I attended the 2022 Gambia Tour entitled Tracing Our Islamic Roots. It was an excellent experience for me and my family. The tour group met at JFK airport in NY and I immediately felt a family vibe. First of all, we are all connected through learning Islamic subjects several days a week online. It was very nice to put faces to the names I see online.
The entire trip was memorable. I learned new historical information about Islam in the region. One key thing I walked away with is that the Qur'an is the nucleus of the community for a number of people there. It increased my enthusiasm to develop the same level of importance with the Allah Subhanhu wa ta 'ala, His Beloved sallalahu alayhi wa salam, and the Inimitable Qur'an.
My main highlights were watching my children detox from technology, experiencing Juffreh village (Kunta Kinteh's village), seeing/ experiencing the sand dune masjid, and enjoying unprocessed foods.
I am still counting all the blessings from the trip that I experienced my heart is filled with a joy that you only get from hearing the Quran and being with people who love Allah and his messenger sallalahu alayhi wa Salam. Yes we were tested and I know that all tests is from Allah and I that he please keep Baraka in our hearts and our eyes. I had a great time and will be doing it again inshallah. I fell in love with all the people that were there and hope we can experience or look forward to keeping that same feeling in our hearts whenever we see each other. Imam Naeem and family thank you for the life-changing journey. May Allah reward you and your family with jennah ameen. Nur African Tours keep up the good work Allahu akbar Ameen!
Bismillahir Rahman nir Rahim
“…They (angels) say: ‘Was not the earth of Allah spacious enough for you to emigrate therein?…’” (4:97).
Allah, The Ever-Living, The Sublime is so Perfect! With these words He, Azza wa Jaal, made it clear that we DO NOT have to stay anywhere we DO NOT want to stay. I emphasized “Do not” because we often believe that being “stuck” is our only choice.
Embarking on this journey, I prayed and asked Allah to open the door if He, Azza wa Jaal, so willed. By Allah’s Grace and Permission, I was granted access to the door to return to “The Door of No Return”. From the moment I entered the airport to depart, I knew that there would be a shift in my narrative because this was no ordinary voyage. It was a voyage back to our roots facilitated by Nur African Tours courtesy of Imam Na’eem Abdullah, his wife Samira Abdullah, as well as Zakariyyah and Zanaida Wakatama (Senegal Journey). The mission and vision of our journey was a beautiful one. And the manifestation was more than I could have imagined. We saw sights, ate food, and met people that I would not have had the opportunity to meet. We went off the beaten path and ventured out on our own (for some). I thoroughly enjoyed myself and believe that this is the building block to developing connections between African Americans and African people across the diaspora.
As salaamu alaikum to all who read this. Inshaallah I want to share about my experience visiting The Gambia, West Africa with Nur African Tours.
First, I am a practicing Muslimah, a student of history - more specifically Black/ African history, and an aspiring talibaat al-ilm. This is why I was attracted to the “Tracing Our Islamic Roots” tour.
My intentions of exploring our history of Islam in Africa and of finding confirmation of that which I’ve read in historical texts were met and exceeded during the nearly 3 weeks of this tour. Every single day was a unique experience unlike the previous day, and while each day had it’s own highlights, the tour seemingly got better and better as time passed. As if that wasn’t filling enough, there were surprise visits and lessons added to the itinerary which I am eternally grateful for.
Our housing/ living situation was excellent, alhamdulillah. It afforded us the opportunity to break bread together and to make congregational prayers - all of which encouraged lifelong bonds to form and an establishment of a sense of family to occur. We were warmly welcomed by the Gambian natives who treated us as their own family and cooked homemade meals for us to reap the full experience.
Without going too much into specific details, I pray that this brief overview will suffice for anyone who may be interested in touring with the Nur African Tour group.
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