1. To my daughters

Children should have an understanding that money is not just for buying things.

In any amount that comes to us there is always a part for the poor.

A person with money, is responsible for giving some of it to someone who needs it.

The other way around with the rich taking from the poor to become even richer is certainly not just.

The beauty of being wealthy is not to have the possibility to buy whatever one desires, but rather to be able to gift some money to alleviate the difficulties of those in need.

A prophet was passing through a desert. One day he came across a prosperous garden set amongst arid land and sand dunes. There was no well and no spring that provided water for the field of wheat and for the vegetables, and he marveled because as we all know, nothing grows in the desert without water. While this thought was going through his mind, a cloud passed over the garden and he heard a thundering voice saying: “Stop here and pour your water over this garden!” and it started to rain on the garden until every plant and every inch of land had drank to its full.

The prophet marveled and decided to wait for the owner of the garden so that he could know the explanation of this miraculous event. When the farmer came, he interrogated him and said “My brother, I heard a thundering voice ordering to a cloud to water your garden, what is the reason for this miracle?”

The farmer invited him in the garden, and offered him food and mint tea under the shade, then answered his question: “I divide my crop into three parts. The first one I keep for my family, the second one I keep to emanate the new crop and the third one I give for love of God  to the orphans, to the needy, to the traveler and to those who ask. Because of this, when my garden needs watering an angel orders the clouds to stop and pour rain over it.”

Children should know that when they will be able to earn money, if they make a pact with God for a third of their earning, or for a fifth, or for any small quantity that they find easy to give away to the poor and needy, they will become like the hand of God on earth that consoles the destitute, rejoices the hungry and warms up the homeless.

And if one day you should be poor yourself, there will always be someone to help you. There is always someone more needy than yourself that you will be able to help. However, when you have really nothing to give away, then give a smile.
If you are rich, give away money. If you are poor, give away love.

The truth is that there is enough to eat for everyone on earth, and if someone is hungry somewhere in the world it is because someone else somewhere has eaten his share.

When I built a shop on internet to sell my perfumes, I sold so many of them that the box containing the share for the poor became heavy.

Then the earthquake in Kashmir happened that destroyed so many homes and killed so many people. It was then that I understood that this money had been given to me for these people and I decided to go and to spend it in order to help them in the best possible way.

So, I called my friend, retired colonel Daud Shah on the telephone and told him that I wanted to come to Islamabad to help the homeless people of Kashmir and he replied: “Please come and be my guest, I shall do my best to help you”.

Afterward I telephoned the noble Princess Tehzib and she told me: “Abdussalaam come please, there is an immense need, the hospitals are full of wounded and sick people, and my family helps every day in curing the people who are in hospital”.

This made me think to bring also some essences of perfumes to help the sick and I selected Anti-Shark and Bocciolino for skin problems, peppermint, ginger and pine for cold sicknesses, Lavender which is good for everything and rose to offer to my old friends Daud Shah, Princess Tehzib and the daughter of the Sheikh of Bahawalpur when I met them again.

Bajee Nasseem, the wife of Daud Shah asked me to also bring some perfumes for her to use for aromatherapy in her beauty salon, and told me: “bring whatever you like, you will have no problem with our customs, someone will take you through”.
So I also took essences of Grapefruit, Ylang Ylang and Chamomile in order for her to make the face of Islamabad ladies luminous.

The plane left Rome and landed in Lahore before proceeding towards Islamabad. When we all got off the plane there was a policeman who was waiting for me with a signboard in his hands written “Mr. Abdu Salam”. He asked me for my passport and he made me pass ahead of everyone. Then the chief of customs arrived and he invited me to offer Fajr prayers in his office. After I was done with prayers, he got tea and biscuits served for me, and also arranged for my suitcase to be brought.

Then they accompanied me to the plane for Islamabad. When I arrived there, I met Daud Shah at the airport and I told him “you are retired but I see that you still command”. He laughed and told me “this car (Pajero) is at your disposal with its driver Riaz”.

So, I went on the Pajero with Riaz to buy all the clothes that I would need to stay here because my suitcase was so full of perfumes that I did not bring any clothes except what I was wearing.

After getting dressed in the manner I like, we went to visit the refugee camp of the Kashmiri people in Islamabad. The camp is very big, there are more than 10 000 tents in it and it is divided in many quarters like a city.

Each quarter of 300 to 400 tents is organized by one of the many organizations that have come there to help the people after the earthquake. There is the “Muslim Aid” of brother Yussuf Islam and “Islamic Relief” where brother Ciccarello works in Italy. There are organizations from all over the Muslim world and also from Europe. In each quarter there is a playing area for children, a kindergarten tent, a medical tent with doctors, a mosque tent, a community centre tent for meeting and watching news, a tent where women and children learn the use of sewing machines and several other tents where there is all the necessary equipment for cooking meals.

We went to visit the camp of Yussuf Islam and a student working for free as a volunteer helper showed us around and explained the situation to us.

All the people living in the mountains near their broken house were invited to come to Islamabad to spend the winter, here there is no snow and the weather is less cold. They have food in abundance and warm blankets to protect them from the winter nights. There is no heating in the tents but now winter is at the end here and would soon also be in the Kashmiri mountains. In fact, as soon as the next month arrives, all the people will go back to their own places where temporary shelters are being mounted right now for them. When they will be back there, the Pakistani government and the relief agencies will provide them with all the materials they need to build new houses and some money for daily living. The government has been very generous and has given money to all the wounded and to all the families who had someone killed.

I have understood that there is no need for me in Islamabad because everyone was taken care of and had sufficient food, clothing, medicine, and a tent.

I shall have to have to travel to Kashmir in Muzaffarabad in order to find those who need help the most. This brought back memories of the old times of my youth 13 years ago when we were  a group called the Green Brothers, and we realized the Tepee Green Project to bring blankets to the refugees from Indian Kashmir, with the help of Princess Tehzib and her friends.