Velvet Rocks

Happy Birthday, ya Rasoolullah!

My mom was reminding me this afternoon that the Prophet's birthday is tonight, and which masjids in our area are having "events" in commemoration of it. And this set off something in my brain and heart (both usually empty vessels), so I feel compelled to share my thoughts and feelings. I have no problem with commemorating the Prophet's birthday, of course. We should all give blessings upon our beloved Nabi Kareem sallalahu alayhi wa sallam. Not just now, but as often as possible. The thing that gets to me is this: a)How do we show our love for the Prophet SAW? and b) Do we love ourselves more than we love the Prophet SAW?

OK, say I go to a masjid tonight for an event. What will I see? I will see a wonderfully catered celebration, with the best foods and maybe an hour or so of prayers and devotions to the Prophet SAW. Awesome, of course. But how many of us, when we look around the world, especially the Arab world, do anything for the Prophet's people? I mean, is there not a more meaningful way to commemorate the Prophet SAW? While we celebrate the birth of the Prophet SAW, the Prophet's people, the Arabs who are descended from him and his Companions, are living in refugee camps, and surviving on less than a dollar a day. I don't know, maybe I am terribly misjudging the whole thing, but I believe that to love the Prophet, we must love his people, and there is no more vital moment to show love than when somebody is down. Love is more than words, its about actions. The Prophet SAW would, I am sure, find it disturbing that we love him enough to feed our own full stomachs while his descendants hardly have anything to eat. I guess this is my own negativity providing the answer to question a...By no means am I suggesting feeling guilt for the blessings Allah has showered us with by allowing us to live a life of relatively carefree abandon. But in giving thanks to Allah, mayhap we could spare just a thought for those who give thanks while having much less.

All around me, I see Muslims who are so busy in having the most grand wedding, the most lavish graduation ceremony, the newest Mercedes, the biggest mansion, the latest fashions, and on and on and on. I wonder sometimes, how much thought do they give to the less fortunate among us? You know, we don't even have to travel very far to find the less fortunate. Sometimes I hear the excuses for not giving a helping hand, and it boggles my mind. Things like, "Whatever we give is never enough, they always expect more," "Allah knows why they are made to suffer like this," and "They are lazy--they are strong, healthy, why can't they work and help themselves?" I wonder, maybe if we respected our own people, then we would enable the world to respect us? Maybe if we saw to one another's rights, the rest of the world would find us worthy of respect. So I guess my own answer to question b is yes...coz if we did love our Prophet more, we would match our actions to our words. Talk is cheap, including mine.

On this day, when we remember the mercy to the world that is the Prophet's legacy, will we also remember those in his Ummah who are suffering? We can send a prayer for suffering peoples of the world. Am I being completely unreasonable? I feel like I am the only one out here to feel this way. But I do feel better now that I have gotten that off my chest. (Even if nobody is reading this --actually it may just be better if nobody is reading this pity party that has become my blog, eh?).

posted by BeeCrazy @ 4/10/2006 10:18:00 PM