Muslims Participate in Vigil and Service for Newtown Shooting Victims
Americans of all faiths and denominations held an interfaith vigil and service for the shooting victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Sunday at the Newtown High School in Newtown, Connecticut. President Obama also attended the vigil and services.
The Muslim community at the Al Hedaya Islamic Center located in Newtown, Connecticut, represented American Muslims in the interfaith vigil and service. Below a statement read out by the young Muslim representatives:
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
The Muslim community of the Al Hedaya Islamic Center in Newtown, in Connecticut and throughout the nation joins with our fellow Americans in grieving for those who died in this senseless tragedy and praying for them and their families.
We ask God to grant those lost a special place in paradise and we ask their families to be granted the strength to endure the unendurable.
It is in such times of almost unbearable loss that we seek comfort with our Creator and that artificial divisions of faith fall away to reveal a nation of mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, son and daughters, all united in a desire to bring healing and renewed hope.
The Qur’an, Islam's revealed text, tells us that God's mercy and compassion are without limit and always available for those who ask. God says: "When my servants question you about Me, tell them that I am near. I answer the prayer of every person who calls on Me." (2:186)
In the Qur’an, God also says: "Give glad tidings to those who endure with patience; who, when afflicted with calamity, say: 'We belong to God and to Him we shall return.' Such are the people on whom there are blessings and Mercy from God." (2:155-157)
So let us all, of every faith, of every background, pray for God's comfort at this time of heartbreaking tragedy.
"Verily, with every difficulty there is ease. Verily, with every difficulty there is ease." (94:5-6).
Ameen.
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