A Muslim #PrayerforEveryone – Prayer Backed with Action to Achieve Global Goals

A Muslim #PrayerforEveryone – Prayer Backed with Action to Achieve Global Goals September 28, 2015

Courtesy of #PrayerforEveryone
Courtesy of #PrayerforEveryone

There is this:

“It is He who produces gardens with trellises and without, and dates and tilth with produce of all kinds, and olives and pomegranates similar and different. Eat of their fruit in their season, but render the dues that are proper on the day that the harvest is gathered. And waste not by excess: for Allah loves not the wasters. (Quran, 6:141)”

I have a friend in California who is extremely worried about the ongoing drought, what affect it will have on the environment for years to come, how global warming is wreaking havoc on the climate of her beloved home and what kind of future there will be for her young son.

I have a friend in Washington, D.C. who traveled to Greece to help out, for however long possible, with the refugee crisis there. He sent back pictures and stories to myself and others, showing just how close we all are to this collective crisis. Two, maybe three degrees of separation max.

I have several friends and loads of family in India who tell me about the abject poverty they see and live with in their daily lives. Things my children and I have witnessed ourselves on numerous trips to the Motherland — children coming up to the cars to beg, others sitting on the side of the road in tatters and sunken faces, just passing the time in hopelessness.

I have a friend who recently traveled to Turkey with her family on vacation. Before she left, having read about the Syrian refugee crisis, she told all of us that she would be collecting money to donate/hand out while there. After they got to Istanbul, they met a local who took them to a non-touristy part of town and introduced them to another local who was helping multiple refugee families from Syria.

They spent a few days among the families, talking, hugging and simply being with them. They distributed money. They sent pictures to us back at home, bringing the refugee crisis to our doorsteps. One photo she sent showed a young teenage Syrian refugee with autism.

And that did me in.

“And it is He who spread out the earth, and set thereon mountains standing firm and flowing rivers; and fruit of every kind He made in pairs, two and two; He draweth the night as a veil over the Day. Behold, verily in these things there are signs for those who consider. (Quran, 13:3)”

If it hasn’t become achingly crystal clear to all of us that we need to pull together as a global community to address some of the most imminent and pressing of the world’s problems, then by all means we can just hang out in caves until the world crumbles around us. In a halaqa (Islamic study circle) I’ve been attending for several years. we’ve spent some time studying some of the major hadiths (verified sayings and practices of the Prophet Muhammad saw). One hadith advises Muslims and all of humanity to, when they see something wrong, act to change it.

If a person is not able to do something to physically affect change, then one step below that is to condemn the wrong with our tongues. And one step below that — we are advised to, at the very least, condemn the wrong and suffering in our hearts and pray for good to come about.

People often wonder what good is prayer. Indeed, I’ve tried to live by the motto of pray to God and beseech Him for what you need, to fix what is wrong, to restore good and forbid evil. And then back that prayer up with action. If you are a believer, then start with prayer and build from there.

Courtesy of #PrayerforEveryone
Courtesy of #PrayerforEveryone

To that end, I join fellow Patheos bloggers across faith and non-faith traditions in supporting and promoting #PrayerforEveryone Global Goals for Sustainable Development, an initiative of the ONE Campaign. This campaign is building upon an extraordinary effort by world leaders, who are right now at the United Nations pledging their commitment to achieve three very important goals:

This September, world leaders [are committing] to the Global Goals for Sustainable Development to achieve three extraordinary things by 2030. End extreme poverty. Fight inequality and injustice. Combat climate change. The Global Goals for sustainable development [can] get these things done. In all countries. For all people.

But to achieve these Goals, everyone needs to know about them.

From September 24 to October 1, everyone from every faith, every walk of life, everywhere, can take part in Prayer for Everyone by sharing the Goals with their faith community and their friends.

ONE, Project Everyone, and Global Goals invite you to join us and champion the Goals through the teachings and practices of your faith.

Offer your #PrayerforEveryone and tell everyone about the world you hope to see in 2030.

Share the goals. Get involved with projects to the attainment of these goals. Pray for the success of these goals. As Muslims, as Christians, as Jews, as Buddhists, as Hindus, as whatever is your faith group. Click here for an Islam social media toolkit to help support this campaign. Send up loads of #PrayerforEveryone. God knows we all need it.

“Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves. (Quran, 13:11)”


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