A Heartbreaking Death Leaves 5 Children Orphaned

By Noor H. Salem

April 2nd 2013–Sister Huda Majeed of Ann Arbor, MI, passed away Monday April 1st around 6pm after a long battle with cancer. She was a widowed mother and now leaves behind five children. Huda and her children came to the United States approximately a year ago for humanitarian reasons, according to Muslim Social Services.

Her husband died of Leukemia in 2009 and she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007. She was living in Jordan at the time and her breast cancer was not getting any better, in fact it was spreading even more. She decided to come to the United States in 2012, in hopes of finding a cure. Sadly, she left us yesterday, and her four girls and one boy.  Even more heartbreaking to learn, her children are all minors.

Around March 20th 2013 the Muslim Social Services, an organization that provides service to Muslims in the Washtenaw County, began an urgent fundraising for Huda. At the time Huda was in her final stages of the metastatic breast cancer that she’s been struggling with. She had limited life expectancy, she was told. 

At 2pm on April 2nd her Janazah prayer, the Muslim funeral service, took place at the Muslim Community Association in Ann Arbor’s Masjid. Many Muslims from the community who have been hearing about her and even fundraising for this cause have gathered to pray the best for her and her children.

According to a relative of the Issa family, one of the many Issa families in Ann Arbor, they will be taking in the five orphaned children for one year, until relatives from Iraq can do so. Generous members of the community have all come together to raise funds and ensure future guardianship and support for her children by using fundraisers on the Muslim Social Service website. The remarkable community she was blessed with visiting also joined in raising donations for her through Google sites and an account.

Members of the community went beyond just donations. They set up appointments for people to visit her, take her children out, and even provide meals. There was an entire post on the Google Group with very specific information about what foods her children like eating, like grape leaves and kobe. It details things like no onions, spicy food, or cheese pizza. May Allah swt reward each and every individual who put forth effort in helping her through her difficult times. 

We pray Allah swt grants her the highest levels of Paradise and grants her children patience and the ability to move on from such a devastating experience.

To donate please visit:
https://sites.google.com/site/helphuda/home
http://www.muslimsocialservices.com/3/post/2013/03/urgent-fundraising.html
https://sites.google.com/site/helphuda/announcement

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