Crisis in Somalia: How You Can Help!
Salam Everyone,
Today I missed Suhoor (the blessed morning meal before fast) and I thought to myself, how am I going to get through this 15+ hour fast without some food and water early but then something hit me, I realized that this was an immediate reality check for me to relate to our brothers and sisters in Somalia who are fasting yet they don’t have any food or water to break their fast with. Many of them are desperately seeking help and are unintentionally fasting, at this point it doesn’t matter whether they want to fast because they don’t have anything.
Suhan’Allah (Glory be to Allah), lesson in life: Don’t complain about your current situation, things can always be worse. Yea I know it’s easier than done, but it all starts with self reflection. For those that don’t know, 12 million people are suffering from an extreme famine in Somalia. The worst it’s been in the past six decades. Not to mention, the 20 years of civil wars that are happening concurrently.
We all know our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the most generous in Ramadan, and while it’s good to build awareness, real action is giving whatever you have to help them + keeping them in your dua’s. We can look at this extreme tribulation they are going through many different ways but ultimately it’s a blessing for us because it allows us to step up and contribute to their well being and by the will of Allah this is all happening in the month of Ramadan.
Lastly, as a witness to this crisis. Allah (swt) will ask us on the day of judgement what did we do to help. Here is a powerful hadith to remind us all.
Hadith Qudsi, our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:
Allah will say on the Day of Judgment, ‘O son of Adam, I was sick and you did not visit Me.’
He will say, ‘O my Lord, how could I visit You, when you are the Lord of the Worlds.’
Allah will say, ‘Did you not know that My servant so and so was sick and you did not visit him? Did you not know that if you had visited him, you would have found Me there?’
Allah will say, ‘O son of Adam, I asked you for food and you fed Me not.’
He shall say, ‘O my Lord, how could I feed you and you are the Lord of the Worlds?’
And Allah will say, ‘Did you not know that My servant so and so was looking for food and you did not feed him? Did you not know that if you had fed him, you would have found that to have been for Me?’
‘O son of Adam, I asked you for water and you did not give Me to drink.’
The man shall say, ‘O my Lord, how could I give You water, when You are the Lord of the Worlds?’
Allah will say, ‘My servant so and so asked you for water and you did not give him to drink water. Did you not know that if you had given him to drink, you would have found that to have been for Me.’
(Muslim, Hadith no. 4661)
Here are a few tips on how we all can help out: (A reminder to myself first)
1) Build awareness! This is key. As the reported highlighted, this crisis deserves much more attention than it is currently getting. Tap into and leverage your social network via facebook and twitter to spread links around and let people know what’s going on and how they can help.
2) Use your skills as a means to make charitable contributions. If your a writer and have a blog, dedicate a post to this. If your a film maker, produced a short clip, be as creative as possible in presenting what’s going on and post it on Youtube. Send to it bloggers to post. You want to gain exposure through every possible digital marketing channel available. Essentially, we all need to extract our skills and work towards a common goal of helping people who are suffering out. It’s up to each and every one of us to evaluate our skill sets on a individual level and make something happen insh’Allah.
3) Donations + Dua = baraka combo. Try to help out monetarily, even if it’s a little, Allah (swt) looks at your intention and how much you are sacrificing. And while helping out local is very important, in the world of globalization it’s becoming just as easy. Of course it’s not feasible for us to be there physically and help out but technology has allowed us to be engaged much more. Don’t ever underestimate the power of dua, we never know who’s is going to get accepted.
Here are a few links on how we can all help out.
http://www.unicef.org/emerg/index_59445.html (United Nations Children’s Fund)
http://islamicrelief.com/ (Islamic Relief USA)
Below is the video by the UNICEF
May Allah (swt) accept our efforts, dua’s and allow help to reach our brothers and sisters in Somalia, Ameen.
insh’Allah I will try to post more and build awareness for more humanitarian crisis that are happening all around the world.
Please keep me in your dua’s as well, I will keep you all in mine, appreciate it. If you have any other ideas post them below!