Prayer on the sidewalk
August 29, 2010

Source: Protagon
By Naim Elghandour
Ramadan in Athens for the 37th time. It started on August 11 with the sweltering heat and will end on September 10th. The first days of adjustment are always harder as the rhythms of life do not change despite the fasting from sunrise to sunset.
Late evening before August 15th, after having iftar at home, which is the dinner that breaks the fast, I took Sheikh Mohammed, a respectful imam from Al Azhar university to go and pray at Piraeus. Al Andalus is the name of the praying place but it does not remind me anything of the glory of Andalusia as it is an underground warehouse on Filonos street in the heart Trouba where we pray for the last 17 years.
As we go down and go inside, in the first five minutes the sweat is running like a river. My breath stopped and the 60 year old imam who came from upper Egypt who can [usually[ bear the heat was ready to collapse. He told me that his sweat was dripping under his face all the way down to his socks. Why???
I was in despair because I am responsible for all these people who come to pray. I prayed that the temperature falls a bit to avoid the ambulances. You cannot put ventilation in this place nor air condition because it has no window. It is a hole under the ground.
We finished our prayer as [best] we could and when we went up to the surface I realized that this cannot happen again. The temperature at 11pm was 37°C and who knows about the humidity, it was suffocating even in open air.
The day after, I informed the state security that we were going to pray on the sidewalk outside of the “mosque” and that it is better to bring us a police car than to be taken by ambulances.
Sunday at 10 in the night all prayer mats were laid down on the sidewalk of Filonos street and the few people that walked by were surprised. Of course we did not bother anyone, all stores were closed. But we were alert, you never know what could happen, but the prayer was more humane in those hot days.
And I am thinking: What does a man have to go through to praise God as He deserves? My little kids were crying to take them with me earlier, but where can I take them?
Sometimes I take them to the Neos Kosmos garage that has better ventilation and they play with the other kids. There, the older kids are learning how to pray and the little ones imitate the grownups and then they start chasing each other and laugh, but we are always underground. When we finish, I buy them ice cream.
This is how Ramadan is in our great city.
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Translated by: Anna Stamou
Making sense of God and Islam – frequently asked questions answered
August 24, 2010
Many people do not know this but Islam did not start at the time of prophet Muhammad (pbuh) – it started at the time of Adam and Eve.
Muslims believe that there is only one God in this world, the same God that Abraham, Moses and Jesus worshipped.
What is your belief about God?
Muslims believe God is one and that He created the heavens, the earth, human beings, animals – everything in this universe. He has no partners and there is no object worthy of worship except Him. This means Muslims do not believe that a stone, a tree, a cow or a human being is God and they do not worship any of these. In other words, Muslims cannot fathom Jesus being God or part of God. This would go against the very nature of monotheism – of God being strictly one. He does not need anyone but we need Him. He is the most merciful, He sees everything, hears everything and knows everything. And nothing is comparable to God.
So why do you call Him Allah?
When Muslims use the word ‘Allah’, that does not mean a different god, a moon god or a cow god. Allah is just the Arabic word for Almighty God in English or Theos in Greek. Arab Christians and Jews also say ‘Allah’ because it means God. We prefer to say ‘Allah’ because it accurately means ‘the God’, i.e. the One God without any partners because if you say God in English, some people might think we are talking about Jesus.
Why are there so many religions?
Muslims believe that all of the prophets from Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, David, Solomon to Moses, to Jesus and Muhammad etc. (peace be on them all) came to teach the people the exact same message – that God is one, without any partners and to submit your life to God. This is what we call Islam because the meaning of the word Islam is “submission”, i.e. submit to the will and law of God. So, in this sense, we believe that all prophets were following Islam, or ‘Muslim’ – someone who submits to God. Islam is more than a religion, it is a way of life.
Each time a prophet came, some people believed in his message and they established the religion (Islam). Then after some generations, the original message was lost and people started creating their own religion, mostly creating partners with God (ex. a cow, human etc.). So then God would send the next prophet to bring them back to the original message of Islam and the cycle would continue.
So, this is why Muslims believe in all of the prophets and all of the books, which are the spoken word of God– the Torah, the Gospel, the Quran, etc. and also believe in God’s angels and the Day of Judgement.
You can say Islam is the pure Christianity that Jesus taught and the pure Judaism that Moses taught before some priests, rabbis and people changed it to manipulate their followers and control them.
If God created us, would He leave us to figure things out on our own?
Just like most mothers would not leave their babies to the streets to take care of themselves, God would certainly not leave his creation without taking care of them. But how does God provide us with this guidance if we cannot hear Him? Through the Quran and scriptures He left us with full instructions on how to live the best life in this world and in the afterlife and through the prophets He sent us to teach us the guidance.
Because submission to God is a way of life and not just limited to a religion that you practise once a week, the guidance of instructions from God must cover everything in our lives such as the spiritual, emotional, economical, social and family aspects etc.
So, when people ask Muslims why Islam is strict with so many rules, they do not view it like this. They consider these guidelines as ultimate guidance in living the best life. Imagine you were lucky enough to have the richest man in the world mentor you on how to succeed financially, the best family counselor in the world mentor you in family and marriage aspects, the world leader in civilization and politics guide your country on how to be the most advanced nation and the wisest spiritual mentor guide you in gaining the closest relationship to God. Would you consider those rules and restrictions in your life or guidance?
What is the purpose of my life?
And the biggest guidance is to answer a question that most human beings ask themselves at some point in their lives – What is the purpose of my life? Why am I here?
God gives us the answer to this in the Quran. The purpose of our lives is to worship Him and to submit our lives to Him. Read that sentence again. The purpose of our lives is to worship God and to submit our lives to Him.
We will be asked about this when we die and are resurrected on the big judgement day. We will be questioned about everything we did and if we followed God’s guidance and did good deeds. God will reward those who submitted their life to Him will punish those who did not and this is the ultimate justice system.
Free will or not?
God knows everything that we will do but He gives us a chance to live out our lives and gives us the free will or choice in order to provide evidence to us when we are on the Day of Judgement. In this way, on that day, no one can provide excuses that God’s verdict is not fair.
This is a glimpse to what Islam is so that when you ask a Muslim a question about Islam, you can keep in mind that he or she will answer you from this context.
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photo credit: NPCA Photos
Visiting Greece now as a Muslim – I was nervous and excited
August 20, 2010
By Stefanie Danopoulos, 28 years old
The last summer I visited Greece was in 1999. That time I was already reading about Islam and did a lot of thinking. When I came back to Holland I decided to convert to Islam. And after a few months I started to wear the veil, hijab.
I lost contact with my family for almost two years. When I had my first child the contact slowly became better.
My parents always told me that it was not possible to go back to Greece with my hijab. And my biggest problem was that I don’t speak Greek.
My father is from Greece (Korinthos) and my mother is from Holland. I was born and raised in Holland but we traveled to Greece every year in the summer. I think that it is really important that you can explain to the people in their language why you dress that way.
A few months ago we had a conference in Holland and then I met Anna, a Greek Muslim sister. I was so happy and I even took her to my mother’s house to show her that there are Muslims in Greece. My mother was very surprised.
A few months later, they had a meeting in Greece for the Muslims Association of Greece. My parents and sisters were all in Greece and Anna told me that I had to come. And I told my parents I had plans to come and they said that I was welcome. So I booked my ticket and finally after 11 years I came back to Greece.
I was very nervous but also very excited.
The first two days I spent at the conference in Athens meeting other Greek Muslims, alhamdulillah! I had a very nice time.
And I thought that everybody would look at me in a bad way but they did not even care.
Then I met my family in Ancient Korinthos. I was very, very nervous about the reactions. When I arrived some friends of my parents were waiting for me. They were very happy to see me and one friend of my father asked if I came from dancing because of my clothes. So my mother told him that it is a new fashion. I spoke to some relatives and nobody said crazy things.
I noticed that most of them speak English, so thank God, that was very nice. I didn’t really have the chance to tell them something about Islam because I was there only one day and my parents wanted to show me everything. They were so happy that I came.
I had a great time. And, God willing, next year I will go back to Greece with my husband and kids.
I spent my last day in the island of Andros. It was very beautiful and I even swam in the sea. Also the people there were very nice and I did not feel left out or something.
In Holland, people look at you in a different way, but I think that it is because of the negative media attention. So most people in Holland see Islam in a bad way and they feel threatened by veils and beards and long dresses. In Greece I felt very relaxed.
I had a great experience and I will go back again for holiday, God willing!
I felt ashamed to ask questions but it led me to Islam
August 15, 2010
By Iman Sotiria Kouvalis
I remember seeing Muslim women at my university and feeling sorry for them. I didn’t know them but when we crossed paths at the cafeteria, I smiled at them because I thought they were oppressed. I never talked with them but I just assumed that they were forced to wear the veil.
It’s funny that I thought this way because I knew nothing about Islam. I mean nothing. I actually thought that everyone in the world were Christians! Remember, this was about 10 years ago (before 9/11).
But, my interaction with many Muslims made me reflect on my own disconnect with God and the Church. Although I was raised in a typical Greek Orthodox family and attended church every Sunday for most of my life, as I grew older, church no longer had meaning in my life and there were a lot of questions that couldn’t be answered by the Church.
As I grew older, a dichotomy started to appear where life and religion were drifting to opposite sides. I couldn’t see how I can make religion relevant to my daily life. On the one hand, we were raised to think that in order to be successful, we have to go to school, get a good job and buy a nice house and car and on the other hand, we were taught all we had to do is believe that Jesus died for our sins and we would be saved to be successful. On this side, we were taught to always think critically, to question why, to negotiate and on the other side, we were taught to just believe and never question or it would be like blasphemy. On this side, never do anything unless you know why and on the other side, perform all the rituals and never ask why.
And that’s how I started to drift away from the Church. It had no meaning anymore. I always believed in God and I desperately wanted Him to be part of my life but I had questions. And I was made to feel ashamed that I had questions. As if I was being a disobedient person.
So my only solution was to be away from the Church because I didn’t want to be seen as disobedient and at the end of they day, I was going to heaven anyway according to Christianity as long as I believed that Jesus died for my sins, it didn’t matter anyway. I could do anything and get away with it.
But my interactions with Muslims in university years later and seeing how spiritual they were reignited my passion to become close to God again. I guess you could say deep down I was a little jealous. How were they so devoted and at peace and I wasn’t even though I was going to heaven and they were not?
I started getting into religious debates with them. I was determined to convince them that they need to accept Jesus in order to be saved. But to my surprise, they already believed in Jesus! I started figuring out that they know a great deal about Islam and Christianity where I know next to nothing about Islam and even Christianity even though I attended Sunday school all my life.
Secretly, when no one was looking, I went to the library to read about Islam in order to convince them that they were wrong. I only found some really weird and old books. Remember, this was pre-Google days so there wasn’t that much on the internet either. One day, I was walking down one of the university halls when I saw some pocket pamphlets on the wall about Islam. I guess the Muslim Student Association put them there so after I made sure that the hall was empty, I quickly slipped a few of them in my bag. When I got home, I started reading and was amazed. One pamphlet even talked about Muhammad in the Bible. The Bible? I thought this must be a lie! But I checked the verse in my Bible, and I didn’t know if it was true or not because I was just reading a translation in English.
I made a sincere prayer to God to show me which religion is the truth. I wanted to know! I surprised myself though that I did that because I kept saying, of course, Christianity! I started attending church every week again, and then twice a week. This was very strange because I was practically the only young person there. I started reading the Bible again but this time in order to find answers to my questions.
After months of this, I couldn’t take it anymore and I decided to go to my priest. Now, anyone who is Greek can understand what a big event this is. I’m going to my priest to admit that I have questions in my faith and also to ask about the worst enemy of the Greeks: Islam. My questions were three:
- If Jesus died for our sins and we only have to believe this to be saved and go to heaven, then how does that make sense? That means I can commit any sin and be saved?
- How can God be 3 in 1?
- What do you think about Islam?
For the first two questions, he tried his best to explain but it was clear to me that there was a lot of ambiguity in his answers. When we got to the third question, his eyes bulged out and his skin turned a little red and he told me to just stay away from those people!
I left the meeting disappointed. For the first time, it caused a definite crack in my faith. I needed to find answers! But now I was on my own to find them. And I did.
After more months of intense reading, critical study of both religions and a persistent nagging of my soul to keep searching for God, the truth started coming to me, but I kept fighting it. I kept telling it to go away. I am Greek. I am Orthodox. I love my lifestyle. I don’t want to give up everything I was raised upon. But, in the end, it won. I submitted to my conscience. I submitted to the truth and declared that there is no object worthy of worship except God. Because that’s literally what the word “Islam” means.
Later, I started to realize that I don’t have to give up myself, my family or my culture. I realized that I can be Muslim and also be Greek, just like so many others around the world who are Muslim but also Pakistani, Arab, Somalian, Bosnian, Chinese or many other cultures. And in the Quran, I read:
“They are not [all] the same; among the People of the Scripture [i.e. Jews and Christians] is a community standing [in obedience], reciting the verses of Allah during periods of the night and prostrating [in prayer]. They believe in Allah and the Last Day, and they enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and hasten to good deeds. And those are among the righteous. And whatever good they do – never will it be removed from them. And Allah is Knowing of the righteous.” (Quran 3:113-115)
I understood that as Muslims we are to respect people of other faiths for some of them are really sincere and they live God-conscious lives. In the end, it’s not me who will judge people, only God can do that.
I came to Islam through books. Through a critical and intense study just like so many other converts to Islam and just like so many other Greek converts to Islam. And I noticed that my story is not unique. So many other Greeks that I know today have similar questions as me and the same dichotomy in their lives. If you are in this situation, you owe it to yourself to find the answers now because we don’t know when we will die. And to know that God gave us a mind to think critically. It’s ok to ask questions and it’s ok to find answers.
That is why I started a website called Greeks Rethink. It’s a website where you can ask questions and find answers about life and God. You can go to www.greeksrethink.com and read about our stories and our lives or go onto the forums directly and interact with other rethinkers around the world.
MAG at Athens observatory to sight new moon
August 10, 2010

The evening of Tuesday August 10, 2010 representatives of all Muslim communities responded to the call of the Muslim Association of Greece and met at Pendeli Observatory for the third year in order to sight the new moon for themselves that will start the beginning of the Ramadan month.
With great pleasure, the Athens Observatory (www.noa.gr) responds to our request for sighting the new moon with our the eyes of the reps of Muslims of Attica. Distinguishes scientists explain the phenomenon of new moon and reply to the questions of the participants. Everyone of them have the chance to look at the telescope. This year, like last year, we were hosted by Dr. Anastasios Dapergolas who responded to many questions and explained that new moon is a global phenomenon, not a local one, subsequently the only thing that changes is the local time of each country.
People from all lengths of the Muslim world were present. From Morocco to Bangladesh, from Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Algeria, Iran, Pakistan, Kurds, and of course Greeks. Among us was the honored guest of MAG, imam of Al Azhar university sheikh Mohammed Abdelsalam. All together we left to inform the prayer places of the common decision, based on the astronomical data of Pendeli Observatory, that the new moon is born and the forst of Ramadan is August 11th, 2010. So the Taraweeh prayer at the praying places of Attica has started on Tuesday night at 10.
Ramadan Kareem
Weird reasons why people fast and what your real reason should be
August 8, 2010
It was lunch time and we were eating, well, except for the host. She told me she was fasting because it was Friday and every Friday she fasts, out of habit.
I’ve seen weird things in my life but this one confused me. A few conversations beforehand, I discovered that she didn’t believe in God anymore. So, the obvious perplexing question I had was why she would keep fasting if she was not doing it for God??
I guess because as Muslims, we get this question a lot. Why do you fast in Ramadan? I usually say that we do it for God to gain piety as the Quran says,
“O you who believe! fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed upon those before you in order that you may attain taqwa.”[Surah al-Baqarah 2:183].
Notice that I translated “taqwa” as piety. Well, that’s not quite accurate. Recently, we were all gathered around and the same question came up, how do you translate this rich Arabic word “taqwa” into English?
Some say it is piety, some say fear, others say it is obedience to God. I’ve heard many translations but nothing quite encompasses the original Arabic word. The funny thing though is that if you leave it untranslated and just say taqwa, most Muslims know exactly what you mean by the word and sense a deep emotional feeling.
Here’s a good translation of taqwa I found:
Taqwa is obedience to God hoping for the mercy of God and it is staying away from the disobedience of God fearing the punishment of God.
And just by fasting properly, you can automatically gain taqwa. Before I fasted every year, I never imagined that would be the result, but when you do it properly, you would be amazed at how much taqwa you gain.
But do you think that the lady who fasts every Friday out of habit and not for God can gain taqwa? Most likely not.
People fast for weird reasons but if we want to feel full and take the maximum benefit from things in life, we need to know why we do things and not just do them because our ancestors did so or society tells us to do so.
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A letter from Romania
July 7, 2010
Now that we’ve been working for the Islamic community in Greece, I’ve been thinking about other Muslim communities in Europe a lot lately, especially the forgotten ones like in the Balkan countries. For some reason, I keep coming back to Romania and just today, I stumbled across an article about the Muslim community of Romania!
I was touched by this article below and how similar it is to the situation in Greece.
Source: The Balkan Chronicle

There are many countries in the world where Islam springs to mind when they are mentoned, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Morrocco are just a few. There are many other lands Islam reached that many from amongst the Ummah may not be aware of, such as Western China, Greece, Southern Italy, Hungary and maybe even Austria. Romania is also one such land that many may not be aware lived under Islamic rule for 800 years. Many may not even know where Romania is, it is only 275 miles from Turkey.
In Europe Romania is infamous for Transylvania – home of Count Dracula. Whilt this character has assumed a position archetypal vampire in populer Western culture; the character is based upon Prince of Wallachia. Vlad III, who came to be known as the impaler. Historically, Vlad Dracula became infamous for his resistance against the Uthmani Khilafah and for the cruel punishments he inflicted upon his enemies.
Vlad Dracula was sent in 1475 with an army of Hungarian and Serbian soldiers to recapture Bosnia from the Uthmani Khilafah. Whilst the Uthmani Khilafah lost this initial battle, the Uthmani’s entered Wallachia in 1476 under the command of Mehmed II to recapture the lost lands. During the war, Vlad was killed and, according to some sources, his head was sent to Constantinople to discourage the other rebellions.
According to most sources in Romania, Islam first emerged when the Sufi leader Sari Saltik came to the region during the Byzantine epoch. The Islamic presence in Northern Dobruja was expanded by Uthmani Khilafah who oversaw successive immigration. In Wallachia and Moldavia, the two Danubian Principalities, the era of Uthmani’s did not accompany growth in the number of Muslims, whose presence there remained small. Also the battles between the Uthmani’s and Habsburg Empire led to many Muslim to move to the Islamic heatlands.
Romania emerged in 1859 as a union of the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. Northern Dobruja became part of Romania following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. However during the the communist regime, Romanian Muslims were subject to a number of harsh measures, especially supervision by the state. The Ummah in Romania managed to hold on to the deen and were able after the Romanian Revolution of 1989 to begin the open dawah to Islam.
Islam in Romania is followed by only 0.3 percent of population, this equates to around 60,000 people, but has more than 800 years of tradition in Northern Dobruja, a region on the Black Sea coast which was part of the Uthmani Khilafah for almost five centuries (ca. 1420-1878). In present-day Romania, most adherents to Islam belong to the Tatar and Turkish ethnic communities.
The vast majority of Romanians are Sunnis who adhere to the Hanafi madhab.
97% of Romanian Muslims are residents of the two counties forming Northern Dobruja: eighty-five percent live in Constanţa County, and twelve percent in Tulcea County. The rest mainly inhabit urban centers such as Bucharest, Brăila, Călăraşi, Galaţi, Giurgiu, and Drobeta-Turnu Severin.
In all, Romania has as many as eighty mosques, or, according to records kept by the Romanian Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, seventy-seven. The city of Constanţa, with its Carol I Mosque and the location of the Muftiyat, is the center of Romanian Islam; Mangalia, near Constanţa, is the site of a monumental mosque, built in 1525. The two mosques are state-recognised historical monuments, as are the ones in Hârşova, Amzacea, Babadag and Tulcea. There are also 108 Islamic cemeteries in Romania.
After the Romanian Revolution in 1989, when Romania left the Eastern Communist camp native Romanians had the chance to discover Islam and taste its fruits. Today as many as 3,000 Muslim are converts to Islam and the number is growing day by day. Being converts they faced the particular problem in a society, in that society was not prepared to accept them. Most groups in Romania show little will to support Muslims generally. For these reasons the Ummah in Romania were forced to create an organisation capable of defending and maintaining the needs of the Ummah in Romania. The Alliance of Romanian Muslim was set up in order to protect and defend the Ummah and Islam in Romania.
When Islam came to Europe the continent was living in the dark ages. Eastern Europe was steeped in superstition, magic and sorcery. Islam came and brought a new rational belief that took the region from its misery and gave their lives purpose. Whilst in mainland Europe the challenge is to defend the deen, in Romania and many parts of Eastern Europe once again the people need liberation from capitalism and nationalism and it is here the Muslim of Romania are at the forefront carrying on the work the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم started and the Uthmani Khilafah expanded. Whilst the Ummah face the same issues globally, the Ummah from Romania stand shoulder to shoulder with the Ummah all over the world and await the day Allah sends his blessings.
Mirror, mirror on the wall…
June 27, 2010
“Mirror, Mirror On The Wall…”
11 Other-than-Dieting ways to look and feel beautiful
I’m listening to this lecture above and it’s rather unique. You think it would be about dieting but the shaikh brings up ahadith that are rarely known to the masses but wise about looking beautiful. He also backs up the tips with practical tools and advice on how to look and feel beautiful. And no, this is not just for people who are looking to get married but also for after the marriage.
Here are two ahadith about your hair. Have you heard of them?
Allah’s messenger (saws) said,
“Never come with your hair and beard disheveled like a devil.”
(Sunan Al-Tirmidhi)
Allah’s messenger (saws) said,
“Whoever has hair should honour it.”
(Sunan Abu-Dawood)
How many brothers do we see with long straggly beards without proper maintenance?
Ok, just to be fair, I have seen some brothers that do a good job.
I’m not sure how long they will keep the audio on this site so go ahead and check it out before it’s too late.
Audio
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Note:
photo credit: YasooYamoo.com
Muslim female judge breaks barriers
June 20, 2010
(Watch YouTube video)
New Greek Muslim needs your advice
June 14, 2010
This came in through our old blog site. Can you give her some advice?
My name is Aisha(19 years old) and I am Greek currently living in Czech Republic for my studies. When I was in Greece i had no idea about Islam, due to the lack of information about it in Greece. I just thought that it is a religion for Arabs… However Allah gave me the opportunity to see this beautiful way of life in Czech Republic.
As most of the Greeks understand being a muslim in Greece is not very common. In about 1 month i will go back to Greece and i will have to face my Christian parents. Although they are not very religious, they don’t go to church except Easter and Christmas and sometimes not even then, the idea of having a different religion from the rest of my family (and the rest of the Greek citizens) and the idea that i will make it so obvious by wearing the hijab will not give a very good reaction according to their behaviour…
I would appreciate it a lot if you could give me some advise on how to talk to them and what to tell them because they don’t know anything for islam except that it is a religion that people from Pakistan that live in the city center,where most of violence occurs in Athens. May Allah help me and make it easy for me.
Moreover, showing off in Greece is something that I use to do but i find it meaningless anymore. Girls nowdays in Greece have lost their mind and walk almost naked in the street,driving the attention of every female person that passes next to them.
However this is something very common, but wearing the hijab isn’t.. I don’t know what my non-muslim friends will be with the idea of going out with a girl that covers her body… Iknow them since i was a little child and they will understand but i will have to explain them in the right way… do you have any suggestions?
Even a very small advice might be very usefull for me so please help a new muslim girl that needs your help. please take in consideration that i reverted to islam 2 weeks ago
The following text is for muslim women:
In Czech Republic like in Greece there are not a lot of muslims especially girls. Can you please send me a few basic information about basic things concerning the islam?
not for the social life but the every day life and things that muslim gilrs do!
Peace be upon all of you!!
Thanks to all of you spending time even reading about my story.
ALL PRAISES BE TO ALLAH!
Salam!
















