China Muslim

  • Assalamu’alaikum dear Sis Mariah,

    SMay Allah grant you with good health and be blessed always. Well, what can I say about traveling with you to Shangri-La and Qurban at Yunnan?

    I have been traveling to different part of the world either for business or family holidays, but last December’s trip with you was really a new experience for my whole family and has deeply impacted my life. Not only it helped us understand how the poor Muslims in China were living, it made us realized how fortunate we are and to be thankful to Allah by being more Takwah.

    Once again i would like to thank you and your guides for a memorable trip and would certainly endorse/recommend this trip you have my email address and would be willing to help any time you need my help.

    The visit to Shangri-La was indeed the most memorable and eye opener for all of us. The mosque, madrasah, kindergarden, houses, their clothes and the food they eat made us appreciate how blessed we are living in this small multi racial country.

    My husband and me were touched to tears to see the preschool kids reciting Selawat and verses from Quran fluently in their so call ‘class rooms’ which made us realized how strong their faith are. Not forgetting Hassan’s and his family’s hospitalities that made us feel warm during the bitter winter. At this mountain, seeing their simple life, I can felt peaceful, calm and indeed a lovely picture of tranquility.

    The celebration of Eidul Adha and Qurban at TaoYuan and Ding Bai Mu village is another new and unforgettable experience for us. I have never feel welcomed to such degree that made me cry. I could still hear their voices of salam and selawat from our right and left as we walked through the rows of villagers, students, teachers, principals and imams of the mosque. One lady teacher at Ding Bai Mu madrasah spoke to my daughter on how grateful they are to receive our qurban meat as they could not afford even a sheep. Our annual qurban from Singapore organized by you is their only mean to have meat in their menu.

    I am dumb-founded with words to sufficiently thank all and everyone for their hospitality. The whole experience truly made me appreciate (syukur to Allah) how fortunate and blessed we are in comparison to our Muslim brothers and sisters living in poverty on the same land that Allah created. If Allah permits, we would love to return and meet them all again.

    Last but not least, we wish to thank you for making this trip happen and pray that Allah bless you with His Rahmah, to give you health and strength for you to continue your good deeds and charity work for Muslims in China.

    Hasnah Abdullah Abdul Ghani Md Yusoff
    Amylia Abdul Ghani and
    Amelina Abdul Ghani

    [email protected]

    From Singapore Group – 15th to 25th December 2007

  • Assalamualaikum Sister Mariah,

    Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

    Everything went smoothly from the first day to the last. I was so impressed by the professionalism behind everything.Never ever did I expect that I would meet so many strong and beautiful Muslims And every one of them touched my heart.

    Satu trip yang berkat, mesti selalu lakukan trip yang sebagai ini.

    Trip ini ada 2+1 —trip sambil berdakwah. Also good guidance, good service and etc.

    We will make co-operation between you and Islamic Outreach—ABIM.

    From,
    Muhammad Azlan Nayan
    Islamic Outreach –ABIM
    3402 Jalan Ampang Hilir 2,
    55000 Kual Lumpur

    Email: [email protected]

    6 September 2007

  • Assalamu’alaikum Sister Mariah,

    I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and our tour guide Helen for making our visit there a pleasant one. My husband and I felt happy and enjoyed the visit to the historical place in Beijing especially the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, not forget the Great Wall Of China ,the Niujie Mosque and meeting with Haji Abdul Hakim and family. We hope to go there again.

    As our visit was the short one it unable us to follow you and the rest to Xian. I hope one day I’ll be going there insyaallah. I also love to visit the Linxia orphanage and the Terracotta warriors and Stone Forest etc.

    Murni/ Abdullah Singapore

  • Alikumsalamwarahmatullah-bismillahhirahmanirraheem

    What can I say about your tours? Our group was full of mature singles including your good self, so lots of laughter and fun not to mention required exercising a lot of perseverance and patience too!!!! The visit to Xian and Yunnan was well worth it. Kunming, Lijiang and Shangri-La was indeed stunning not forgetting Haji's farm and his family's hospitalities. The Muslim kindergarden/schools/masjid truly made me appreciate how blessed we are in the west to have so much and how.

    It was a real eye opener.There were times I felt very sad seeing such degree of poverty/desperation. I'm working on donation for selected project now which we will be discussing in the future soon inshallah and spreading the words amongst people I know here in London. Food in Beijing was diabolical but the Great wall and the masjid was truly beautiful and inspiring. Alhumdollilah food in the south was good including chilli la!.

    As for Sister Mariah-you are indeed an amazing person, your patience, drive in supporting the Muslim cause and love for old n young alike is both amazing and empowering. Needless to say occasionally you drove me mad too with your enthusiasm. Your theory being I'm too urbanised!.

    Lots of hugs and hugs xxxxxx.

    Fatima Ismailjee LONDON-UK

  • Dear Mariah,

    I and my husband would like to thank you very much. Without you, we would not have been able to see the Muslim villages of north west china . we visited the orphanage, the madrassahs,and masjids and also some places of interest. You did your best to ensure that we traveled comfortably and organized all our flights and destinations in such a way that all went according to plan, except when you lost your passport in Xian we got worried that how are we going to travel without you. But it was not a problem at all as you arrange for your contacts to pick us up, to house us and interpret for us, and showed us around. Whatever problems we encountered you dealt with it and say it is Allah’s will and solved it. Indeed it was! You always reminded us to say Tawakal allah.

    It was not a holiday as such but an eye opener, an experience that we will always cherish due to your kindness and strength. Even when I suggested to you if we could stay one night in Xian, you made it possible. Jazakallah for that. Nothing was impossible to you. What a wonderful person you are. May Allah swa bless you, give you strength and reward you for all your effort. Subhanallah..

    We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to all your contacts and friends we met on our trip ,their hospitality all their assistance they gave us to facilitate our trips. As my husband said in his speeches 'You have a cold climate here, we too have a cold climate in the UK, however your hearts are warmer'. Pray to Allah s.w.a that we continue to help the needy Muslims of China, especially the orphanages through Mariah's charity insha Allah.

    [email protected]

    Jazakallah
    Swaleha Esoof
    Watford, Herts

    27th April 2007

  • I had an interesting and memorable experience on my recent trip to China's Xinjiang and Gansu provinces (3 July -10 July 2009).

    I had long dreamt of going to Xinjiang because of its history, formerly Muslim East Turkestan and also a silk route. But I had more than I expected, its natural wonders which was a bonus to the trip. Xinjiang has almost all the natural wonders in the world–enchanting mountain lakes and glaciers, mountain ranges, deserts, rivers, even the Dead Sea of China. I was amazed by the scenic beauty of Lake Tianchi-subhanallah!

    As we travelled along the Karakoram Highway I remembered the geography lesson I had decades ago now unfolding before my very eyes. I had wild imaginations of camels walking by with their loads of merchandise. How hard it must be then without modern amenities such as the highway and planes!

    We visited the historic mosques-Idkah and Aba Khoja in Kashgar and Emin minaret and mosque in Turpan. At the Uiyghur village of Toyug there was a Chinese version of Ashabul Kahfi. Kashgar has many interesting bazaars and handicraft street. Turpan is an interesting place where grapes are seen dangling at almost every house,but what a pity. We regret not being able to taste them as they were not ripe then.

    Prior to that we visited Linxia, which is the Mecca of China. At the Yaseen Kindergarten little kids from aged 4-6 are able to memorise surah Ar Rahman and Yasin which I find very impressive and amazing and put many adults to shame. At that moment I pledge that I'll memorise the former when I return home. At the Literacy Centre for woman and children in Lanzhou I was similarly impressed when illiterate women send there were able to read poetry and recite the Quran!

    As far as I know no Muslim travel agent in Singapore organised such a tour. I highly recommend anyone to follow Sister Mariah on such a tour as it provides not only a sightseeing tour but we also gain spiritual enrichment. We can also support the charity work that she is doing there. I look forward to another Silaturrahim tour with her, maybe in other Muslim countries such as Central Asia.

    Thanks for your wonderful trip. We enjoyed ourselves tremendously though I feel worn out by the trip. Xinjiang has almost everything, natural wonders, Islamic history, ancient history, interesting bazaars, it's a holiday like no other especially if we combine it with the Gansu trip. This trip is going to be a very memorable trip throughout our life.

    [email protected]

    Salam from Kak su

    Salmah Harun

  • My trip to China, 13-23 August 2007

    Beijing, Xian, Linxia, Lanzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai

    As I flew back home to the United States from my very trip to China– my first trip to the Far East—I could not help feeling how every little experience that occurred there made me a richer person then when I arrived on warm, humid night in a crowded Beijing airport. I always believed that traveling the world expanded my horizons, and I will probably keep believing that till the day I pass on. However, as I get older – and some might say wiser, having traveled with a variety of people from different background and cultures, I slowly realize in order to gain knowledge while traveling you must seek knowledge to truly expand your horizons.

    The Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) had advised us to travel as far as China to seek knowledge. In those days a trip from the Arabian Peninsula to China would have taken 3 years, not to mention countless difficulties and problems in the journey in order to reach your destination (things have not changed much!). And while it seems taxing and burdensome to travel in today’s world of delayed flights, lost luggage, and questionable airline food (or lack thereof), I often remember the Ayats in the Holy Quran that encourages us to travel the earth and learn about past civilizations.

    In my journeys around the world, what strikes me is not what amazing monuments past civilizations built, which have stood the test of time and endured harsh climates and wars – although the Great Wall does leave you speechless. What amazes me is the capacity of humanity to rebuild and reform their societies no matter what the tragedies their ancestors faced – granted not overnight as some would like to demand.

    But nonetheless, for this visitor, China was nothing short of a modern-day miracle. A country that has been through so much and in spite of all its obstacles become an example of what can be accomplished with hard work, unity and cooperation. And before anyone reading this article thinks I am “out-to-lunch” on some of the problematic issues that are occurring within and outside its borders, I would like to think I am fairly well informed on some of the major news making concerns. However, the focus of my article is a visitor’s first impressions to a land that makes her presence known in not only the global market but, has had a long presence with the intellectually and culturally sophisticated as well.

    What struck me on my first trip to China was the amazing kindness and hospitality of the local Chinese people and the eagerness to display a positive image of their culture and country; which I might add they succeeded in – at least with this visitor. Every place we visited, people went above and beyond to make us welcome, including places that may not have had much “material wealth”, but were abundant with qualities that cannot be measure in coins or currency. There was never a place that I visited that did not show a true desire to educate you about who they were, as a people, or teach you the language and culture. Although occasional attempts to teach me Chinese resulted in me learn about 5 words at best, and my hand gestures got me reactions ranging from giggles to bewildered stares. But English-speaking tour guides found a saving grace in me for practicing the lingo, and while in the smaller towns I got the looks that you only get when you’re not a local. But at no time did I feel like I was in an “alien” land, in fact so much of my Islamic heritage seemed so at home in parts of China that were predominantly Muslim.

    The universality that I felt in my own homeland and other predominantly Muslim countries I visited is what I felt with Chinese Muslims. The connection that I felt with my Creator when I was praying in a mosque that was 1000 years old in Xian, or the sense of peace I got when I visited a 600 year old mosque, which also serves a museum for legendary explorer Zheng Ho in Nanjing. Many of the Muslims I met in China would greet me in passing with the traditional “Salaam Walaykum” and a smile and made sure to inquire where I hailed from. But what I will probably remember most on this trip was meeting female imams that led me in prayer and the level of dedication and knowledge they each displayed while being so humble about it; especially in a day and age when true knowledge is so scarce at times. I saw amazing strength in Islamic character and admirable behavior in a part of the world that some Muslims don’t often associate with Islam. There is a very rich Islamic heritage that would surprise even the best of researchers.

    And while I saw so much that has inspired me, I also saw aspects of life that reminded me about our duties to fulfill in this life as believers of the Almighty Creator and Provider. Poverty is no stranger to this land either, our tour group visited a Muslim orphanage in Linxia that was taking care of children that had been abandoned by their families. The sadness that engulfs you seeing these children is more than you might grasp. We all need sufficient monetary support but, it was at this time that I realized how much we all need love. Having been blessed with a loving family and caring parents who take care of you at every turn, one often tends to take for granted the blessing of love. It was in this moment that I realized why the Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) had said, “Anyone who takes care of an orphan, their place will be like this with me in heaven – holding up his index and middle finger together.”

    The lack of love in a child’s life has effects that we might never imagine, one small boy would not smile, even after being given several new gifts that he knew were for him to keep. The sadness in his eyes, was not the sadness of a 5 year old boy, it was the sadness that angels seem to have for a child that had seen more than he needed to. And each time you feel like have to many problems or life has short changed you, remember that there are children in this world who even the angels cry for. So, while you celebrate the beginning of our month of fasting, please remember there are children who need not only food, but also a hug and a kind word, maybe even a parent who would like to share the blessing of love.

    In the end, I would like to say to all my fellow travelers, to those of who seek knowledge of amazing Islamic heritages, I would suggest visiting China because, it has everything a modern-day traveler could seek. Glamorous, fast-paced cities like Beijing and Shanghai with shopping to complement most wardrobes and lifestyles. And a unique culture that blends in so well with the world. Its timeless treasures like the great wall, nature that resembles Chinese paintings that appear to have come to life and breath-taking mosques that leave you in awe of structures built to glorify Almighty God.

    Written by

    [email protected]

    Sister Nusrath Ainapore Pittsburgh. USA