Requests for Du'a...

I received this email and felt that it was important for all of us to read.

As’salaamu alaykum


Inshallah all is well with all of you

Recent events have stirred many thoughts in my mind. Train wrecks, bombings, kidnappings, etc., all over the world things are taking place that require attentiveness, but where do our thoughts lie? How often do we wonder what we can do to help and then how often do we actually take the steps to help? Our ability to act might be somewhat limited and a means to speak out is perhaps beyond our grasp. At no given time however should we forget that we will always inshallah have the ability to help those in need in a way that is more powerful then our actions and our words alone, and that it through our du’aa. Yet for some reason we choose not to do so.

We pride ourselves on describing our ummah as unique and diverse; a nation transcending language, gender, ethnicity and creed. Yet when the time comes for us to help one another, even by a simple utterance of words that would take mere seconds to be spoken from our lips, we fail to respect that diversity. We enjoy that which has been given to us, as we have the right to do so alhamdulillah, but we should not forget that there are those who do not have the same experiences that we do. The prophet Muhammad alayhi salaam has told us in a tradition la yu’minu ahadakum hatta yuhibu li akhihi ma yuhibu li nafsi that “not one of you believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.” What we fail to remember sometimes is that the word brother in this hadith is not qualified by any term. He does not say your brother in race, your brother in ethnicity, your countryman, or your kin. All he says is brother, a word so simple in meaning, yet many of us have forgotten what it stands for.

Let us today stop defining ourselves in terms of our skin colors, of our cultures, of any of our differences.

Today let us raise our hands and pray for everyone, everywhere; for the orphan child that sits at home wondering when his parents are coming home, whether he is in New Orleans or in Darfur; for the young girl who is forced to remove her head covering, whether she is in France or in Iraq; for those who are standing with no roofs over their heads, be they in Kashmir or Palestine or Lebanon or Afghanistan or Sudan; for all those who are feeling some kind of pain, some kind of remorse, some grievance or need, let us pour our hearts out for them all in hopes that our words will make a difference in some way, as the One who will be hearing them is the One who has the power to change all things, azza’ jal.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala guide us and protect us, May He bring ease to the lives of all those who are in need of tranquility and peace, May He grant strength to the weak, understanding to the ignorant, wisdom to the knowledgeable, and justice to the oppressed, and May He accept all of our prayers and secret wishes, as there are no secrets from Him. He is the All-Knowing, the Merciful.

Ameen ya rabbul ‘aalameen.barakallahu feekum jamee’an was’salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatahu

Khalid Latif
New York University Chaplain
Islamic Center at NYU