The Faces of Dar-us-Sakina
Low Vision Awareness Month
Featuring Ibrahim Husain
February 2024
In recognition of Low Vision Awareness Month this February, we are proud to initiate our blog series with a spotlight on Ibrahim Husain and his remarkable family. Aisha, Ibrahim's mother, graciously opened up to share their journey.
Ibrahim’s Story
Ibrahim was born on December 6, 2013, in Sugar Land, Houston. Shortly after birth, his mother, Aisha, noticed he was struggling with feeding. She had an instinct that something was wrong and sought advice from a neonatal specialist. Multiple specialists brushed off any concerns and labeled the delays as usual for premature birth, even though he was born on time. After weeks of advocating for more tests and information, he was diagnosed with CHARGE Syndrome.
The minute Ibrahim was born, his older sisters, Maryam and Nora, fell in love with their baby brother. Nora always wanted to help with bottle feeding, and the two would carry him around everywhere and include him in everything.
Within the first year of life, Ibrahim underwent multiple surgeries on the throat. He had ear tubes implanted at eight months old, and at eleven months, he received glasses. He was just the happiest baby once he got his hearing aid and glasses. Aisha, his mom, noted that no matter the situation, Ibrahim would be smiling.
As Ibrahim grew, he experienced fine and gross motor developmental delays. However, his cognitive abilities started to flourish. From a very young age, he was incredibly empathetic. At just two years old, he crawled over to a crying baby, said, “don’t be sad,” and hugged the baby. The teacher noted that they had never seen such an empathetic child. “He’s definitely very special,” his teacher said.
Discovering Dar-us-Sakina
Ibrahim’s family discovered Dar-us-Sakina in 2016. At that time, we were a small branch of another organization. Aisha recounts her onboarding call and was reminded that Allah loves us more than anything and that we are more blessed than we can imagine. They were thrilled to learn about our buddy system after attending their first event at Dar-us-Sakina. At our events, all children with special needs are paired with a buddy, a dedicated volunteer who stays with the child throughout the event.
“We just felt so special right from the beginning, having a buddy system so that we can go and buddies can take care of our children with so much love while we get a minute just to relax,” she said.
His family's hope was restored once Ibrahim started to attend our Sakina Sunday School, a program tailored to children with special needs to learn about Islam at their own pace. “We are so lucky that our Ibrahim has the chance to learn about Islam in a way he can absorb,” Aisha said.
In addition to our inclusive events, buddy program, and Sakina Sunday School, Aisha recounts that our Power Moms program has had the most impact on her personally. She started to feel accepted by hanging out with other special needs moms. “It's almost to a fault because I don't really wanna hang around with regular people anymore; we just get each other in a way nobody else can. All special moms, Power Moms are [in this] together; I think we will be friends forever,” said Aisha.
February 28, 2024
Jami Sabety-Javid,