Lest We Forget
By Azher Quader
Chicago, IL
(Email received on Thursday, November 24)
It is Thanksgiving night this evening. In a few short hours America’s merchants will open their doors to crowds of bargain hunters storming their stores in search of bargains. This annual event is celebrated as Black Friday. With each passing year the opening bell heralding the start of this shopping frenzy is getting earlier and earlier. Some stores no longer are waiting for Friday any more. Black Friday is becoming Black Thursday as well.
While corporate America remains focused on its bottom line and tries once more to strip another tradition of the soul and clothe it with the garb of commercialism, let us never forget what Thanksgiving is all about. The turkey on the table may be a dinner tradition but to gather around it with family and give thanks is both a celebration of family and an expression of gratitude.
In a world riddled with anger and anguish, in a nation half divided between those that ‘party’ and those that ‘occupy’, it would be well for those who live by their faiths to remember that tonight we thank the Divine for the blessings of liberty and abundance we enjoy.
Not withstanding the arguments for same sex and civil unions, the logic of family endures. No other institution has sustained the life of our communities in the past with more vigor and vitality and none will ever surpass it in the future. We begin our lives within our families and we end our lives surrounded by family. When families are broken then communities are doomed. Let us never forget the importance of family. Protecting its boundaries, promoting its values demands commitment and concern.
Gratitude comes from humility not arrogance. Humility comes from the realization of abundance, not the fear of scarcity. The river of His mercy and compassion provides sustenance for all. It does not differentiate between the good or the bad, the ones on the right or the ones on the left. In return we are asked to express gratitude and share His abundance with those less fortunate. A society endowed with compassion reflects care not conflict. A community nurtured with compassion reflects care not conflict. A community nurtured with gratitude and humility remembers the sacrifices of those that went before them.
Thanksgiving then is a good time also to think of those that have gone before us, remembering them for the seeds they sowed in order for us to reap the fruits of their labor. Thank too those who marched for the civil rights of blacks in America. Also those who rallied so women could vote. Can we forget those who gave their lives to stop Hitler’s armies? Those who died upholding belief, so faith could live.
Yes it is a good time to remember them all and also give thanks to that first generation of Muslims without whose enormous sacrifices the faith we practice could not have reached us. They endured the brutal torment of their masters. They withstood with patience the hate and hostility of their neighbors. They raised their swords in defense of faith, to fight and kill their own kith and kin. They broke their bonds of tribal allegiance which offered them security in life to accept the embrace of belief which offered them felicity in the hereafter. They burnt their ships when they landed on foreign shores so their return to their homes would not be a choice anymore. When they conquered they were humble in victory and compassionate in forgiveness. What a noble and courageous generation they were.
Lest we forget, this life of faith and freedom, of peace and prosperity we have come to inherit has been paid for by the blood and sweat of many.
To them we owe a debt of gratitude this Thanksgiving.
May Allah inspire us to be grateful in what we have and guide us to be compassionate in sharing His abundance for the benefit of others.
