UPDATE:  Alhamdulillaah, the goal was reached, jazakallah khayr to all who contributed, you’re all in my du’aas

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Salaam alaykum all,

I’m heading out to Ilm Summit, insha’Allah, and I’m looking to raise $550 for myself ($350 for remaining tuition costs, $200 for round trip ticket).  For anyone who would like to help me get there, I’ve created a ChipIn campaign for myself to go

However, I don’t want donations.  Instead, I would like for anyone who has both read and benefited / implemented something from my writings from either this blog, muslimmatters.org, or al-Jumu’ah magazine to contribute.  Sort of a, “Hey, I really benefited from something you put there, I’d like to return the favor a bit,” in the way that Imam Ahmad wouldn’t take donations, but would offer scribing services to earn a fare to travel.

If that’s you, here’s the widget:

If that’s not you, and you want to donate, jazakallaahu khayran, but we’re not accepting donations at this time, only optional payment for services rendered, insha’Allah.

There are two reasons for this:

1. Alhamdulillaah, with the recent downsizing I went through, I’m actually getting a lot more money, not less (severance + unemployment), and I’m saving that for family.
2. Orphans, masjid projects, and other community service initiatives deserve your donations, not a well-off brother who’s cutting costs.

So if again, if you’ve benefited, you can support the program (think PBS / NPR) if wish, and if not, keep reading and keep benefiting anyway