Dear brothers and sisters, As Salamu ‘alaikum, wa rahmatuLlahi, wa barakatuH.

- 3 million refugees displaced
- 80% are women & children
- They’re hungry, cold, sick, and needy.
- DO Something!

Due to the overwhelming positive response that we’ve received online, from Australia, to California, to the UK, and the UAE, we’ve consulted with our team, and have decided to call off the upcoming relief event at Pearl Banquet Hall in Toronto on Saturday, June 27th. We’re going to aim a little higher.

We want to raise no less than $1 Million for our displaced and desperate brothers and sisters in Swat. We obviously can’t do this without your active support, promotion, involvement, and help.

The process is very simple.

I want 1,000 people to make a simple commitment:
1. Donate at least $20
2. Find 20 others to do the same.
3. Have them find only 2 others to donate the same amount. (keep track of your lists!)

Think family, coworkers, annoying siblings, cousins, classmates, teachers, Imams, friends, rich uncles, rich aunties, your local MSA, Jum’ah collections, halaqas, book clubs, zikr gatherings,.. everyone.

When we do this, and do it right, we’ll be at $800K by the end of the process. I will solicit the donations of some major donors to cover the remaining balance, insha’Allah. But we need to demonstrate some serious grassroots willingness towards this end, to encourage big donors to follow through.

(Our partner in getting these funds to the needy in Swat, is Edhi Foundation’s Canadian chapter. Their long-standing track record of non-sectarian, non-partisan, and transparent relief work across Pakistan, along with their integrity and credibility makes them an obvious choice.)

The deadline for this, is the 1st of Ramadan – Saturday August 22nd, 2009. Imagine entering Ramadan by giving $1 Million in sadaqah!

I invite you to step up to the challenge. When you do, all such challenges are easily surmountable, insha’Allah.

We will be migrating our online fund collection mechanism from Eventbrite to a service provider that is not event-based. I will update you all on that shortly. For now, your donations can still be received at http://swatrelief.eventbrite.com. (We encourage you to keep the donations online, as this will help us keep transparent records of all transfers and transactions.)

Thank you all for your support, and I look forward to more of it.

was Salam

Nader Khan
Programs Director
ReliefWorks

+1.416.294.0640
nader@relief-works.com

Messages of Support:
- Imam Tahir Anwar: http://tiny.cc/XyXRT
- Imam Afroz Ali: http://tiny.cc/kXpHG
- Imam Zaid Shakir: http://tiny.cc/iyRa9

Suggested readings on Edhi Foundation:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edhi_Foundation
- http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200406/humanitarian.to.a.nation.htm

Photo taken from www.HelpImamSiraj.com

IslamCrunch fully supports the call by Shaykh Suhaib Webb and Shaykh Faraz Rabbani to dedicate this Friday (and/or the next Friday) as America’s Imam Day. A day for mosques, Muslim Student Associations and Islamic centers to dedicate their sermons, events and activities to raise funds for our beloved teacher and guide, Imam Siraj Wahhaj.

From Shaykh Suhaib:

Asalamu alaykum, Last week the Muslim youth in America pulled off an amazing fundraiser for Imam Siraj Wahaj. While 26 K. was donated we are still well short of our goal of $125.000.

The Idea: Muslim organizations could call for “America’s Imam Day” designating a Friday where funds could be raised for the Imam across the country! It would be awesome if others such as our brothers in the U.K got on board as well. Let us all write, call and encourage our organizations like ISNA, ICNA, MAS, MSA,MAP, RIC, MYNA, al-Maghrib, Seekers Guidance and Zaytuna to make this call together.

From Shaykh Faraz:

My dear friend, Shaykh Suhaib Webb had the following Call for an America’s Imam Day, to designate this upcoming Friday (and/or the next one) across different communities (and, I’d add, campuses) to raise funds for Imam Siraj Wahhaj, who has been diagnosed with prostrate cancer and has very high medical bills not covered by insurance.

You can view a video of Imam Siraj discussing the history of Masjid Al-Taqwa and the evolution of the Muslim Alliance of North America here: http://islamcrunch.com/archives/imam-siraj-wahhaj-from-masjid-taqwa-and-beyond-mana/

Join the Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=82234309096

Help support Imam Siraj’s medical bills: http://www.helpimamsiraj.com/

In order for this project to continue it is vital for us to provide financial support.  Students at Dar es Salaam have all their living and learning expenses covered for $200 a year (that is less than $1 a day!).  Although we welcome one time donations, we are hoping to get as many consistent donations, of small or large amounts as possible.   If we have 60 people pledging just $10 per month, we are covering three students for a whole year in just one month.  Please spread the word to others so we can increase this number greatly, insha’Allah.