Editorial

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

In the aftermath of the greatest natural disaster to affect our country in a century, I would like to dedicate my address this month to the victims of the earthquake that hit southern Turkey and northern Syria, which left us reeling from a devastation of unparalleled scale. Just as search and rescue teams on the ground sifted through the rubble, we sifted through our conscience to find our resilience as an ummah and share what we could with our disaster-struck brothers and sisters, but more importantly, we felt their pain. Words cannot describe the agony of losing tens of thousands of Muslim brothers and sisters in a matter of moments.

When disaster struck on that fateful night of the 6th of February, we all ended up under the rubble, not just the tens of thousands who were trapped in collapsed buildings by the cataclysmic tremors. Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said, “Muslims are like the limbs of a body in loving, protecting, and showing mercy and compassion to each other. When any limb of the body is disturbed, the others also become feverish and get deprived of sleep.” This hadith grants unquestionable validity to the ties that bind us, which originate from our unshakable belief and transcend beyond the abstract aspect of our shared attestation to the truth, giving form to an idea in a concrete sense.

Those who lost their lives, loved ones, or homes experienced tremendous personal loss. As their brothers and sisters in faith, we should feel the weight of the collapsed columns and beams equally on our hearts as if we are with them praying for a ray of light to enter through the cracks, a voice to reach our ears, and a breath of fresh air to caress our faces. We are one body. If we face a challenge, we face it together. When we bleed, we bleed together. This is a moment in history that will be remembered by all not only as a time of great tragedy but also as a time of unity, solidarity, and brotherhood.

Beneath the surface of all this lies another reality in which we can take solace. For all the loss of life and destruction this catastrophe has inflicted, the trials we have faced and continue to face throughout this harrowing experience test us in the ways of brotherhood and benevolence as much as they test their victims by pushing their patience, submission, and iman to their limits. Those who emerge from these trials with their iman validated and are favored on the Day of Judgment with blessings by Allah will undoubtedly have attained the greatest reward. Therefore, even the most traumatizing disasters can be a blessing in disguise. Because Allah the Most Merciful manifests His mercy in awe-inspiring ways, there is a silver lining to every suffering, pain, and hardship we endure. For those who show patience in times of trouble and those who selflessly help those in need, we hope and pray that Allah’s generosity will shine brighter than the sun upon them and their faces will beam with a smile that will erase any trace of the pain these adversities have left on their hearts.

I wish to finalize with the prayer that the blessed Ramadan brings with it a healing rain upon our hearts to help us recover and look to the future with hope.

M. Galip Dönmez