"In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate".
When I read this diary from Taz, I was devastatingly heartbroken. To quell those instant feelings I can get when overwhelmed so, that feeling of helplessness, I immediately followed his suggestion and sent a note of support to the Islamic Society of Greater Dayton.
Once I had taken this small action to move myself out of utter shock, I sat quietly meditating on what more I could do to stand in solidarity with our fellow Americans, who happen to be Muslim, and to support them. The very powerful phrase, "Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim" came to my mind, through my heart. While the phrase has the grand meaning shown at the top of this post, the words "Rahman" and "Rahim" are from the the 99 beautiful names of Allah. If you've never had a chance to explore this exquisite aspect of the Muslim religion, I highly recommend it, as your life will be wonderfully enriched. These two names are often given as spiritual names to those who are healers. Thus, I was moved to consider what would be healing in this scenario. Here are my thoughts:
First, I realized, that I am ashamed to admit that I have been aware that, ever since the terrorist attacks in 2001, our Muslim friends have been subjected to much hatred, fear and prejudice. Yet, I have done nothing, really. So, I now feel it incumbent upon me to reach out and offer my support.
Tomorrow I will call my local mosque and/or Islamic center and ask them what I can do. I will also ask if I may come and pray with them. There is a certain kind of bonding and appreciation of one another that comes from praying together and I know this, so I must go do this.
I will also suggest that I can help with reaching out to other non-Muslims for community support and consciousness building.
I have already written the publisher of our local newspaper to suggest that she do a story on the attack in Dayton, how our local Muslim community is responding to that and a piece on what our Muslim community has been experiencing for the last 7 years. We need to start talking about this.
If my local paper won't commit the resources, I will offer to do the story myself.
If every Kossack were to do this, to get their local paper to cover this story, we might be able to shame the larger media outlets into getting into the action. Perhaps we could see a larger movement for public service ads or other programs to get a serious public dialog going about how to live with each other in mutual respect and dignity and to let go of our fears and hate, insh'allah.
Please join me in this effort. Offer up creative ideas about how to stand up to these terrorists and how to help our fellow citizens feel sheltered by their communities.
As-Salāmu `Aleykum