Earthquake in Pakistan (and India, Afghanistan)

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SubhanAllah. Islamabad and surrounding areas was hit with a 7.6 earthquake. I'm watching video footage from MSNBC (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9626146/) and it's just very shocking and sad.

InshaAllah, those who have passed away (inna illahi wa inna illahi rajioon) will be granted rank of a shaheed and a peaceful resting especially during this month of Ramadhan. Please keep them and my family over there in your duas.

So far, Alhamdullilah, I've heard from some family and they're fine, though experiencing aftershocks that are registering as 5 on the scale. Here's an excerpt from one of the reporters...

...entire villages disappearing...

It's amazing. We're all well aware that Allah is the Best of Planners. And we're also well aware that He is not in need of us. I wonder if this is the reasoning behind such a tremendous devastation? To remind us of His (swt) Ultimate Power? Or is there something more here? Some deeper hikmah that we are not aware of? Allahu Alim.

I saw one article (http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1195594) that showed nearly 400 kids died. What can you possibly say to that? The death toll is in the thousands.

Looking at the 'bigger picture,' you gotta wonder what's going on? In the sense that have we forgotten ourselves (i.e., our purpose of worshipping Allah) and is this a result of that ignorance? First there was the tsunami. Then New Orleans. Then even Texas. And now this. What's interesting is that many that were impacted in these natural disasters were all poor.

Again, all this ignorant faqir can do is speculate. That and make dua to Allah, repent to Him, make dua for those that have suffered, and then listen to the advice of our shayukh, our scholars.

Living here in America and the West in general, we have it easy. We do what we can in terms of donations and duas (and I'm not downplaying that responsibility and obligation we have), but we cannot actually feel the pain our brothers and sisters are experiencing.

At least we should try to make a conscious effort to keep the following Islamic principle in mind: If one part of the ummah is hurt, then the rest should be hurt, too. (Sorry, I obviously don't know the exact hadith/wording/etc., but inshaAllah, you know what I'm getting at.)

Duas please.

Ya Allah, have mercy upon us, make all events in our lives a means of drawing closer to Thee, and forgive and overlook our sins. Allah huma salay Allah Muhammad. Ameen.