Children of war, hungry, orphaned. Image source: Pixabay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>This is Day 12 of the 2017 #30Days30Writers Ramadan series \u2013 June 7, 2017<\/em><\/p>\nBy Khusro Khwaja Tariq<\/strong><\/p>\nFour years of my childhood,\u00a0between 1983 and 1987,\u00a0were spent in Sudan. As part of an expatriate family,\u00a0I lived a rather sheltered and idyllic life revolving around family, school and my beloved pet goat, Billy. Yes, pet\u00a0goat \u2014 you heard that right.<\/p>\n
In between all of this, however, came the great Ethiopian-Sudanese famine of 1983. The famine was the main focus of an eight-hour television transmission during those days, as the Sudanese government sought funds for more than a million people seeking refuge from drought and starvation.<\/p>\n
The subject was discussed frequently in our house and the images of malnourished children trying to swat flies away from their faces rotating on television remain with me to this day.<\/p>\n
I find it no coincidence that\u00a0to this day I cannot bring myself to waste food. Even if I\u2019m sick to my stomach and ready to gag, I will still wipe my plate clean. Furthermore, it causes me ridiculous amounts of consternation when others do not do the same.<\/p>\n
Now, I\u2019m not advocating that everyone\u00a0inflict such torture upon themselves to avoid wasting food\u00a0but I\u2019m coming to my point here which is this: As most of us have been taught, Ramadan serves both in bringing us\u00a0nearer\u00a0to Allah as well as reminding us of the suffering and hunger of others and the need for\u00a0acts of kindness. This Ramadan, there is much to contemplate and many\u00a0who need our charity and prayers.<\/p>\n
We must remember in our prayers our Yazidi and Christian brethren\u00a0who are suffering the most atrocious form of persecution in the Middle East. We cannot forget the people of Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria and other nations being assaulted by the\u00a0monster\u00a0of\u00a0war. There is one thing though that most deeply cries out for our attention: There\u00a0are multiple famines\u00a0currently affecting\u00a0Yemen, Somalia\u00a0and Southern Sudan. These famines are only partially due to drought and mostly due to war and the displacement of people due to war.<\/p>\n
These are man-made tragedies.<\/p>\n
Let us then direct our\u00a0charity and prayers\u00a0towards the\u00a020 million people in Yemen, Somalia and South Sudan who\u00a0are\u00a0at imminent risk of starvation. For whom this Ramadan brings not the spiritual comforts of fasting but\u00a0hellish hunger and the helpless\u00a0horror of watching the most vulnerable among them slowly die.<\/p>\n
We seek closeness to Allah, and in our supplications we ask him to aid us and our loved ones in the trials and tribulations of life. But, we would be amiss and the soul of our worship would be\u00a0hollow if we did not each\u00a0do whatever is in our power for the millions of brothers and sisters who cannot find peace this Ramadan. For whom hunger is not a choice but a calamity forced by the actions of others and for no fault of their own.<\/p>\n
I have always believed that Islam is a religion of action: Of striving constantly and earnestly not only to further our own lot but to ease the suffering of others. Let us try and become the instruments of healing\u00a0for He, who is the supreme healer.<\/p>\n
As Allah tells us in Surah Al Maun:<\/p>\n
\u201cHast thou observed him who belieth religion?
\nThat is he who repelleth the orphan,
\nAnd urgeth not the feeding of the needy.
\nAh, woe unto worshippers
\nWho are heedless of their faith
\nWho would be seen at worship
\nYet refuse small kindnesses!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Khusro Khwaja Tariq blogs at Holding the Tension of the Opposites<\/a> for Patheos Muslim.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Let us then direct our charity and prayers towards the 20 million people in Yemen, Somalia and South Sudan who are at imminent risk of starvation. For whom this Ramadan brings not the spiritual comforts of fasting but hellish hunger and the helpless horror of watching the most vulnerable among them slowly die.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":590,"featured_media":7517,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2035],"tags":[855,767,2073,273,310,303,1504,2072,825,1347],"class_list":["post-7516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-30-days-30-writers-2017","tag-30days30writers","tag-charity","tag-famine","tag-fasting","tag-hunger","tag-prayer","tag-ramadan","tag-starvation","tag-sudan","tag-yemen"],"yoast_head":"\n
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