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The Natural and Man-made Disasters and Our Response: The Message of Eidul Fitr 1426

By Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi

Eid Mubarak to you all. May Allah bless you and your families and may He give you many happy and blessed Eids in your life. We thank Allah for His many blessings. We thank Him for His special gift of Ramadan. He gave us Ramadan to purify us, to give us spiritual strength and moral discipline, to make us generous, caring and kind people and to unite our hearts in love, peace and harmony. I hope we have received all these benefits from this month and I hope and pray that we have made ourselves worthy of His blessings and favors. The spiritual energy that we have received in Ramadan, Inshallah, will remain with us for a long time. The spirit of Ramadan, we hope, shall continue to guide us and keep us on the right path.
I congratulate you on behalf of the Islamic Society of Orange County and I thank you for your support. Alhamdulillah, through Allah’s blessings and through your help, we were able to have a very large number of people everyday for Tarawih and Iftar as well as for the Qiyam al-layl program. Mashallah, the attendance has been very good and encouraging. Our youth played a very important role throughout the month. May Allah bless all of you and your families.
We are very pleased to see you all in such a large number here today. Let us keep united and let us work together for the sake of Allah for the good of our people and for the good of all human beings. May Allah give us many opportunities in our life to have these occasions in good health and strong faith. Ameen.

A Difficult Year:
This has been a difficult year for the whole world. It has been full of natural disasters and made-made problems.

Natural Disasters:
• There was the Asian Tsunami that affected millions of people. Almost 400,000 people died and about 1 million became homeless. More than 200 million dollars of Muslim aid went to the relief of the victims.
• There was Hurricane Katrina here in the Gulf coast of the United States. Almost 1000 people died and 20,000 became homeless. Over 1 billion dollars of aid came from the Muslim world alone.
• At the beginning of Ramadan we had the Asian Earthquake that affected Pakistan, Azad Kashmir and parts of India. It caused the death of about 40,000 people and 3 million homeless. About 200+ million Muslim aid went to the relief of the victims.

Man-made Disasters:
Beside these natural disasters we have on-going man-made disasters.
• Afghanistan – 10,000 dead and 29 million under occupation
• Iraq – more than 2000 US soldiers dead and about 100,000 Iraqis dead. Thousands of US soldiers and Iraqis wounded and more than 26 million under occupation.
• Palestine – tens of thousands dead and millions in exile and under continued occupation.
• Horrible crimes of violence and terrorism all over the world with thousands dead and millions living in difficulties. Billions are being spent on security instead of other constructive programs and needs

Test for all of us:
Allah says in the Qur’an:
Every soul shall have a taste of death: and We test you by evil and by good by way of trial. To Us must ye return. (Al-Anbiya’ 21:35)

Our test is:
• How much we care and are willing to do for the survivors of natural and man-made catastrophes.
• How much we are willing to stand up for justice for those who are suffering because of the man-made disasters.
• How much we are willing to work for peace and justice for all people and for the moral order of this global village.

Allah says in the Qur’an:
So lose not heart, nor fall into despair. You shall be above others if you remain true in Faith. (Al ‘Imran 3:139)
Our response towards trials must be to remain patient and steadfast. Allah says:
Do people think that they will be left alone on saying, “We believe,” and that they will not be tested? (Al-‘Ankabut 29:2)
These trails are:
• test of our faith
• test of our desire to share
• test of our commitment to struggle for justice and peace
• test of our willingness to change things around for the good of all people
We should pray to Allah for safety and security, but we should also remain steadfast during tests and trials. It is reported that the Prophet – peace be upon him - used to pray,
Ibn ‘Umar said, “The Prophet – peace be upon him - would not leave these invocations every morning and evening: ‘O Allah, I ask you safety in this world and in the Hereafter. O Allah, I ask you forgiveness and protection in my religion, in my worldly affairs, my family and my possessions. O Allah, hide my weakness and relieve my worries. O Allah, protect me from the front side of me and from the backside of me, from the right side of me and from the left side of me, from above me and I seek protection in the name of Your Greatness that I may receive any harm from beneath me. (Abu Da’ud 4412)
I pray to Allah to bless us all and to keep us on the right path. I pray to Allah to bless this land and all lands with His mercy and guidance. I pray to Allah to remove the difficulties of all people in every part of the world. Ameen.
(Khutbah of ISOC Prayer at Anaheim Convention Center on November 3, 2005)

-DrSiddiqi@aol.com

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