomon (Peace be upon both of them), mentioned separately as the “Son of God”, in the Book of Chronicles I. So…why…oh why…is this the case, if Jesus is both god & man, and/or the “only begotten son of God”?!!! #ThingsThatMakeYaGoHmmm

Then, there’s the kicker: this dude had told me that he was once, himself, a Muslim, and that he had left Islam, to convert to Christianity, for all of the same exact reasons which Umar Lee had decided to. But, he added something different, which I’ve never heard, before or since: This dude said that he had made Hajj/Pilgrimage to al-Makkah, and as he was circulating al-Ka`bah, he saw Jesus…This Nigga said he saw Jesus!!! Oh, and not just saw him, he said that Jesus told him that he was the way & that he was the “Son of God” & all that…This sounds a lil’ Pauline, doesn’t it, I mean, isn’t this the exact the thing that Paul said, while enroute to Damascus, after his many, infamous, notorious, killing-sprees, of the followers of the true teachings of Jesus, which was in fact Tawhid, by virtue fo the fact that Jesus is a Muslim, via his Prophethood, Messengership, and Christhood to boot?!!!

Also, in addition to this, he had also tried to convince me that the name Allah was actually the linguistic male version of the Pagan-Arab Moon-Goddess al-Lat, even though there’s absolutely no linguistic similarities between these two respective words, at all.(Lisan-ul-`Arab/the Language of the Arab [the Lexicon of the Arabic-Language]) Then, there’s also the errononeous claims that Muslims worship al-Ka`bah/The Cube, the cubed-structure, which signifies the first Mosque ever built upon Earth, as well as the fallacy that Muslims worship al-Hajr-al-Aswad/The Black-Stone, one of the jewels of al-Jannah/The Paradise, which fell to Earth, along with our Parents, Adam & Hawwa’/Eve (Peace be upon both of them), after their fall fro grace, as a result of listening to te deception of ash-Shaytan.(Qasas-ul-Anbiya’/ Stories of the Prophets, ibn-Kathir)

Upon this convo with this man, when I was a new Muslim, still (I was roughly about 17 at the time), regardless of the ignorance upon me, fresh from Christianity, Allah had protected me from his lies, ad made my mind & heart firm upon the truth of Islam. So, in conclusion, let us, as Muslims, learn from this sad tale, of a man, who was guided, by his Creator/Lord, but yet was deceived by his own poor opinion of Muslims, with the help of ash-Shaytan, coupled with the negative actions of other Muslims, to use as excuse to leave Truth, in exchange for Falsehood.

So, what do we all, as Muslims, learn from this?

1. This what we are to learn: never expose your negative, to anyone; we must be at our best, at all-times & in all-places, for 2-reasons: one, to exclusively please Allah; two, to be good-examples for others, that they may follow our examples, in positivity, for Allah.(Noble Qur’an: Chpt.112, V.3) This story of Umar Lee, as well as the person whom I had mentioned, along with countless others, both famous & non-famous are a true, as well as sad testament to our failure to be the best Human beings which Allah has created. No one should ever use us as excuse to leave Islam: let them make-up any excuse that they want, but let not any of their excuses be our failure to be good Muslims, which Allah requires us to be.

2. Although, on the Day of Standing/Judgement-Day, people like Umar Lee will have no excuses, with Allah, for leaving Islam, out of Allah’s eternal-justice, He will respect these cases, made against Muslims whom they knew and/or came in-contact with, whom were not good-examples for them, ridiculed them, told them they weren’t good-enough Muslims, etc. In spite of the fact that his fate lies with his Lord, if he doesn’t turn back to the truth of Islam, he will still have a valid Hujjah/Indictment against other Muslims whom treated him negatively. And, to be honest, that is one of my worst fears, to be among those whom have a Hujjah against me, as a result of a person using me as an excuse as to why they either didn’t become a Muslim, or didn’t remain a Muslim.

3. I had recently learned that Umar Lee had returned back to Islam. So, with that being said, even if/when someone leaves Islam, for whatever reason, have some hope that Allah, out of His Eternal-Meryc, will allow them to find their way back to Guidance.

My final-word, to my Muslim brethren, is to just, simply, endure what Allah says, concerning to calling people to that which is positive & to what Muhammad had mentioned, concerning protecting people from our negative.

Gareth Bryant/2013

Here We Go Again: Uni-ball Releases Racist Ad Mocking Incarcerated Black Men [VIDEO]

Wow..Uni-ball really went there!!!

A Steadfast Prelude to the Nakba: Duheisha resists | #Nakba65

Occupied Palestine | فلسطين

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ACTION ALERT | #NAKBA65 65 YEARS NAKBA = ENOUGH!

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15th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

By Team Khalil

On the 14th May 2013 , a day before the Nakba, on the edge of Bethlehem, a demonstration to remember the day of the catastrophe in 1948 marched from Duheisha refugee camp to the entrance of the village of Al-Khader. Demonstrators then clashed with the Israeli military between 11am and 1pm.

Tear gas is fired at the demonstrators

Al-Khader was the chosen site of the demonstration as the villagers there have recently had one of their agricultural roads closed by the Israeli military.

Hundreds of Palestinians of all ages (7 to 18+) from Duheisha and surrounding areas came out carrying right of return flags and chanting for freedom and an end to the occupation. Israeli troops fired numerous tear gas canisters and rubber coated steel bullets at…

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Mexican Officials Arrest Two Men in Murder of Malcolm X’s Grandson

Piazza della Carina

Mexican officials arrest two men in murder of Malcolm X’s grandson

Malcolm Shabazz, 28, died in Mexico on Thursday

Manuel Alejandro Perez de Jesus, 24 and David Hernandez Cruz, 24 are thought to work at the bar where Shabazz became embroiled in a dispute

Malcolm X’s ‘first male heir’ was born in 1984 and never met his activist grandfather who was assassinated in 1965

Had a troubled youth shuffling from various relatives as his mother battled alcohol and drug addiction

At age 12, admitted to starting apartment fire that killed his 63-year-old grandmother Betty Shabazz in 1997

Was an aspiring writer, attending John Jay College in New York

He was in Mexico City to meet with labor organizers before his death

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER and ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 17:01 EST, 13 May 2013 | UPDATED: 17:01 EST, 13 May 2013

Malcolm Shabazz, the 28-year-old grandson of political activist…

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Malcolm Shabazz…In Memorandum:

Allah says:

“Everyone shall taste Death. And, We test you with the worst & best of a trial. And, you will be returned to Us.”.(Noble Qur’an: Chpt.21, V.35)

“Oh, you whom believe!!! Revere Allah, revering Him is correct, and do not die, except as Muslims.”.(Noble Qur’an: Chpt.3, V.102)

“Death comes to us all. However, it matters not why, or when we die, it’s how we die; and, I do not mean how by what circumstances under which we died, I’m exclusively referring to what state, what condition, what position with Allah, the Creator/Lord of the Universe, at the time of Death, which will be the most important.”

Gareth Bryant

Malcolm Shabazz, the maternal-grandson of Malcolm Little (AKA Malcolm X [May Allah mercify him]) has been reported, (via twitter from Terrie M. Williams) as being found dead, murdered, in Tijuana, Mexico, as a result of being shot & thrown from a building, during being robbed. This is very hurtful news to hear, not just because he was the maternal-grandson of Malcolm Little, but, more importantly, because he was my Muslim brother, a Human being, whom I had actually known personally. This really hurts!!!

And, also, I had recently discovered that this man had even went to my old High School, Benjamin Banneker in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. A former High School schoolmate of mine had revealed this info. to me, and, I had never known it, until I had found out about his death, which is so ironic, and displays, so ver clearly, how small our world is, where we could be in the same vicinity, sharing the same space, being in the same crowd, or clique, or school, or class, with someone, and not even know or care about their narrative, their history. Fortunately, I was able to be on a first-name basis with Malcolm, instead of just being a passer-by, or an admirer of his family-legacy, or a commenter, criticizer, of his personal-past.

So, for now, sadly, he is gone from us. However, he is still someone whom I’m glad that I had an opportunity to know, dialogue with, be connected with, in some way. And for whatever he was, it surely didn’t consume him, nor prevent him from becoming the man he was: He was a Muslim, a Human being, and a friend. It is very sad to know that he is no longer with us.

May Allah mercify him…#Amen

Gareth Bryant/2013