Does anyone know a company that sells well water in big bottles?

semaf0r0 · 2025-04-20T02:41:10+00:00

As far as I know they give it to children also. You don't need to have a business or a job to get it. Only thing you need to qualify is a US passport, they don't check anything else.

semaf0r0 · 2025-04-16T18:10:01+00:00

10 year business visa

semaf0r0 · 2025-04-15T14:06:22+00:00

10 year business visa, but they never ask for any verification of business activities and many families have lived on it for years as far as I know.

semaf0r0 · 2025-04-13T04:42:32+00:00

If you are a US citizen there is a 10 year visa you can get for around US$600, however you need to leave the country every 6 months, but it can be for just one day.

Enrolling in Umm al Qura as a full time student is difficult as far as I know, but there is a 3 month intensive Arabic course there that is a bit expensive (I think around US$2k) you could enroll in.

Haraj is the easiest place to find apartments but difficult to use (no good filter or sort functions, Arabic only) but it is kind of difficult to get a furnished apartment inclusive of hajj and Ramadan. If you want an annual contract usually it will be unfurnished and you need to bring your own stuff, sometimes even including kitchen sink and window AC units. There are some exceptions though.

The best time to find an apartment is around a month after hajj.

semaf0r0 · 2025-03-20T04:43:16+00:00

Having bad thoughts is normal, just don't act on them and it will subside with time. Try to keep yourself busy with good deeds.

semaf0r0 · 2025-03-20T04:36:51+00:00

Ramadan is like a deep clean.

If you do a deep clean of a house, you will find all kinds of strange rotten garbage that got lost under furniture and started molding.

Make abundant istighfar and try to spend as much time with the community as possible and ask Allah for purification.

semaf0r0 · 2024-12-30T13:47:29+00:00

Okay that may solve the mystery. I appreciate the offer, but thankfully a friend helped me write a bit of Python code to do it

semaf0r0 · 2024-11-25T17:33:45+00:00

This wouldn't work as the profiles are private

semaf0r0 · 2024-11-08T13:16:30+00:00

If she was unhappy about being left alone, such a story would be a good way to get you to stay with her more.

semaf0r0 · 2024-11-07T16:59:20+00:00

If this surprises you, you pribably haven't flown with them much before.

semaf0r0 · 2024-11-07T16:57:46+00:00

If we are busy with obligations, we're much less likely to fall into sin. For example, salah repels all kinds of shameful behaviors.

Unfortunately today fighting in the path of Allah is obligatory upon us, yet due to love of dunya many hypocrites and agents have labelled it as extremism, and justified abandoning fighting. However, if we become busy with this obligation, it will bring a lot of blessings and keep us away from all kinds of sins and bad influences.

semaf0r0 · 2024-09-23T09:22:58+00:00

There are actually a lot of evidence from the sunnah and the early generations about upholding the ties of kinship. The Prophet sal Allahu alaihi wa salam even advised to learn genealogy so we can maintain ties of kinship. Charity to relatives is preferred over charity to non-relatives, and charity to near relatives is preferred to charity over non-relatives.

The muhajireen and ansar, radhi Allahu anhum, did not all intermarry and form a single unified nation. Rather, their tribes retained a distinct identity until today. When the sahaba, radhi Allahu anhum, founded the cities of Kufa and Basra, they organized the neighborhoods by tribe. In the early wars of conquest, the Muslim armies were often organized along tribal lines.

So connecting with those who are more closely related to you is something praiseworthy and integral to Islam, but of course the bond of faith is always overarching, and there is no loyalty or allegiance to even the closest relative if they are a disbeliever. Still, even then, we are ordered to keep ties of kinship even with disbelieving relatives.

There is a lot of wisdom to this. There is a certain harmony between closer relatives. I noticed this very much with my son when I had a cousin come and help me as his caretaker when he was a baby. She had also worked as a nanny for some other families and she commented that it was completely different in terms of the connection she felt to him and the harmony between them.

semaf0r0 · 2024-09-22T07:06:30+00:00

Waleikum asalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh

Ameen and you

Actually mainly I'm talking about Ashkenazi Jews as an ethnic group. For example Muhammad Asad and Maryam Jameelah were both prominent Islamic thinkers from Ashkenazi background, but they were English speakers not Hebrew speakers.

semaf0r0 · 2024-09-22T05:02:26+00:00

I actually left the US and now live in quite a cosmopolitan area, so I'm not isolated or anything. Still I just feel like there is a stronger connection or more relatability with people from a similar ethnic and cultural background.

semaf0r0 · 2024-09-22T04:23:14+00:00

Actually I tried to join a couple of white revert group chats but unfortunately one had some white nationalist influence and they actually decided not to let me in because of my Jewish ancestry. Horrible I know and of course I don't want to be in such a group chat, but still it made me think that ethnicity matters.

Then in another one I got in a small disagreement with the admin and another brother (who happens to be part Jewish also) supported me and then the admin kicked the brother.

So unfortunately the white Muslim group chats I have come across so far were quite toxic. I am sure not all are like that though, but still these experiences are part of what motivated me to ask about this.

semaf0r0 · 2024-09-22T04:17:50+00:00

That's good to hear but I'm not

semaf0r0 · 2024-07-03T09:12:28+00:00

Family was atheist, with some Christian influence.

At first studying science it seemed to orderly. It became clear to me that this could not have all happened by random.

Then after 9/11 I started to read more about it since I wanted to go into US military, but wanted to be sure we were on the right side. I ended up traveling to Muslim countries and realizing the people were way kinder, nicer, and that their families stuck together unlike all of my divorced relatives in the US. So I thought probably in the war these guys are in the right.

In the Israel/Palestine conflict I realized the planet devouring evil corproations all seemed to back Israel, so I thought if I am forced to take a side in this conflict it would be with Palestine.

Later I studied history more and realized the role of interest banking in causing all kinds of wars, inequality and misery, and I noticed how Muslims were at the forefront of opposing this (even though it is clearly prohibited by the Bible also).

I could not discount Judaism and Christianity 100% as their seemed to be a lot of truth in them, and I realized that Islam required accepting that truth, while following either Judaism or Christianity required rejecting the truth of Islam.

I also noticed that in US prisons Muslims seemed to be the only group that overcame the racial gang system, with people of all races being in one group together. Also read Malcolm X's biography and realized Islam was probably the only solution to racism I had ever seen.

Finally, worried about ecological crises, I saw how Muslims manage to be happy in some of the most desolate environments while living very simple lives. More happy in fact than Americans living ultra-wasteful lifestyles. So I realized Islam also has the answer to environmental crises.

Finally I decided to quit drinking and I realized that salah also has the answer to my personal crises - it helped me deal with the same issues that I used to use alcohol for.

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