Every parent dreams of children who will be a source of continuous good deeds after their deaths.
The young founders of 3Di Athletics lost their parents in the past year. Abdirashid Ahmed and Abdilfatah Ahmed's father, Hussein Ahmed. passed away in September 2014, and Ahmed and Omar Abbassi lost their mother, Fatima Zehra Abbasi, five months ago. To honor them and to make a sadaqa jariyah (continuous charity) after their passing, the two sets of brothers created the Zehra and Hussein Scholarship.
The fund will provide an annual $6,000 academic scholarship for one or two qualified students who are attending the Qalam Seminary in Dallas, TX. 3Di will have an application process for this scholarship and the money will be given to students in the top five percent of the class. The Qalam Seminary program is the vision of Sh. AbdulNasir Jangda to develop qualified and relevant leadership for the Muslim community. The program is in its 3rd year and has graduated over 35 students - the majority of which are sisters.
Qalam students have taken on a number of different roles in masajid across America including: Assistant Imams, Youth Directors, Chaplains, Sisters Coordinators, Islamic School Teachers, and students who have gone overseas to continue further Islamic studies, says Omar Usman, board member of the Qalam Institute.
Qalam Seminary is a very empowering and influential program, says Abbassi who has studied under Shaykh Abdul Nasir Jangda, the head of the Qalam Institute, as has his counterpart Abdirashid. Abdirasheid attended the Bayyinah DREAM program 2011-2012, where he studied under Shaykh Jangda.
Abbassi was scheduled to study at the seminary with his Dar us Salaam Hifdh school and University of Maryland college friends Naeem Baig and Ammar Nada, but was unable to go. I want to help someone who [is] studying there, he says.
Omar Abbassi still keeps his mothers Qur'an journal in his car where his mother would write personal reflections on verses of the Qur'an. I am still benefiting after she passed away- why not add to her deeds, why not continue things that she cant after she has passed away, says Abbassi.
The Abbassis immigrated from Pakistan in the eighties. The Ahmed family are originally from Somalia. Zehra Abbasi was a cancer patient. She was diagnosed in 2008 with a rare lymphoma at a late stage. After one month of taking a new medication approved this year in January, she passed away due to colitis a painful stomach disease which was a side effect of the new medication.
Abbassi still receives texts and calls from sisters whose lives were touched by her. You were my connection between Allah, a recent text appeared on her phone months after her death. Imam Mahmoud Abdel-hady of Maryum Center (former Imam of Dar al Taqwa) shares that Zehra Abbasi started the womens Qur'an class at Dar at Taqwa, which still continues today after more than a decade.
"Those who are merciful will be shown mercy by the Most Merciful. Be merciful to those on the earth and the One above the heavens will have mercy upon you."
You truly don't know what you have until it's gone. This quote hit home last year when my father passed away. We learned a lot about my father from the stories people near and far shared with us. A common theme in these stories was my father's compassion. These stories included the charitable acts he did in secret for his family, friends and for complete strangers. He was one of the most compassionate human-beings that I have never known, says Aisha Lul Ahmed, the daughter of Hussein Ahmed.
It has been tough for all of us, says Abbassi. But the scholarship fun gives the two families a sense of purpose. They never expected that they would raise over $3000 in two weeks. 3Di will hold a Free Throw-A-Thon this coming winter to help raise the money for the fund.
Interested in donating: https://www.gofundme.com/fatimaandhussien
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