Have You Seen Good Come Out of Evil?

By Mufti Yasir Nadeem Al Wajidi

Many people on social media appeared to have been affected by pessimism. Because of stringent lockdown imposed because of natural or artificial curse of corona, they were seen complaining that they were deprived of the spiritually rich atmosphere of Ramadan and the joy of Eid. They moaned that they had to offer Eid prayer in closed rooms at their homes. Surely many would have faced difficulties but during this Ramadan anyone could notice the good come out of evil. Anyone can see these three goods in particular:

1. Indeed, due to legal restrictions big congregational prayers could not be held on Eid. But this made every individual learn how to offer Eid prayers and overwhelming majority of Muslims offered prayers at home with their families.
   
   They lead prayers with full sense of responsibility. This was in sharp contrast to the general perception in the past that to do this you needed to have some supernatural powers. As a result, a message went out to the world that Islam rejects Brahmanism or priesthood and that anyone can go on the musllah [the place where the Imam stands] and lead the prayers. Women, who generally do not get to attend Eid prayers, also got the opportunity to offer congregational Eid prayers.
   
   
2. The manner in which Muslims have done public service during the lockdown and during Ramadan has left a good impact on other communities. Forget about the Ganga Jamni Tehzeeb and this and that, the Muslims fed the poor not for any other reason but because serving humanity and looking after the needy is an important part of the teachings of Holy Prophetﷺ.

   Beautiful. #MuslimSaviours A farewall address to all the migrant brothers who were leaving from the Aurangabad Railway Station, they were staying at Moin-ul-Uloom High School, one of the oldest schools in Aurangabad, Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/uVuZliHEkR

   — Muslims of India (@Muslims_India) May 22, 2020

   
   This community has proved that for the pleasure of Almighty Allah it can spend more than it earns. The last Ramadan in particular, in which Qur’an was recited in each and every household, provided the community with a golden opportunity to express and demonstrate its spirit and zeal.
   
   In small and big cities youths came together, collected lakhs of rupees and distributed food to the needy. Displaying their Islamic identity, with caps on their heads [and wearing the dress that helps Narendra Modi recognise them], they came on the streets to feed the poor labourers of our country and saved them from starvation. On one hand this proves that no one can match the kindness of Muslims, on the other it has also equipped our youths with organisational and managerial skills. If they can run and manage kitchens, they can also run and manage big and small institutions. People spend huge money on management courses but at a time when all the educational institutions are closed, Allah SWT provided our children with the opportunity to learn practical management.
   
   
3. And the third important aspect of it is that a new awakening was witnessed among Muslims. There might have been some vile and mean hearted elements who intimidated and terrorised individual Muslim vegetable vendors and asked them to leave particular areas because of their religion. Through such inhuman actions they have displayed their meanness and cowardice and substantiated their evilness by video filming these incidents. But the impact of it was that it ignited a renewed sense of community among Muslims who started supporting Muslim traders, shopkeepers and businesses.
   
   Surely this was not an organised reaction but a natural way to display communityhood. And thus Allah SWT blessed small Muslim retailers with more income and the vatable vendors did not die of starvation either.

Therefore, come out of your pessimism. This Ramadan was full of blessings and glad tidings and so was this Eid. The blessings they brought for us have not finished. This is just the beginning. It is these testing times in which communities get trained. In order to clean the wheat and make it usable it is shaken and sieved through machines at agitated speed. Natural mechanism and nature’s fast machines are at work at very fast speeds and, God willing, the weevil—beasts in human skin — will soon disappear from among us. Therefore, accept Eid greetings from me and pray to Almighty Allah for the safety and protection of everyone.

Mufti Yasir Nadeem Al Wajidi is a Chicago based Imam.

Translated by Urdu Media Monitor.Com from Mufti Yasir’s Facebook page.