Proclaim the pilgrimage among men. Rasul (pbuh) with the accepted Hajj is purified like a baby and given Paradise.
About Us
Footsteps to Paradise is an organization that attained non-profit status in 2008. (We have been functioning on a small scale since 1994.) We are dedicated to helping Muslims through assisting with the cost of hajj. Ultimately, our aim is to help male and female Muslims to fulfill this pillar of their Islam.
NOTE: We pay just for the Hajj package—not transportation to departure site, landing fees, sacrifice, or personal expenses. Of course, the number of tickets/packages is contingent on available funds.
Our method can be described in three steps:
- Imams of legitimate masjids (licensed, incorporated, holding five daily prayers, and jumah) are invited to submit the names of no more than three (3) candidates.
- Participants are chosen by lottery.
- Once chosen, monies are transferred directly to credible Hajj tour groups.
The Imam who has helped spearhead and continues to help this effort is Ismail ibn Paul Teasley. He became Muslim in 1981. He was an Assistant Imam at Dar-Islam Masjid from 1984 to 1987 under the direction of Imam Bilal Abdal Rahman (rah). He later became Imam at Masjid Mujtahideen in East Atlanta in 1989. Imam Ismail is a Muslim chaplain of the prison dawah program for local, state and federal institutions formed by Masjid Mujtahideen in 1987. Since 1996, he has been serving a chaplain for the Florida State Prison dawah program that provides lectures, Qurans and other Islamic material. He is the provider of full janazah services for Muslims in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Also, he is a hajj group assistant.
Imam Ismail has dedicated himself to learning Islam from scholars and students of knowledge. He has given a myriad of Friday kutbahs. He has spoken nationally and internationally at various seminars and conferences.
Here are his words on the conceptualization of the Footsteps to Paradise organization:
In 1994, a Muslim came to me and said “Brother Imam, I have a ticket here for you – we want you to go to hajj.."
You can’t imagine what I felt like. Trying to maintain the masjid and my family needs out of my own monies, I did not have the wherewithal to make hajj. After I cried and hugged the brother, Allah allowed me to offer hajj for the first time.
I was so moved by the fact that Muslims cared enough for me to send me to hajj that, in the years since then, my wife Sabreen and I have been involved personally in making hajj for deceased Muslims and sponsoring other Muslims to the House of Allah.
It was out of these efforts that Footsteps to Paradise was formed.
May Allah reward you with His Face in Paradise,
IMAM ISMAIL IBN PAUL TEASLEY