Haiti earthquake : The Muslim response to Haiti
By Wajahat Ali, January, San Francisco, California, altmuslim.com
Haiti is experiencing unimaginable suffering from its devastating earthquake, with more than 150,000 dead and one to three million individuals displaced. Individuals, groups and governments from around the world have stepped in to do what they can. United by their religious tradition of charity, Muslims have emerged as effective partners in aid and relief work.
The international effort to aid Haiti by individuals, Islamic relief organizations and the governments of Muslim-majority countries reflects a proactive generosity and empathy espoused by the Prophet Muhammad and the teachings of the Qur'an. Charity, in fact, is one of the five obligations for Muslims, and Muslim organizations have been working alongside other faith-based groups to fulfill this duty.
Islamic Relief, one of the most respected and successful disaster relief charities in the world, has used technology, new media and social networking sites to mobilize people. Along with "Seekers Digest", a popular Muslim community blog run out of Canada, Islamic Relief hosted the "Muslim Online Haiti Fundraiser" and raised over $100,000 in two hours. The organization also used its existing partnership with the Mormon Church to send hygiene kits and temporary shelters to Haiti, in addition to pledging a total of $2.5 million.
IR USA Staff, VP of Fund Development Anwar Khan talks about the tent setup for the victims.
Islamic Relief also sent an emergency response team to directly assist victims in Haiti. These Muslim aid workers have been updating a daily blog with sobering first-hand accounts of the tragedy.
Assisting Islamic Relief, Muslim American artists and community activists convened to put on a concert in New York City, hosted by the Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN), and used the opportunity to raise donations for Haiti. In Chicago, IMAN partnered with a local synagogue and church to raise aid money.
Governments and non-governmental organizations (NGO) of countries that are more often known as recipients of aid have also reached out. Two Pakistani NGOs, Al-Khidmat Foundation and Edhi Foundation, are mobilizing relief efforts to help Haitians despite the country's own political and economic volatility. Both organizations have considerable expertise in this area due to the massive 2005 earthquake that killed nearly 80,000 in northern Pakistan. The Edhi Foundation has already pledged $500,000 to assist Haiti.
Speaking on Haiti's catastrophe, the president of Al-Khidmat Foundation, Niamatullah Khan, said, "Islam exhorts us to help those who are in trouble.... Humanity comes first."
In the Middle East, Dubai Cares, a non-profit dedicated to ensuring education for young children, is providing immediate assistance to 200,000 children in Haiti through its international partners who are already on the ground. And the governments of Bahrain, Kuwait, Morocco and Turkey have each pledged $1 million in aid, in addition to sending cargo planes filled with medical supplies, food, tents and blankets.
Iran donated 30 tons of humanitarian aid, including food, tents and medicine through its Red Crescent Society. And Palestinians, through the Red Cross, have begun an effort to send donations.
Furthermore, Lebanon sent a plane with 25 tons of tents and three tons of medical supplies. And Indonesia, the most populous Muslim nation, sent $2.1 million in aid. "As a country that has been itself devastated by a similar situation, we are absolutely saddened by what's happening in Haiti," Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in Vietnam. "We call on the ASEAN community, including ourselves, of course, to do what we can do to assist them."
According to Habiba Hamid, a Fellow of the Centre for the Study of Global Governance at the London School of Economics, this pattern of charity is not an aberration but the norm for Muslim communities. She says, "Without [Muslim countries], we would not have the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) today, which is proving critical in Haiti currently." In 2008, when the WFP issued an urgent call for funds in light of increased food and fuel prices that raised global hunger and poverty levels, Saudi Arabia pledged $500 million, leading the WFP to recognize King Abdullah as a "Champion in the Battle Against Hunger."
Although the journey to rebuilding Haiti is long and painstaking, Muslim relief efforts worldwide prove that sometimes our most reliable and effective partners in humanitarian endeavors are not always the ones we expect.
(Photo courtesy Islamic Relief USA)
Have fear and consciousness of Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala and ponder over events that happen around you. Learn lessons from them and remember, for the intelligent one is he who remembers and takes admonition.
The topic of this khutbah is the destructive earthquake that hit part of Turkey. The earthquake which caused thousands of people to die, caused loss of wealth and properties, and forced people to seek refuge outside of their dwellings, now being without their home and their wealth, and without food and drink. The earthquake which turned security into fear, richness into poverty, caused joined families to depart, and turned life into death. Without doubt, in it is a lesson for those who take lessons and a reminder for those who remember, so that they may return to their Lord and their Creator.
The Truthful, the Chosen one (as-Saadiq al-Mustafa), sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam, has informed us that a multitude of earthquakes is a sign of the proximity of the Hour. He informed us that they would be many at the end of the time.
Ahmad relates in a hadeeth narrated by Abu Hurairah, radhiallahu `anhu, that the Prophet, sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam said, "The Hour will not happen until knowledge is taken out, time passes quickly, earthquakes increase in number, tribulations (fitan) appear, and al-Harj increases in number." It was said, "What is al-Harj, O Rasoolullah?" He said, "Al Qatl, al Qatl (Killing)".
A lot of what is mentioned in this hadeeth has already materialized.
Happenings of earthquakes and the like from other destructive and disastrous events are the greatest evidence of the astonishing power of Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala. Earthquakes are from among the soldiers of Allah, subhanahu wa ta`ala, subjected to His order. He, subhanahu wa ta`ala, causes fear in the hearts of those whom He wills, teaches lessons whom He wills and punishes whom He wills.
"And none can know the Forces of your Lord, except He." (74:31)
"For to Allah belong the Forces of the heavens and the earth." (48:7)
If the Ummah leaves Allah's Sharee`ah, ignores the Deen of Allah ta`ala and follows its enemies, Allah will subjugate it to His armies, which no one knows except He. From among these armies are the earthquakes.
"Such is the Seizure of your Lord when He seizes the towns while they are doing wrong. Verily, His Seizure is painful and severe." (11:102)
"When We decide to destroy a town, We (first) send a definite order (to obey Allah and be righteous) to those among them who are given the good things of this life. Then, they transgress therein, and thus the word (of torment) is justified against (them). Then we destroy it with complete destruction." (17:16)
Allah, subhanahu wa ta`ala, with this earthquake makes clear to His servants a plain reality, that the kingdom of the heavens and the earth is in His Hands, subhanahu wa ta`ala, and that He is the Irresistible and Dominant over His servants.
Some people may be astonished by what the West has from the materialistic power, from various weapons, aircraft carriers, bombs, satellites etc., and they forget that Allah, subhanahu wa ta`ala, allowed that piece of land to move and shake, being able to shake the force of the West and the East. Everything is in His Hands, He has power over all things, and no one in the Heavens and the Earth can weaken Him, subhanahu wa ta`ala. Appearance of the earthquakes therefore points us to a different reality that may be absent in the minds of some people, those who are busy with this world and who are servants of materialism.
This earthquake also reminds us of the Day of Judgment. The Day when all of the Earth will shake, and not only one part of it. Allahu subhanahu wa ta`ala says,
"O mankind! Fear your Lord and be dutiful to Him! Verily, the earthquake of the Hour is a terrible thing. The Day you shall see it, every nursing mother will forget her nursling, and every pregnant one shall drop her load, and you shall see mankind as in a drunken state. Yet they will not be drunken, but the Torment of Allah will be severe." (22:1-2)
Look what is left after the earthquake from destroyed buildings and houses, deaths of thousands, and families seeking refuge outside of their homes. What state is that in which everyone is running away, caring about nothing? So what do you think of the Day of Judgment?
"That Day shall a man flee from his own brother, and from his mother and his father, and from his wife and his children." (80:34-36)
"One the day (when the first blowing of the Trumpet is blown), the earth and the mountains will shake violently." (79:6)
Allah ta`ala warns His servants with this earthquake to learn a lesson and be admonished, and to be ready and prepare themselves for the Day of sorting out, the day of the great earthquake, that will shake all of the earth.
Allah ta`ala has placed in this universe Sunan, fixed and manifest laws, neither do they change nor are they replaceable. He does not have any kinship with anyone, He is the sole Creator and Ruler, and He will question and hold accountable everyone, including prophets and messengers. "Then surely, We shall question those to whom it (the Book) was sent and We shall question the Messengers." (7:6)
From among the established Sunan of Allah is that He does not send punishment except due to sin and He does not remove it except after repentance. Allah ta`ala says, "Whatever misfortune befalls you, it is because of what your hands have earned." (42:30)
Allah the Mighty and Majestic says: "Evil and mischief have appeared on land and sea because of what the hands of men have earned, that Allah may make them taste a part of that which they have done, in order that they may return (by repenting to Allah)." [30:41]
Every disaster and every calamity that befalls the servants is due to their sins and wrongdoing. So know, servants of Allah, what wrongdoing does to its doers.
What has taken Adam and Eve from the Jannah except wrongdoing, and what Has drowned all of the people on the earth at the time of Nooh, to the point that water reached the peak of mountains, except wrongdoing?
Who is it who sent the furious violent wind upon the people of `Aad, so that they were seen lying overthrown and destroyed, as if they were hollow trunks of palm-trees? Who is it who sent the awful cry upon the people of Thamud until it cut their hearts inside their bodies, and they all fell dead without exception? Who lifted the villages of the people of Loot till the angels heard barking of their dogs, then turned them upside down, and then rained upon them a rain of stones?
That is the immediate punishment for wrongdoing: drowning, fire, earthquakes, destruction, famine, raging wind... "And the torment of the hereafter is far more severe and more lasting." (20:127)
Do we not take admonition and lesson? Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala says, "Did We not destroy the ancients? So shall We make the later generations to follow them. Thus do We deal with the Mujrimoon (criminals, disbelievers, sinners.). Woe that Day to the deniers (of the Day of Resurrection)!" [77:16-19]
The earthquake of Turkey is just a warning from Allah, subhanahu wa ta`ala - not only to the people of that country alone, but rather to the Muslims in general, in all lands - that they may return to their Lord and their Deen. Otherwise a punishment will come upon them. Allah ta`ala says, "So We seized each of them for his sins." (29:40)
Many of the Muslims today have gathered many sins. We see those who delay and neglect prayers, eat haram, deal with riba, do not fulfill their trusts, order the evil and forbid the good. Those who indulge in mixing, display of awra, listening to music and songs, and those who have abandoned the Qur'an. All these exist in our society. Let us fear Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala and preserve what we have from the blessings, for wrongdoing removes blessings, rather it changes it to a curse. And let us be warned of an evil end, for Allah gives us a chance but is not neglectful. What has happened to the previous nations and some of the current ones will happen to us if we obey the Shaytan and go far from the path of the Most Merciful. These are the sunan of Allah that will never change.
"Or do you feel secure that He, Who is over the Heaven, will not cause the earth to sink with you, then behold it shakes (as in an earthquake)? Or do you feel secure that He, Who is over the heaven, will not send against you a violent whirlwind? Then you shall know how (terrible) was My Warning." (67:16-17)
Let us pause and ask ourselves what has been the tangible impact on us since we have heard and seen this earthquake, and what it has left from the mighty and scary destruction that makes the hearts bleed. The happy one is one who learns from the calamity of others, and the sad one is by whom these calamities pass while he takes no lesson from them.
Just recently the sun eclipsed, then followed the floods, then the strong wind, and then this earthquake happened. The people are still as they were before, you see no change. You do not see people going back to the path of Allah and you do not see any crowds in mosques. It is unfortunate that the explanation offered for these events is that they are normal natural disasters, and that they do not link it to what happens to people due to their wrongdoing. Theirs is clearly an incorrect interpretation.
"And We sent not the signs except to warn, and to make them afraid (of destruction)." (17:59)
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"Some Thoughts"- A poem by Mirza A Beg
Earthquake in Haiti
Tens of thousands dead
Perished without warning
Silencing thoughts and feeling
Mourned by dazed family and friends
Another human calamity
As in disasters before
Earthquakes and Tsunamis
Volcanoes and typhoons
In times and places before
A wrath of God, fury of nature
Or simply an occurrence
Powerful and amazing
As Galaxies colliding
Indifferent to humanity
An event predetermined in time
Propelled by the laws of nature
With no malice or blame
Ants crushed by a bulldozer
Insects under passing feet
Geologic plates moving, colliding
Directions determined eons ago
By forces of cosmic creation
Unconcerned by our feelings
Humbling the arrogant humanity
Inadvertently the Nature tests
Our own nature and values
Some condemn the victims
For inviting the wrath of God
Some don’t even notice and go on
But many find morality in piety
Helping the injured and destitute
Giving meaning to our lives
Compassion for fellow beings
Scripts the nobility of being
Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com or http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/
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