Amr Khaled Official Website

In the name of Allah the All-Merciful, the Ever- Merciful. Praise be to Allah (SWT), the Lord of the al-Alameen (mankind and jinn), and prayers and blessings be on His Messenger.

In the last episode we talked about ‘Preserving Our Resources.’ It is a very heavy shackle that ties our hands. We have many resources, but we are unable to preserve them. We ended the last episode by mentioning that there are two kinds of resources.

We mentioned that the most important human resource is the human mind; this idle capacity called ‘our minds,’ the minds of our youth and people, the Ummah (Nation) that is rich in its youth, and our countries that are rich in their youth and their minds. These minds are idle, either because of lack of training, lack of practice or unemployment.

We have huge human capacities, huge human resources, and abundant natural resources. Sixty percent of the world’s natural resources are in our countries. We have resources in the earth, we have water, and we have considerable human and natural capacities. Despite all that, we are not successful, why? The same resources that exist in the rest of the world are abundant in our countries, whether human or natural resources. We still aren’t successful with all that, why?

The reason is that we have a heavy shackle and a big problem with our resources. What is that problem? We do not know how to utilize our resources, and therefore we misuse them. We also do not utilize our resources, for instance, our minds that are idle; our fertile farmlands (like in Sudan) are left uncultivated. We have abundant resources that are, unfortunately, either unutilized or misused. How do we misuse our resources? An example is the time that we waste, isn’t that our greatest resource? Our time has lost its value. How is our youth going to spend their summer vacation? Time is wasted, water is wasted, clothes are wasted, and this is the project that we will be discussing.

Capacities are exhausted: human resources, time, and natural resources are all exhausted. What am I after? I want a revival, and I want us to be aware of our resources. Every person needs to observe himself, his family, and his country and its resources. We have to change our behavior. You might ask yourself if this program will change the behavior of people and make them care about their resources. My answer is that we will try together, but how? We will start with a small easy project; a very easy one, one without any complications. If the intended results are realized, we will observe an enormous effect, and the people will realize the importance of resources, how precious and valuable of an asset they are.

In the world, the wealth of any country is evaluated through the amount of resources it possesses in addition to its ability to utilize them. We have everything, but we do not utilize anything. What is then the easy project that I am proposing we do to train ourselves to preserve our resources? What can we do? We won’t only be speaking theoretically or delivering lectures about resources. If I just advise you to preserve our resources, what would be the use? Nothing. The idea of this program is different. Let us do something to help us learn how to preserve our resources. What is the project?

The clothes project: we want to transform the value of items that are stored in our closets from zero value to full value by giving them to a person in need. Its value will become 100%. The project has very distinctive characteristics, and that is why we chose it:

These are the characteristics of this project. Now, how are we going to proceed with the stages of the project? There are 3 stages:

If we want to discuss this project further, we will notice that it is not new, and it has been practiced by many societies and institutions, may Allah (SWT) reward them for their good deeds. We can even remember that every winter, our mothers and fathers used to collect our old clothes and distribute them.

Some people would ask about why I am making such a big deal out of this project. My answer is that the project is new because this time it is practiced all over the Arab world at the same time. This means that the impact will be tremendous all over the world; not just the Arab countries, because whoever would like to participate is welcome, Muslims or non-Muslims. All we need, in any country, is to find a place, post it on the website, and then we will guide others to it.

The project is conducted by many at the same time and millions of clothes are going to be collected. This will lead everyone to reflect on the value of our resources. This will have an unprecedented effect on people and will give them hope when we collect big amounts of clothes. This will lead people to believe that we can actually make a difference and that we can actually succeed. This is my reason for telling you openly, with confidence and without hesitation, the number of families targeted to participate is one million families.

I want everyone to witness this project and be influenced by it. I want the poor people in the Arab world to feel our unity and belonging. I want the rich people to realize the value of their resources. I want a revival. The goal is to get people to wake up and to increase their confidence. That is why our target is such a huge number; to make an impact. Who can achieve all that? You!

After this episode, my mission has been accomplished, and it is up to you to do the rest. We want one million families to donate clothes; this will result in half a million bags of clothes, so every two families will fill a bag. You might wonder how I came up with this large number. Is this just a ramdom number? Definitely not! I have strong proofs leading to this number, which are:

o Fighting the five narcotics: 300,000 participants. These are people who communicated with us through the website, phone and fax. The ones who participated but did not communicate with us are not included.

These are the results of the program so far, so the natural progress following the graph leads to 1 million participants for this coming project.

We started this project last week, and we introduced it briefly. Today’s episode covers this project in more details and encourages participation from everyone to achieve success for the project. We introduced the project last week, and asked people to get started. The idea of this project was not mine, but was started by a young man named Ahmad Imam. He is an Egyptian engineer. He called the program and suggested the idea. We planned it and spread it in the Arab world. Initially, Ahmad Imam alone collected 200 bags. We adopted the project and started advertising it. Amazing developments happened last week, let’s see:

· These places are in 26 countries: all the Arab countries are included, except Somalia and Mauritania. Other countries include: Germany, United States, France, Canada, England, Ukraine, Switzerland, and surprisingly, Hong Kong. We are very proud that this project reached even Hong Kong.

· Some countries offered more than one place for storage: Egypt has 55 places in 25 governorates. The Emirates has 7 places, Syria has 10, Yemen has 10, Jordan has 8, Morocco has 16, Tunis has 5, Lebanon has 7, Algeria has 8, and Hong Kong only one storing place. The number suggests that the goal is not impossible, if we followed this trend for one week.

· The number of bags that have been collected so far in the last 4 days after the airing of this program last week until the taping today is 40,000 bags. Among the amazing results, Ahmad Imam and his team of young men and women have collected 6,500 bags so far.

Out of the 3,200 places offered for storage, we chose 161 central points to facilitate the process of dealing with them. We posted those places on the website. We posted their phone numbers as well. Out of the 161 places we have; Qatar Charitable Society, Bahrain Red Crescent, Islamic Relief in Saudi Arabia, and other major companies in Egypt and the Arab world. The project is obviously a success, and we will be able to reach the goal. What’s important is that you open your closet as soon as this episode ends.

Any idea remains just an idea until we see it in practice, only then, do you start thinking and get motivated to do something. All the previous project were proposed by us, but this is the first time that you suggest a project, and we implement it, and follow your lead asking Allah (SWT) to reward you. When we proposed the slogan, we did not mean to fool you. We truly meant ‘Together we make life.’

I told you that by adding your idea to my idea, it won’t only produce a third idea, but will produce an infinite number of ideas. This is similar to a person standing between two mirrors seeing endless reflections of himself. Ahmad Imam did this with us. He proposed the project after he started it and succeeded. This is the reason we chose to invite him to the program so he can introduce his project. I invite Ahmad to present to everyone with his project, so that every young man can see that he is capable of succeeding and achieving his goals.

Ahmad Imam speaks: Peace be upon you all. I would like to start by thanking Mr. Amr Khaled for inviting me to the program ‘Sunaa’ al Hayah,’ and for the warm welcome that I received. I did not come to tell you that I came up with a new idea, but I came to describe to you the feeling of experiencing success. I want to tell you how you can do something and witness its effect on others, how you can face Allah (SWT) with this deed and be fortunate enough to take the thawab (reward) for it. I always felt that the person cannot live for himself. The product of multiplying one by one is one, so if a person just lives for himself, not benefiting anyone else, he will eventually harm himself. I thought of a project that Allah (SWT) can reward me for, and can affect our communities, the Muslims, our neighbors, and all the people, even in the street. I wanted to do something that all people can benefit from.

When I watched this program, it had a great influence on me. I specially remember the first episode when Mr. Amr said that he prepared this program to reach certain results, and for people to react with it, so he can meet Allah (SWT) having done something for His sake. I will always remember him saying that, and I asked myself, “What did I do? What would I tell Allah (SWT), that I watched the program and enjoyed it and benefited tremendously but did not do anything?” Then there was no implementation or application to what I learned. I decided that I had to do something that will be beneficial to my account in the hereafter.

My friends and I started to think of a project that will benefit Islam and our communities. We agreed on a simple idea, and we printed 20,000 bags with the program slogan ‘Together we make life.’ We also added on the bag ‘Participate with us in making life, and bring clean pressed clothes to the following addresses.’ We included some addresses and phone numbers. The idea simply is that we wanted to do something for the sake of Allah (SWT), and not just any idea or project. We did not want to do a messy job; on the contrary we organized ourselves. Many groups, may Allah (SWT) reward them, participated with us. Some people were in charge of posters, and stickers. Others managed the project and human resources. We divided ourselves into groups with one leader for each group of young men and women. I would like to remind you that there are people like us in other parts of Egypt and in the whole world who are doing better work than us and greater projects. What is important is to remember to make sure that our intentions are for the sake of Allah (SWT), and not to seek the popularity brought by cameras and lights? It is not that I want to be on TV, what is most important is that Allah (SWT) accept our deeds.

I would like to point to the reaction of people to this idea. There are mothers and youth who come to us crying, asking to participate and help in this project by offering money or their efforts. Some people offered their cars for transporting the items. We hope people would continue to help us according to their abilities, and specially the youth after they complete their end-of-year exams. This will be the time that we will be starting the second stage of the project. We hope that they will contact us and with our combined efforts, with the help of Allah (SWT), form more groups to complete the project.

· As a group, we got to know each other better. Our hearts became connected and we started caring more for one another. We do not have free time; we spend the mornings at work, and the evenings on this project. All this plus the feeling of responsibility.

Believe me, we will not feel successful or appreciate the efforts that were put forth until we see the clothes distributed and the happiness on the people faces. I thank you, and ask Allah (SWT) to accept this from us, inshallah (if Allah (SWT) wills).

Mr. Amr Khaled resumes: Actually, Ahmad Imam reminded me of something that I said at the beginning of the program, do you remember it? Whoever sets a goal for himself, lives for it and exerts effort to achieve it, will certainly reach this goal in his lifetime. Allah says what can be translated as, “And whoever desires a reward in (this) world, We shall give him of it; and whoever desires a reward in the hereafter, We shall give him thereof.” (TMQ, 3:145)[1]. Allah (SWT) has promised, in the above ayah that if you omit the words ‘world’ and ‘hereafter,’ the ayah becomes, “Whoever desires a reward, We shall give him of it,” so Allah (SWT) has promised, and what is important is a strong will put into action and a correct path. I salute the example of Ahmad Imam who along with his group collected 3,500 bags. May Allah (SWT) reward them.

Let us go back to the clothes project, we said that our target is one million families; we will reach it, and update you next week inshallah (if Allah (SWT) wills). Actually, I would like to add to his project other important perspectives, not just the resources. Even though preserving our resources is our original topic, there are other perspectives to his project as well. What are they?

1. The poor people who live in our countries. Who will help the poor people in our countries? Who will support them? The status of the poor people in our countries is reaching alarming numbers. There are seventy million inhabitants in the Arab world living under the poverty line. Twenty eight million of those live in Egypt and Sudan. Can you imagine 70 million? Do you know what the poverty line is? There is a minimum level for living standards, in the following 3 factors: food, clothing and shelter. Whoever possesses less than the minimum level is under the poverty line. This is defined by the United Nations. This means that there are 70 million people consuming under the minimum in one or more of the three criteria (food, clothing, shelter). We are addressing only one third of this cause, so the clothing project has another perspective other than just the resources; it is helping the poor.

Imagine that one million families participated and half of a million bags were collected. This means that 3 to 4 million people will receive new clothes. Can you imagine how the resources would have been utilized and how far this will affect the poor? There are major discrepancies in the Arab world between people living in luxury and others who can’t find a meal.

· Some people wear the same clothes everyday, wash them and wear them again, and we stand in front of our closet for half an hour to decide what to wear.

· Some people have torn clothes and holes in their shoes, and you do not know what to do with your clothes.

· Some people die from the cold weather in winters, and you wear 3 or 4 layers of clothes.

Do you think Allah (SWT) will accept this from us? Are these the teachings of Islam? How about people whose closets are full of clothes? Remember, clothes are just one third of the poverty issue? Is Allah (SWT) pleased with us? There is an Authentic Hadith narrated by al-Bukhari. When you hear the Hadith, you will react right away as soon as this episode ends, and you will fill bags of clothes, not just one.

One of the Companions narrates, “While we were at the Prophet’s (SAWS[2]), some people came and they were barefoot, almost naked, and poverty stricken. The Prophet’s face turned red with anger from us.” The narrator says, “I saw the Prophet’s cheeks swelling and his face turn red. The Prophet (SAWS) had a vein in his face, which swells with blood whenever he gets angry. The Prophet (SAWS) then said, “O Bilal, make the call for prayer.”

I want you to listen to this Hadith, imagine you’re the one the Prophet (SAWS) is talking to. Bilal gathered the people. The Prophet (SAWS) climbed the pulpit and said, reciting the Qur’an in which Allah says what can be translated as, “O mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you from a single being (Adam), and from him (Adam) He created his wife (Hawwa (Eve)), and from them both He created many men and women; and fear Allah through Whom you demand (your mutual rights), and (do not cut the relations of) the wombs (kinship)...” (TMQ, 4:1). Then the Prophet (SAWS) continued with what Allah says which can be translated to, “O you who believe! Fear Allah and keep your duty to Him. And let every person look to what he has sent forth for the morrow, and fear Allah. Verily, Allah is All-Aware of what you do.” (TMQ, 59:18). Then he said, “Let each of you spend from his dates, from his wheat, from his Dirham (money), from his clothes so that your brothers can eat.” The companion narrates, “The Prophet kept repeating it, ‘even if by half a date, even if by half a date.’” He narrates, “Then, the people took off, running to their homes. The Prophet didn’t leave the pulpit until the people came back.”

This is a very important matter, please listen, this Hadith will be a witness on the Day of Judgment. The people then came back. One person brought a bag, another brought clothes, and others brought dates. All were put in front of the Prophet (SAWS) into two piles, two hills, one of clothes and the other of food. The Prophet’s face brightened up as if it was the moon. Then the Prophet (SAWS) looked at us all and said, “Whoever initiates a good tradition, will get its thawab and the thawab of those who continue to do it until the Day of Judgment. This is the way you should be.”

Do you hear this? The issue is not only that of resources, the issue is that of the poor and meeting the Prophet (SAWS). The Prophet’s face turned red from stored clothes and barefoot people. The Prophet (SAWS) cared much for the poor, whom we forget nowadays. The people of al-Saffua were the poorest of the immigrants, and had no shelter. Did he give them housing in a faraway slum? No, he housed them behind his own home! He wanted them to live close to him, peace and blessings be upon him. Whenever he got any food or clothing, he shared it with them. Abu-Huraira, the great Companion and Hadith narrator, was among the people of al-Saffua. He narrates, “I used to be hungry, to the extent that I would get seizures from hunger and I would lose consciousness. People thought that I was insane, but it was only the hunger. When a man passed by me, I would tell him, ‘Let me recite to you some of the ayahs I memorized.’” Then he would recite to him the ayahs of spending and charity, so that the other person would have compassion on him. He was too shy to ask directly.

Our societies suffer from high unemployment. There are many people, whose dignity and shyness keep them from asking directly. Abu-Huraira was one of those people. Another Companion would tell him, “Recite to me.” Abu-Huraira would start reciting what Allah says and can be translated as, “O you who believe! Spend of the good things…” (TMQ, 2:267). Omar Ibnul-Khattab (RA) passed by him so he recited the charity ayahs to him. Omar (RA) told him, “May Allah reward you,” and he left. Abu-Bakr passed by him. He recited the charity ayahs to him. He looked at him and smiled saying, “By Allah, Abu-Huraira, I don’t have anything in my home,” and he left. Abu-Huraira continues, “The Prophet passed by. He looked at me and said, ‘Come, Abu-Huraira.’ Then he took me to his home, and asked his wife, ‘Do you have anything?’ She said, ‘A jug of milk.’ The Prophet took it. I looked at the jug. The Prophet said, ‘Abu-Huraira, call on the people of al-Saffua.’ I said, ‘Messenger of Allah, they are 100.’ He said, ‘Abu-Huraira, we won’t eat by ourselves and we won’t drink by ourselves.’” Please listen to our Prophet (SAWS)!

Abu-Huraira continued, “I went and called them. The Prophet invited them to sit down. Then, he looked at me and said, ‘Abu-Huraira, serve them the milk.’” He says, “I took the jug and gave it to a man, he drank, and gave it back to me. Then, I shook the jug to see if there was anything left of it. Then, I gave it to the next man, and the next and the next.” He continues, “By Allah, they all drank.” This is one of the miracles of the Prophet (SAWS). “Then the Prophet told me, while he was smiling, ‘Drink, Abu-Huraira.’ So I took the jug and I drank until I was full. Then the Prophet said, ‘Drink.’ So I drank until I was full. Then the Prophet said, ‘Drink, Abu-Huraira.’ I said, ‘Messenger of Allah, I can’t find any place for it in my stomach.’ He said, ‘Abu-Huraira, you see, when we fed them, we drank with them.’” Then the Prophet (SAWS) took the rest and drank. This is the way we should be with the poor. It is very important.

2. The big thawab: You are giving away things to charity. Can you imagine the thawab you’ll get?

· The Prophet (SAWS) says, “Whoever gives in charity the equivalent of a date which was earned righteously (and Allah accepts only the righteous), then Allah will raise (increase) it for that person in the same way any of you raises a foal. Even a small bite of food becomes like the mountain of Uhud.” Can you imagine that? We meet Allah (SWT) on the Day of Judgment and the smallest things we gave away in charity becomes as big as the mountain of Uhud in good deeds.

· The Prophet (SAWS) says, “And charity eliminates Allah’s anger the same way water extinguishes fire.” This means that by opening your closet and giving away the clothes, Allah (SWT) will forgive all your bad deeds, because you gave away and spent for charity.

· The Prophet (SAWS) says, “Allah will talk to each and every one of you without any translator in between. Then, the servant will look to his right and only see what he had committed and he will look to his left, and only see what he had committed. Then he will look in front of him, and see nothing but the hellfire facing him.” We ask, so what is the way out, Messenger of Allah? The Prophet (SAWS) continues, “Protect yourself from the hellfire, even by half a date.” This means that you can divide the date into two; eat one half and give the other half to charity. This will save you from the hellfire. This project will show us the value of our resources, as well as the issue of poverty.

· The Prophet (SAWS) says, “Whoever clothes a Muslim, Allah will protect him until the Muslim’s clothes wear out.”

· The Prophet (SAWS) says, “No day goes by when the slaves start their morning unless two angels descend. One of them says, ‘O Allah, give he who spends, a better replacement.’ The other angel says, ‘O Allah, give he who holds spending, loss.’”

There is another important point, regarding the thawab, which many of you might not realize. On the Day of Judgment, you will be clothed according to your deeds. On that day, people will be resurrected barefoot and naked, men and women. Will you be clothed or not? Come on, give away with this intention, “Oh Lord, I don’t want to be naked on the Day of Judgment.” Imagine that all the people are clothed by their thawab and you, what did you spend? “Oh Allah, I spent on that day so that people will be clothed. Clothe me, like I clothed your servants in this life.”

Omar Ibnul-Khattab (RA) was sitting one day, when a Bedouin came to him and told him, “Omar of the good, clothe my daughters and their mothers. I beseech by Allah to do so.” Omar (RA) told him, “If I don’t, what will happen?” The man said, “Then, Aba Hafs (Omar’s nickname), I will leave.” Omar (RA) then said, “And if you leave, what will happen?” The man said, “If I leave, by Allah, you will be asked on the Day of Judgment when you will be lead either to hell or to heaven.” Omar (RA) cried, may Allah (SWT) be pleased with him and please him. He ran and to search for clothes in his home. He asked his wife, “Do we have clothes?” She said, “By Allah we don’t have any.” He took off his garment and gave it to the man and told him, “Take this, perhaps I will be lead not to hell but to heaven.” Do you see these sensitive feelings towards a poor man? I remind you all of the reward.

3. There is a third perspective, that of ‘hope.’ This is the difference between us now and those who gathered clothes before. At the very same moment, we are all gathering millions of pieces to reach 3 or 4 million poor people through the expos we will organize. It will be a big leap. What will you feel happen inside of you? What will happen to our brother Ahmad Imam? He started this project, and took as much reward as all of us, and he gathered 6,500 bags all by himself.

I remind you all of the hope. A person might ask about why he has to collect clothes and give them to the places announced on the net or on the phone lines. Why not just give them to any poor person? What’s the difference? The difference is that we push for more hope. How? Collecting things with each other will give us an enormous psychological energy. People will feel like they worked together! An extraordinary result will occur. People will say, “We did it!” Do you grasp the idea? Let us look at the way of Islam and the Prophet (SAWS):

· The pilgrimage is but the gathering of many Muslims in Arafah at the same time, in spite of the crowding.

· The Eid (feast) prayer is but the gathering of many Muslims at the same time, all wearing new clothes.

· Zakat al-Fitr (alms of breaking the fast) is but giving away money to many poor people at the same time. This way, happiness is spread all around and we feel that we are all one.

Islam is based on this idea. This is a new thing in this project. It gives hope and enormous energy. How?

Look at the Prophet (SAWS) and his Companions when they were going for Umrah (minor pilgrimage). Each one was silently saying, Labayka Allahuma Labayk, Labayka, La Sharika Laka, Labayk. Inn al Hamda wal Ne’mata Laka wal Mulk, La Sharika Lak (O Allah, here we are responding to Your call. Oh Allah, there are no partners with You. To You belongs all Praise, Grace and Dominion. There are no partners with You). Jibril (AS) (Gabriel) descended from heaven and said, “Muhammad, why aren’t your Companions raising their voices with Takbir (saying Allah is Great), Tahlil (saying there is no deity but Allah) and Talbiyah (saying we respond to You)?” The Companions kept raising their voices until they lost them. Do you see what happened? They lost their voices from doing the Tahlil and Talbeyah all at the same time, in a loud voice. It’s the result of doing something together, so it produced an enormous energy.

That is why we tell you all to give at the same time. Move and open your closets. We will reach our goal of a million families or half of a million bags. This will bring an enormous energy and hope, which we desperately need. In the current situation of our countries and Muslims, we need this hope, so help us in achieving this idea of extraordinary hope!

Let us do like what the Prophet (SAWS) did on the day of the Campaign of al-Usra army (The Hardship), also known as Tabouk. The campaign was difficult, and needed financial support. What did the Prophet (SAWS) do? He climbed the pulpit and said, “Who will finance the army of al-Usra?” He repeated the question three times. One man stood up among all the people, who were all sitting silently. This is just like when Ahmad Imam came from among us and said, “I will do it.” Othman Ibn-Affan, may Allah (SWT) be pleased with him, stood up and said, “I will give out 100 camels, together with their supplies.” The Prophet (SAWS) smiled and said, “Who will finance the army of al-Usra?” He wanted to boost the morale of the people, so Othman, may Allah (SWT) be pleased with him, stood up again and said, “I will give out another 100 camels, together with their supplies.” The Prophet (SAWS) repeated the question, “Who will finance the army of al-Usra?” Othman stood up once again and said, “I will give out a third 100 (300 in total) camels, together with their supplies.” The Prophet (SAWS) descended from the pulpit, turning his hands in disbelief, and saying, “No matter what Othman does after that, nothing will harm him.” People were watching all of that. The Prophet (SAWS) then took off his garment and spread it in the middle of the mosque so that if a person puts something in it, others could see it. The result was vast. This was the way of the Prophet (SAWS).

The result of this was that Omar (RA) said to Abu-Bakr (RA), “By Allah, I will be ahead of Abu-Bakr.” He went and brought half his money. The Prophet (SAWS) asked him then, “What did you leave for your family?” The Prophet (SAWS) ask him that so that the people around would feel that they wanted to be as productive. He replied, “I left them the other half.” Abu-Bakr (RA) then came and the Prophet (SAWS) asked him, “What did you leave for your family?” He said, “I brought you all my money, Messenger of Allah. I left them Allah and His Messenger.” Omar (RA) said, “By Allah, I am never ahead of you, Abu-Bakr.” People then got up and ran to their homes and collected whatever they had: dates, food, and pieces of clothes. Abdul-Rahman Ibn-Awf brought 1,000 Dirhams. The pile started growing and growing. This is the true meaning. People started encouraging and benefiting each other, they started to wake up. Consequently, the Muslim army won using the huge amount of things that was gathered.

Allah the Almighty says what can be translated as, “…and for this let (all) the competitors compete and strive (i.e. hasten earnestly to the obedience of Allah).” (TMQ, 83:26). Since we are doing this project together, let us strive and compete with Ahmad Imam.

Do you see the different perspectives of the project? There is also another perspective, which is achieving the unity and Takaful (Islamic cooperative insurance or mutual support) among Muslims. This concept comes from the teachings of the Prophet (SAWS). He says, “The example of the believers in their love, mercy and compassion is like that of one body.” The idea of Takaful is an Islamic idea. The Prophet (SAWS) says, whoever has an extra space on the back of his camel (i.e. means of transportation), let him give it to the one who has none and whoever has extra food, let him give it to the one who has none.” This means that if you have extra space in your car; invite others to ride with you.

By Allah (SWT), we will be asked about all this. This religion is not only about prayers and fasting, it’s also about extending a helping hand to Muslims, to your country, to your society. The West succeeded in applying this concept more than us. Originally, we had this great idea. In the West, namely in England, they hold a ‘Sunday Market’ every Sunday. Every person who has old stuff in his home brings them to this market, where they are sold for cheap prices. It’s a well-known market, and people don’t feel any shamefulness in buying from it. The society exchanges goods and supports each other, so why don’t we do that? The idea is originally in our religion, and our Prophet (SAWS) stated it.

The Prophet (SAWS) says, “The Asha’ira people (the tribe of Abu-Mouse al-Ashari) are among the best of people. Whenever they’d have a need, poverty, hardship or hunger, they would spread a garment, and gather their food or clothes, put them together, and divide them among themselves equally, so that everyone gets something.” The Prophet (SAWS) says, “So I’m from them, and they are from me.” Let us all meet the Prophet (SAWS) on the Day of Judgment having applied his teachings. The project is easy, let us gain the great rewards.

1. Don’t give away the worst thing you have. I mean don’t go looking for the worst things you have, which you were just about to turn into rags, and give them away. Look at the ayah (verse) in which Allah talks about doing just that and which can be translated as, “…and do not aim at that which is bad to spend from it, (though) you would not accept it.” (TMQ, 2:267). This ayah means that you will not accept that thing if it was given to you, why then would you accept giving it to someone else? I hope we take this into consideration. If the clothes are torn, sew them before giving them away.

2. How about choosing just one new piece? This way you will fulfill Allah’s words which can be translated as, “By no means shall you attain al-Birr (piety, righteousness - here it means Allah’s Reward, i.e. paradise), unless you spend (in Allah’s Cause) of that which you love.” (TMQ, 3:92). Just one piece; it’s up to you how rewarded you want to be. One of the Companions, Abu-al-Dahdah, when he heard this ayah, gave away a whole orchard which he owned. He said, “It’s for Allah, it’s for Allah.” It was not just a suit or a shirt. The Prophet (SAWS) told him, “This is a winning deal. This is a winning deal.” He then goes to his orchard, where he found his wife, feeding her child. He told her, “Um-al-Dahdah, the orchard is for Allah, for Allah.” She then took the fruit out of her son’s mouth, because it was for Allah (SWT) now.

3. Don’t become stingy while you are standing in front of the closet. You might find yourself having second thoughts like, “I’ll leave them; maybe I’ll need them later.” The Prophet (SAWS) says to Aisha, may Allah (SWT) be pleased with her, “Aisha, don’t count what you spend, then Allah will count on you.” The Prophet (SAWS) also says, “The generous is close to Allah, close to heaven and the stingy is close to hellfire, away from Allah.” Give away generously and don’t say, “Oh, three pieces are too much!”

4. Be sincere; give away with the intention of: Allah (SWT), save me with this next piece! Clothe me on the Day of Judgment with this piece! Also, so that all the Muslims around the world would feel the hope, and so that in the next episode we can say that we did such and such. You can also have several intentions, so you will get rewarded for all of these intentions. I remind you: sincerity, sincerity.

Now only one thing is left in this project: the project of clothing a million families. We have a very important request, especially from the ladies. You have to move and tell others, until we reach the million. Go through your schools, colleges, universities, companies, neighbors, friends, buildings, etc. It won’t work if you are by yourself. Al-Hakem narrates, “Allah is in the help of a slave as long as he is in the help of his brother.” Also, “When one of you looks after the needs of his brother, it is better for him than practicing I’tikaf (solitude worship) for 60 years.” This means that fulfilling the needs of Muslims has a great thawab; that you, my brother, my father, our daughters, all start to move and search around ourselves. Tell others, “I will deliver the clothes for you, just give them to me.”

2. Call your friends, neighbors and relatives. Tell them to send you the clothes and that you will deliver them. This is to be more positive, to gain more reward, to make this project successful, and to meet the Prophet (SAWS) with this deed.

That’s why we included, on the website, a document stating the rewards of collecting clothes, and the Prophet’s Hadiths. Print them out and distribute them everywhere. We also need from the businessmen, the owners of clothes shops and factories, to help us, and participate with us. I know of a man in Fayoum who owns a clothes’ shop. He sent out to 150 shop owners to participate with us and get out the stored clothes which are not in fashion any more.

[1] TMQ=Translation of the Meaning of the Qur'an. This translation is for the realized meaning, so far, of the stated (Surah:Ayah) of the Qur'an. Reading the translated meaning of the Qur'an can never replace reading it in Arabic, the language in which it was revealed

[2] Sala-llahu Alahi Wa Salam = All Prayers and Peace of Allah be upon him.

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