Farah and Chris: Cherish This Night

The love birds on God’s plan

Yes it’s Raptorsland

And we are celebrating the soulmates of Toronto

What better way than at the artistic Guild Inn

Farah a vegetarian and voracious humanitarian

She knows how to design the heart

With love and faith twisted in green and white

I don’t mean any heart- just Chris’s

And Chris the unbendable social justice warrior

He will give his shirt for you

And that’s why he fell in love with Farah’s faith

And the butter chicken too!

If this love story should be written on the walls of the Kaba

It would be Laila and Majnoo all over

Like the nightingale kisses the morning dew with couplets

Farah and Chris will be remembered for their divine union like every angel’s envy!

So while we enjoy the sunset

On the tapestry of nature’s birth

The twinning of two families, two faiths, two soulmates

We will dance away on the altar of our One God’s love!

Wudu Unit for Ablution installed in Canadian Prison for the first time!

Wudu Unit for Ablution installed in Canadian Prison for the first time!

Habeeb Alli

June 09 2019 Last Friday, June 7^th 2019, which happens to be both the Day of Juma and the day the Muslim inmates were celebrating Eid at Warkworth Institution, will be marked in Canadian prison history as the first time a wudu unit has been made operational. This is for ablution before prayers.

Muslims wash five times a day, called ablution, before prayers. This washing of the hands, face, and feet; and wiping the head necessitates dignity and grace- something all faiths warrant. However, having to make wudu inside one’s cell, where the toilet sits as well, and lifting one’s feet inside the sink to wash them in the presence of other cellmates, do not augur well for inmates relations nor dignity of religion to say the least.

At the One Love Gala 2017, an event aimed at celebrating the successful reintegration of inmates, proceeds of the gala were earmarked for the purchase of the wudu units and its installation within the Chapel of this particular Institution.
Thanks to the donors and well wishers as well as Correction Services Canada, their capable staff was able to see to the plumbing and building a base to mount the two units within the required standards.

The unit was purchased in the UK, thanks to the capable spearheading of the project by Site Base Chaplain Dr. Desmond Khanoo. He worked on this diligently for the past two years and was present at the opening on Friday.
Present at the official launch was Regional Chaplain Imam AbdurRasheed Michael Taylor, who shared his own experienced as the former Muslim Chaplain and the how far the journey has been that today such an accomplishment could be achieved. He emphasised Corrections’ commitment towards diversity.

Special gratitude is extended by the inmates for this facility and the fact that this can happen at one institution it can happen anywhere else.
This mobile type wudu units are common in the prisons and hospitals in the UK.

Like Jesus and Moses, Muhammad was ordered to wash up before prayer- Quran 5:6 “O you who believe! When you rise up for prayer, wash you faces, and your hands up to the elbows, and wipe your heads and wash your feet up to the ankles.”

Imam Habeeb Alli is thankful to being part of this history, from the beginning, as the Muslim Chaplain.

Spring to Easter celebrated

Spring to Easter celebrated

My father: My first boss!

                             Happy Father's Day!

My father: My first boss!
 

I remember
The apprenticeship
A gig that was short and telling
To hand him the pliers and then to run the wires

I was like 10
He was a big set guy
I was quick to quiver at his voice
I was paid enough for a Sunday matinee show at Gem

But many weekends and most evenings
I would learn to be an electrician whilst studying
From the country’s best, Rabbi, was Guysuco’s and DDL’s best
He taught refrigeration, generator repairs and wiring houses

To put a smile, God rest his soul!
I did run some wedding houses’ lights, like Aunty Inese’s
I did crawl in some ceilings to hide wires in Uncle Hydrali’s
I did not heed his venting or hammering

I wanted to be an engineer after leaving Queens
To follow the footsteps of my Granpa Wajid Ali
Who engineered the electrical wires from sugar factory to the seawall
But I turned my back and became an itinerant scholar from Enmore!

I learnt from my dad
To work hard and honest
To help someone in distress
And to be passionate, that would make life worth living to its best!

                          HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

whispersofkaieteur: Bibi Sanderson: a legacy of love and generosity

whispersofkaieteur: Bibi Sanderson: a legacy of love and generosity: This we know of mothers That Paradise is laid in gold beneath their tired feet A lifetime of life and laughter has been her lega...

Bibi Sanderson: a legacy of love and generosity

This we know of mothers

That Paradise is laid in gold beneath their tired feet

A lifetime of life and laughter has been her legacy

That Aunty Zee touched the hearts from Fiji to Canje

From the time I set eyes on her in Dawa Centre

And throughout the years through Mark and Sherry

The tree is known by the fruits it bears

Her children are all love and beauty

This single mother reminded me of Khadija

Living for her children while she prayed in silence

This teacher whose students are worldwide scholars

Reminds us that we too had a Mother Theresa

Once she sponsored the children of Skeldon

Once she would be there for those in Yemen

Yet another time it’s the masjid or iftar, the society, the humanity

Her generosity knew no bounds like her smiles

Let this not be the end of family and friends

Let not the party at Eid or Sundays or Holidays end

The glue to the life of the party has been the envy of many

Life itself envies death when death's desire is for God only.

Good bye Bibi Sanderson

Good bye our hero

Allah be with you always

And leave some breeze behind for your three angels!