Maryam Amir – Hope in devastation

			This brother shares that he was
stuck under the rubble for four
		

			days, but it felt like four hours
for him. He said that he was
		

			dreaming of eating and being so
full. And he says that you hear
		

			narratives of children who say
that someone was visiting them,
		

			someone who was wearing white and
feeding them. A Turkish sister
		

			shared that there was a mother who
was frantically trying to get
		

			crews to help take her children
out of the rubble. And
		

			Alhamdulillah, they finally did,
and the children came out safely.
		

			And then they couldn't find the
woman anywhere, and so they asked
		

			the 13 year old boy, Where is your
mom? And the boy looked at him and
		

			said that his mother had passed
four years ago. There are
		

			incredible stories of hope that
come out in this immense
		

			devastation, but there are also so
many questions like, why did it
		

			happen in the first place? And
what about all the people who are
		

			still stuck and who who had it
made it out? Omaru, Lila Juan, who
		

			he used to pray for martyrdom in
Medina. And people would say, how
		

			are you going to be a martyr in
Medina? Medina is like such a safe
		

			place as wars don't happen in
Medina. And yet, he was stabbed in
		

			his prayer. He died from that
wound, and Inshallah, he was
		

			considered a martyr. So many of
you pray to be martyrs, knowing
		

			that you're not going to be on a
battlefield, but you make that
		

			anyway. You ask that you be
counted as a martyr anyway. And
		

			right now, one of the one of the
ways that people are considered a
		

			martyr is when they die through a
building collapsing on them.
		

			I don't know if there were people
who used to pray that they'd be
		

			martyrs, and they couldn't have
imagined that they actually would
		

			be considered sha Allah, the
people of the highest paradise.
		

			There's a narrative in the
Crusades through Arab eyes of a
		

			school teacher who was in Syria.
He stepped out of the classroom
		

			because he really had to use the
restroom, and in that time period,
		

			there was a huge earthquake. By
the time he was able to come back
		

			to his students, all of them had
passed away. There was complete
		

			rubble. And he sat on the rubble
and he wondered, how is he going
		

			to break the news to the parents
of all of these kids, only to find
		

			later that all of the parents had
died in the same earthquake. We
		

			don't know their names today. We
literally have no clue who they
		

			are. Most of us probably didn't
know there was a huge earthquake
		

			at that time, but their names have
never been forgotten. With the one
		

			who is in the heavens, their
status is one that we can only
		

			imagine, even though, centuries
later, no one knows who they were,
		

			all of us know we have limited
time here on Earth. It's
		

			incredibly sobering. And when a
disaster of this magnitude takes
		

			place. Sometimes we question, why?
What is our role? Why do these
		

			things happen? And I know that
some of you have asked about your
		

			own faith, and if you're
struggling with your faith right
		

			now, I am sitting with you in that
process, and I'm holding space for
		

			you. But sometimes the people
there are the ones whose faith are
		

			the strongest. A man under the
rubble asked for water to make
		

			Waldo, a grandmother who was
saved, refused to come out until
		

			she had a hijab that they gave
her. What's helped me is knowing
		

			who Allah is, knowing the reality
of who he is, can help us process
		

			and allow us to see beyond
ourselves and ask how we can help.