Community Works Together for the Good of Humanity
by Jeanean Othman
Once again Ramadan has come and gone, and life has returned to its familiar routine, as we collapse back into our life as we know it. There is an immediacy in Ramadan that is overlooked in other months, with attention given to the beginning and ending of each day. The weeks pass from mercy to forgiveness, and finally climax, with one night equal to one thousand months. Oh what a generous Lord! Picture the faithful rushing towards His house, like moths to a flame. They seek His favor and forgiveness, but this flame is not deceptive; it is the flame of hope and truth that burns in the soul of each believer, which is kindled in Ramadan. Thedebris of life has a way of suffocating that flame, but Ramadan ignites the spirit that rests in the souls of all believers.
We all have witnessed the generosity of believers giving of their wealth, night after night, to the various causes of the Muslim Ummah. Generosity reveals itself over and over, unrestrained by the usual practicalities of life.
 Every night for one month, meals were prepared and collected for needy families in the inner city of Chicago by a few sisters. The undertaking seemed simple enough, choose one night to donate iftaar and drop it off for pickup. The endeavor included a wide range of people, from Muslim-owned restaurants who donated meals, to the people who picked it up from the restaurants each night, to those who heated it up the following night, and to the sisters who cooked meals to distribute as well. Much of the food was stored in Aqsa School, whose kitchen staff generously volunteered to store and heat the food. The Mosque Foundation Food Pantry bulged with food items waiting to be distributed in the inner city. Countless brothers and sisters would fill their vans with tray after tray of food each afternoon, battling rush hour traffic to make it to the city before the setting of the sun.
I laughed at my favorite Indian sister, who orchestrated this fine-tuned process, as she inquisitively asked me, "Jeanean, does potato salad need to be heated up?" And little six year old Mariam who patiently stood by while her mother moved back and forth from her hatchback to the pantry refrigerator; the doctor who seemed happier to unload trucks of food than to see patients; and the young businessman who came with his employees just to unload food supplies.
One night, as I turned the key in the lock at the food pantry, I felt a smile come over my face as I remembered the verse in the Holy Quran that says, "You believers are the best community ever brought forth for the good of humankind, you enjoin what is right and you forbid what is wrong, and you believe in God." (Surah 3, Ayah 1)
This is what it means to be a community, simple believers who come together for a common good. I thank Allah for giving me the opportunity to be part of this community and for giving me the ability to see the blessings in it. May Allah bless this community and help us to be a community who always continues to give. |