Sibawahi has teamed up with Sana’a Apartments and Yemeni Dreams to bring you this exclusive offer to undertake an intensive Arabic course for beginners in Sana’a, Yemen! This will be a beginners program, consisting of 75 hours of Arabic, studing four hours per day of group study.

EDIT: You may now contact info@sanaa-apartments.com for all information regarding this trip along with any enquiries regarding living/staying in Yemen. jazakumAllahu khayr

The offer includes the following:

• Begginers Arabic course consisiting of 75 hours of tuition (group)
• Shared fully furnished apartments (two person to a room)
• Exclusive trips from Yemeni Dreams to Islamic Historical places including the Mu’aad Ibn Jabal Mosque and Abraha’s Ruins and more.
• Pick up service from the airport and any visa related issue

The whole program is from the 16th of August to 16th September, which means you get to experience at least two weeks of the blessed days of Ramadan in this blessed land of imaan and wisdom.

Places are limited so contact us now for any queries.

We are also able to get discounted airline tickets via the national carrier, Yemenia, from London-Sana’a-London but terms and conditions apply. Please contact us for more details.

So getting around Yemen is actually much harder than it is in Egypt or Saudia. Yemenis speak arabic obviously and they have a dialect which is much closer to fusha [Quranic classical arabic] than say Egypt. Dont know about Saudi because didn’t speak arabic back then but I heard Yemen and Syria are closest as it is. The Yemenis generally dont tend to speak english as good as the other countries so you pretty much have to know arabic to get around. My arabic isnt the best as it is due to my situation in Egypt but alhamdulilah , so I had a bit of trouble so going on your own and not knowing anyone is not recommended.

In terms of transport, they have cars..just about lol. Its better than sub-Indian continent at least where they’re still stuck in 1920′s with their rickshaws. Theyre cars arent exactly ferraris but they’ll do, least they’ll get you back from A-B. Theres a load of 4X4′s which are perfect for the country considering theres a lot of desert and looong motorway type things, theres a load of people carriers and then theres a few bangers. The car I managed to get for £20 at a auction wouldnt look out of place here but alhamdulilah in a way its good, keeps you away from dunya although there was the odd Porsche. They have a similiar system of bus/coach as Egypt where they get them people carriers and stuff people in there and thats their buses. Ya say where you wanna go and they drop you off right there which is nice.

Theres plenty of taxis scattered around and many people get around with taxis but obviously private cars are the best so if you planning to make hijrah there, that would be a good investment. Means you can be with family private and dont have to stuff yourself in a family carrier full of people…who aren’t your family.

Allah [subhanahu wata3la] says in Sura Nisaa, verse 100:

He who emigrates (from his home) in the Cause of Allah, will find on earth many dwelling places and plenty to live by. And whosoever leaves his home as an emigrant unto Allah and His Messenger, and death overtakes him, his reward is then surely incumbent upon Allah. And Allah is Ever Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful

And Allah [subhanahu wa ta3la] says in Surah Baqarah, verse 58:

“And those who migrate in the way of Allah and are then slain or die, Allah will most certainly provide them with a goodly sustenance. And verily Allah is the best of Providers”

Without wanting to go into the benefits of hijrah as there are many classical works on this by the ulema on the issue, here are just a few things that a Muslims in the west miss out on. Me being living in the west noticing when living the Muslim countries. Anyways, heres my views, the views of a “teenager”, well at least someone a little younger than the usual. Usually I noticed the people that make hijrah are a little older and when they tend once they have families/are married etc.

Many people may argue theres no such thing as a Muslim country these days bla bla, yes while that may be true and the true sharia may not be established fi ardAllah yet, there is not doubt that living amongst the Muslims in a majority muslim country is better for ones deen in general than living in a non muslim country.

Most of these observations were made in Egypt rather than Yemen as more time was spent there but these are common occurances in the Muslim lands from Malaysia to Mali [actually, scratch that, not sure if thats Muslim]

The Muslim Community
One of the most obvious benefits of living in a Muslim country is living amongst the Muslims as a majority. That means you can follow the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah [salAllahu alayhi wa salam] and you can wear the niqaab without getting looks, you can wear a thawb and tupee without people being scared. Also despite the differences in the sects etc, ultimately you can be safe in the knowledge that everyone is in a a way united upon tawheed, everyone knows that Allah is the creator of the heavens of the earth and everyone prays to him [some may be praying to other stuff on the side] but its still nice knowing that everyone at the very least acknowledges Allah rather than in the west where people are lost like cattle and some think he doesnt exist or something else is Allah [glory be to Allah, above that which they associate with him].

Related to the community is the whole fact everyone celebrates the celebration of the Muslims; the Eidayn. You are respected for the fact that you are Muslim, regardless of your background or your race.

The Prayers
Being in a Muslim country it is that much easier to pray your 5 prayers on time. Obviously living in the west, there is still no excuse but many people find it hard for various reasons. In a Muslim country, everyone goes to pray, you will see big congregations going to the masaajid. The fajr salah is easier to wake up for as the adhaan is better than any alarm clock ever invented.

Allah SWT says in Surah Baqarah, verse 238: Guard strictly (five obligatory) the prayers, especially the middle Salat . And stand before Allah with obedience.

The Adhaan
One thing we really really miss in UK is the adhan, the 5 times call to prayer. You get it in East London for some salaats but just the feeling you get when you are awoken by the adhan for fajr is amazing subhan’Allah. And this is standard in any muslim country. Sometimes you may feel you are so caught up in the dunya that you may delay your salah slightly but in a Muslim country you are constantly reminded by the adhaan which plays. In Egypt particuarly, there are masaajid every few metres so if you somehow go death for 5 mins, instantly theres a few more reminders which follow up to remind you to pray salah.

Halaal
Obviously another advantaage is pretty much 100% of the food is halaal and you dont even have to ask in most cases. That means you see anything that you like, you go in and munch.

Emaan Boost
I found when I was in Yemen, just being in the country, even when doing nothing..that would give me a emaan boost subhanAllah. The fact you are around Muslims and you just walking on the street and blasting from someones bedroom up above the shop if the sweet recitation of the glorious Quran. I found that in the arab countries, Ali al Ajmy and Meshary Rasheed Efaasy were the two favourites.

Children
Probably one of the main reasons married couples/families make hijrah are for the benefit of the children. Everyone whos been born and raised in the west knows what the western society is like and very few would like their children to go through the same experiecnce and upbringing. Being in a Muslim country, well an arab country at least means your children will naturally pick up the language of the Quraan; arabic. Even though there are many dialects and very few are close to the pure fusha, going to a Muslim school, fusha is taught as standard. Also, the children will be brought up alongside Muslims who believe in Allah and the last day. They wont have these doubts as to the religion as everyone is a Muslim.

Not saying the children in Muslim countries are perfect, far from it. The sad reality being many of the nowadays face the same problems faced in the west, however the key being they at least have the western problems plus the benefits of the arabic language and emaan in their heart whereas the west just has the problems.

After being exposed to the luxury of dubai airport in all its high techness and westernisation, landing in Sanaa airport was a bit of a drastic change. The airport is more like a military base, it had old war planes and dont even think you can call that a runway, more like a piece of tarmac on the ground. And the airport was just a big shelter thing. Exactly like the airports you get in sub indian continent except arab version.

Once we were on the ground and actually in Yemen, the first thing I noticed was the love of the Sunnah amongst the sisters but I’ll go into that later maybe. So out the airport after the airline losing our luggage, nothing new there. Outside of the airport, we’re met by the scorching sun, must have been like 40 degrees or something. You can just imagine during the time of the sahaabah [radiAllahu anhum] when they made hijrah and different journeys, how difficulty it must have been. With the scorching sun burning upon them and walking across the desert. Yemen is very deserty [if thats a word], a lot of the country is undeveloped and traditional but I think thats part of the magic [not the haraam type]

As I got into the cab to my abode and got to get a nice view of the country generally. The country is clearly very poor, its officially one of the poorest countries in the world and this is very apparent. Also its extremely traditional and not much modernisation has gone on and in terms of instracture it definately hasnt been influenced greatly by the west. Except the centre of Sanaa and the other major cities, much of the country is still desert.

Also probably the most striking feature which is not a sight common in the west and as mentioned before were the sisters of Yemen and their adherence to the Sunnah of the Ummahatul Muminoon [radiAllahu anhum ajma3een]. Every single sister was covered head to toe in black full hijaab incl niqaab pretty much without exception. And coming from the west which is full of fahsha, this in itself was an emaan boost..

My only other experience of a Muslim land is probably what many people have experienced, which is al Arabia. Most people go there for either Hajj or Umrah and no doubt it is simply like the best thing ever and everyone loves it and stuff, however, its not living. You get to experince it partially and get to hear the beauty of the adhaan being called 5 times a day and the halal environment etc. but its like temp housing for the akhirah before you get sucked back into the dunya.

Firstly, I went to Umrah alhamdulilah like ages ago, a few years back when I was still in mid teens and I didnt even know much and I still dont but I didnt know much at all then, I think I was like a freshy 15 year old so I dont actually remember much and things may have changed. But to be honest, to go on Hajj or Umrah isn’t a true experience of living in a muslim country. Yep al hijaaz [arabia and sorrounding] is probably the best place to get the experience but when we go to it for Umrah or Hajj, we usually go as Umrah tourists. We live the tourist lifestyle of living in a hotel, eating out, visiting places, knowing only the route from the masjidayn to our homes and living like kings and queens and living in our little bubble known as Makkah and Madeenah. These 2 cities are blessed by Allah [subhanahu wa ta3la] so when you’re there you are like in another world, you get a small taste of the akhirah and Im going on and on about makkah and madeenah so to dive back on topic, going to hajj and umrah in my opinion cannot be classed as truly experiencing living in a Muslim country as its just on another level altogether.

So anyways, pre Yemen, I didnt really know what to expect. Probably like many of us, I didnt know much about the country and its culture except maybe that Muadh ibn Jabal [radiAllahu anhu] was sent by Rasululah [salAllahu alyhi wa salam] to the people of Yemen and the USS cole thing and a few tidbits from the media, mostly negative. Oh yea and I knew the hadeeth mentioned about Imaan being in Yemen and also that Yemen was known for its students of knowledge and the ilm over there and for the diversity from the madness of soofiyah in one side to the salafiyoon in the famous camp of shaykh Muqbil [rahmatullah alayh]. Ooh and our shaykh, Imam Anwar Awlaki was from there and it was slightly traditional and poor. And that I wanted to go there for a long time. And they eat this green leaf thing and its poor. Did I mention, the knowledge.

So armed with some fresh little arabic learnt, I thought it would be a good place for me to practice the very little I knew of my newly learnt language [I heard that they speak close to fusha arabic, unlike Egypt] and with a mushaf, a camera and some other random stuff, my journey to the blessed Yemen began..

1) Imam al-Bukharee relates from Abu Mas’ud that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) gestured with his hands towards Yemen and said: “Belief (iman) is there….” (Sahih al-Bukharee, no: 4126 & Sahih Muslim, no: 81)

2) Abu Hurayra (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: “The people of Yemen have come to you and they are extremely gentle and soft-hearted. Belief (iman) is that of the Yemenis and wisdom (hikma) is that of the Yemenis. Pride and haughtiness are the characters of the owners of camels, and calmness and solemnity are the qualities of the owners of sheep.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, no: 4127)

3) Abu Hurayra (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: “The people of Yemen have come to you. They are tender-hearted and more delicate of soul. The capacity to understand (fiqh) is of the Yemenis and wisdom is that of the Yemenis.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, no: 4129 & Sahih Muslim, no: 84)

Imam an-Nawawi (Allah have mercy on him) mentions in his commentary of Sahih Muslim that there is no bar in attributing these narrations literally to the people of Yemen. They (the people of Yemen) had strong faith in the time of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace), and the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) sensed this from the people of Yemen such as; Abu Muslim al-Khawlani*, Uways al-Qarni and the delegations that came to him from Yemen. Hence, attributing faith (iman) to Yemen meant that the people of Yemen had strong and complete faith, but this did not negate that others also had strong faith.

As far as Fiqh and Hikma are concerned, the former (fiqh) means to have a deep understanding of religion, whilst the latter (hikma) refers to having conscious acknowledgment of Allah Most High (ma’rifa), coupled with self-reformation, good character and abstaining from following one’s desires and falsehood.

The meaning of “they are extremely gentle and soft-hearted” is that they are the people of timidity (khashya) and have an attitude of humble acceptance (istikana). They are extremely quick in accepting genuine advice and Nasiha, and are easily affected by it. They are immune from harshness, hard-heartedness and ruggedness. (See: Nawawi, al-Minhaj Sharh Sahih Muslim, P: 158-159)

The above few narrations related from the beloved of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) single out Yemen and its inhabitants with great qualities. Strong faith, complete belief and true conviction is said to exist in Yemen, with the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) gesturing and pointing his hands in the direction of Yemen and saying “Iman is there”. Similarly, the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) cites wisdom and deep understanding of religion to exist in Yemen. Moreover, when a delegation comes to the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace), he mentions the qualities and characteristics of the people of Yemen saying that they are extremely soft-hearted people and very humble.

The few narrations above have been taken directly from the two most authentic books of Hadith, namely Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. However, these narrations are not the only ones recorded in the praise of Yemen and its inhabitants; rather, there are many other Ahadith. Let us look at some more narrations in this regard:

5) Zayd ibn Thabit (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) looked towards Yemen and said: “O Allah! Turn their hearts (towards Iman)…” (Sunan Tirmidhi, no: 3934)

6) Abu Hurayra (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: “…..And trustworthiness (amana) is in (the tribe of) Azd, meaning in Yemen.” (Sunan Tirmidhi, no: 3936)

7) Jubayr ibn Mut’im (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that once the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) looked up towards the heavens and said: “The people of Yemen have come to you like the pieces of clouds. They are the best of people on the face of the earth.” A Companion asked: “O Messenger of Allah! Are they even better than us?” The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) replied: “Except you.” (Musnad of Imam Ahamd, Musnad Bazzar and Musnad Abu Ya’la. See: Majma’ al-Zawa’id, 10/54)

Any Muslim who has knowledge of these sayings of the beloved of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) would naturally long to visit Yemen and its people. Indeed, the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) made these remarks according to his time, but when Allah Most High places certain qualities in a people, the effect of these qualities remain even after centuries have elapsed. Moreover, Yemen was also the abode of many of the Messenger of Allah’s Companions. He (Allah bless him & give him peace) sent Mu’adh ibn Jabal (Allah be please with him) to Yemen. There are also other Companions who lived and taught in Yemen.

* Disclaimer: The sahabi [RH] has nothing to do with my kunya and the fact hes from Yemen and all that. Just qadr.

Whats this blog about, Im not even sure lol. But something like about Yemen [well duh]. Alhamdulilah I was blessed with the opportunity to go there aswell as Egypt during my gap year. Anyways, the reason for this is to give an insight on the blessed lands of al Yemen. Theres not actually much on the internet about this country, oddly. Yemen is one of the few countries mentioned and praised specifically by the messenger of Allah [salAllahu alayhi wa salam]. Yemen is absolutely beautiful, and I’m gonna go on about it but before you think this is nationalism or bias, thought its important to point out that I’m not even arab.

So this is more like kinda my experience in the 10 days or so I spent there. But I hope this will be of benefit somehow. If I was to sum up Yemen and my experience of it in one word..it would be.. “Sunnah”. Yemen is the epitomy [I don't know what that means] of the Sunnah of the messenger of Allah [salaAllahu alayhi wa salam]. The country actually made me think of Surah Noor. Its Surah Noor summed up. Surah Noor is all about the Muslim society and how it should be. Yemen reminded me of just a slight teeny insight of how life must have been back at the time of the sahaba [radiAllahu anhum ajma3een]

Yemen is the land where many of the anbiya originate from. Nuh, Salih, Hud [alayhum salam] etc. and is also the place where Aad and Thamud are from, they’ve still got the areas marked and many of the sahaba aswell as the anbiya are buried there.

Allah [SWT] says in Surah Ghaafir, verse 82: Have they not travelled through the earth and seen what was the end of those before them? They were more numerous than them and mightier in strength, and in the traces (they have left behind them) in the land, yet all that they used to earn availed them not.

Its not like a personal diary and Im not even 100% sure where Im going with this so lets see and tawakal a3laAllah. Any good that comes from this is from Allah, any mistakes are from myself and the whisperings of shaytaan.