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  4. My Journey

My Journey

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  • H Offline
    H Offline
    Haroon
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    Hi!
    I came to Islam and God Alone in 1998 at the tender age of 17, became good friends with Layth and we started Free-Minds!

    Yes, I am a co-founder!

    I'm from the UK

    I had all kinds of personal stuff going on and back in that time it was testing as there were few of us who believed in God Alone that I knew, especially in the UK.

    Some of you guys may remember Leila N, is she still on the path? I met her and another guy who's name I couldn't remember at a peace march for Iraq.

    Anyways, I did disappear for a while. However, I'm back and stronger than ever in my faith and it is wonderful to see just how much Free-Minds has grown, God willing I do not intend to leave.

    There is much work to be done, Inshallah we can all pull together and make a positive difference!

    Anyways, would love to hear from anyone else who wants to say hi!

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    • J Offline
      J Offline
      jankren
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      Welcome brother and thanks for helping to create this beautiful site ). If you do not mind maybe you could tell the story which led to the creation of this site with Layth.

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      • H Offline
        H Offline
        Haroon
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        Ok! )

        Basically, Layth and I met through a man who some people may know called Edip Yuksel. He is a dear friend. Edip Yuksel occasionally used to forward me emails of people who were new to the path of God alone to discuss the Quran with them.

        Layth and I over time discussed the Quran and struck up a friendship. Over time we noticed a lot of splintering and discord amongst those who claimed to follow God alone. Many would take the 19 code too far and use abitrary methods to find more 'miracles', some were caught up in the messengership of Dr Rashad Khalifa.

        Layth and I did not identify at all with either of these things.

        We felt that the message of doing good deeds and intellectual enquiry as encouraged by the Quran was being overlooked as a result of these 'distractions'.

        We decided a website was the answer, something to provoke thought. The other goal inshallah is to do charity/philanthropic projects in the long term as God exhorts us to do give sadaqah and zakat and to help others and not put ourselves first.

        Inshallah with this site we will endeavour righteously in the way of God.

        Feel free to ask anything else or just to hit me up at my email address

        [email protected]

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        • LaythL Offline
          LaythL Offline
          Layth
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          Salam Haroon,

          Nice to see you on the forum

          Do give an update on Layla if you know what happened to her. She was quite active and dynamic but seems to have lost hope after the Iraq war.

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          • I Offline
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            IronSky
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            Peace to all,

            Great to meet you haroon, I have to say thanks for being a cofounder of this forum, I feel like its my family ive never met and now your my new brother. Hope to get to know you better.

            Kurt

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            • H Offline
              H Offline
              Haroon
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              Hello Jankren and IronSky, thank you for the welcome to the site!

              I feel like the prodigal son who has returned.

              Please do tell me more about yourselves and/or email me at

              [email protected]

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              • L Offline
                L Offline
                lilyfleur
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                Ok! )
                We decided a website was the answer, something to provoke thought. The other goal inshallah is to do charity/philanthropic projects in the long term as God exhorts us to do give sadaqah and zakat and to help others and not put ourselves first.

                Inshallah with this site we will endeavour righteously in the way of God.

                Peace Haroon,

                Welcome back. I am new here myself. You mention charity/philanthropic projects, this is something I've been thinking about as well. Is there/has there been a way for us at FM to give charity as a whole? Thanks for your time.

                Peace and love,
                lilyfleur

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                • H Offline
                  H Offline
                  Haroon
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #8

                  Salaam Lily!

                  How are you today?

                  I hope all is well.

                  I don't know at the moment how we should go about with charity/philanthropic projects.

                  We haven't done anything in the past to my recollection.

                  What I did discuss with Layth was the idea of how Muslim businesses could use their financial clout not just to put the profits back into the pockets of those who run it, but putting some money back into charity/philanthropic projects.

                  The only thing I can think of is as more groups of people who believe in God alone are collected in various geographical locations they should get together and find creative ways of using money for charitable causes etc. Donating money is a good starting point for all of us at the moment. Until we can get more organised and professional in our approach.

                  This is all just off the top of my head.

                  One thing I have noticed is just how much progress our website Free-Minds has made in the time I've been away.

                  We just start off small with our charitable/philanthropic efforts, the important thing is to have a momentum that gains with time and remains constant. You know the saying about how little acorns grow into trees eventually.

                  Let's see what we can come up with once we put our heads together.

                  I've already spoken to Layth about how over time we should try donating copies of the Quran's translation to libraries and educational centres and find as many ways of distributing it as possible.

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                  • L Offline
                    L Offline
                    lilyfleur
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    Peace,

                    Haroon- "I've already spoken to Layth about how over time we should try donating copies of the Quran's translation to libraries and educational centres and find as many ways of distributing it as possible."

                    I really love that idea, that could be a wonderful start. Perhaps the moderators could compile a list of possible charities and then from the list issue a poll for those who are sincerely willing to donate.

                    Again, welcome back and thank you for your time.

                    love and peace,
                    lf

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                    • WakasW Offline
                      WakasW Offline
                      Wakas
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      peace all,

                      Welcome Haroon. I came to "God Alone" in 2000 at the tender age of 19, and I'm also from the UK. If you are interested in projects relating to AQ, you may wish to visit www.quraninstitute.org

                      lilyfleur, as far as donating to charity is concerned, why not do it directly? Going through the forum sounds unecessarily convoluted.

                      All information is correct to the best of my knowledge only and thus should not be taken as a fact. One should always seek knowledge and verify for themselves when possible: 17:36, 20:114, 35:28, 49:6, 58:11.

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                      • J Offline
                        J Offline
                        jankren
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #11

                        I think just like what someone (Magi?) here once said, instead of donating our money through some kinda organization or something, we should just find a homeless person around our home and feed him or let him take a shower or something.

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                        • H Offline
                          H Offline
                          Haroon
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #12

                          I would totally agree with you jankren!

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                          • T Offline
                            T Offline
                            Tay
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #13

                            Peace and welcome back Haroon,

                            Many thanks to you and Layth for this place. I look forward to future discussions with you.

                            Peace,
                            Tay

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                            • H Offline
                              H Offline
                              Haroon
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #14

                              Thank you Tay. Tell me a little more about yourself. Where are you based?

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                              • U Offline
                                U Offline
                                unknownuser
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #15

                                Peace bro Haroon,

                                Welcome back welcome and thank you for co-founding this website.

                                My story and background is at the following link

                                http//free-minds.org/forum/index.php?topic=10334.0

                                I agree that we need to give charity to any needy person around us especially our relatives. In addition to that I have a suggestion to set up a way to donate to free-minds also to help our fellow members in time of need and organize meetings etc.

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                                • H Offline
                                  H Offline
                                  Haroon
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #16

                                  Thank you for your welcome!

                                  I will read your journey link and comment on it too and your suggestions too!

                                  Peace!

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                                  • A Offline
                                    A Offline
                                    Angel
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #17

                                    Hi Haroon,

                                    I came to god alone at the tender age of 16.

                                    If you are the co-founder of Free-Minds how come you do not have the privilege of being a moderator?

                                    Where abouts in the UK do you live?

                                    salaam
                                    handshake

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                                    • H Offline
                                      H Offline
                                      Haroon
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #18

                                      well, i co-founded and stayed for a while.

                                      for personal reasons i left and stayed away and had to resolve things, both personal and faith related.

                                      I only returned in the last couple of weeks.

                                      Inshallah I will be contributing more to this site and the endeavours of Free-Minds. As for being a moderator! It's up the other gracious members to grant me such status

                                      In the UK, I live along the south coast, not too far from Portsmouth.

                                      Where are you based?

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                                      • A Offline
                                        A Offline
                                        Angel
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #19

                                        I live up North, where it?s boring and slow!

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                                        • H Offline
                                          H Offline
                                          Haroon
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #20

                                          it's boring up north!

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