Todays lesson on the Eathquakes in Turkiye and Syria

Allah SWT is the most wise, He is knowledgeable of all things and presents reminders how He deems necessary.

And in the Glorious Quran, there are references to this in various places as mentioned by the imam today. One of them is from Sura Al-Isra, ayat 59 which is translated to say:

Nothing prevents Us from sending miraculous signs, except the fact that previous peoples denied them. We gave the people of Thamud the she-camel as a clear sign, yet they maltreated it. We send signs only to give warning.

Alongside this, the imam reminded us of the hadith in which the Prophet SAWS spoke of the events that we have all witnessed via the news this week. It is translated to say:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “The Hour (Last Day) will not be established until (religious) knowledge will be taken away (by the death of religious learned men), earthquakes will be very frequent, time will pass quickly, afflictions will appear, murders will increase and money will overflow amongst you.”

Dear brothers and sisters, we cannot deny that some, if not all of these signs are here now and we should take heed as we seem to be headed towards the final days. Allah SWT knows best.

But whilst people discuss and debate the end of times and how close we are, the truth of the matter is that for the people of Turkey and Syria, this week was their hour and we should all be mindful that whether it is through events predicted in the end of times or whether it is through the written end of our temporary lives in this dunya, we will all taste death.

The events of this week in Tukey and Syria have left people feeling a sense of shock and sadness and such is the miracle of the Ummah of the Prophet SAWS that whenever one part of his Ummah suffers, the whole Ummah feels it. We ought to take this hurt and use it as a reminder for those of us who are fortunate enough to have not been directly affected by it.

And whilst the people of Turkey and Syria struggle to rescue those still alive, we can all do our part, either through dua or direct contribution of our time, effort and money to ensure that we represent what it means to be a single nation following the leadership of our beloved Prophet SAWS.

However, this reminder is not for those who returned to Allah SWT this week. For them we pray that they are counted as the martyrs as their test is over and the Prophet SAWS reminded us in the following translated hadith:

“The martyrs are five: the one who dies of a stomach illness, the one who dies of the plague,  the one who drowns, the one who is crushed, and the one who dies [fighting] in the path of Allah.”

Instead, todays reminder is for the rest of us. How do we process what we have witnessed and what should we take from the events of this week?

And so, this reminder concludes with 5 practical tips we can take away.

1. Your life can change in a split second, without you even anticipating or realising it. There are no guarantees whatsoever. Hence, live life as if your return to Allah SWT is imminent and as if your account for the Day of Judgement is about to be finalised.

2. You could be living comfortably with no financial hardship and all of a sudden, you may be a recipient of Zakat funds. Dear brothers and sisters, we never know what is written for us in the future and so we should forever be grateful for all the blessings that we have in the life that we live. This week’s reminder teaches us that nothing is guaranteed and everything is with the permission of Allah SWT.

3. Life is so short. Unfortunately, we don’t value or cherish the previous gift of life as much as we should. From the news of this week to recent passing of friends and family, we are all only too aware of this fact and so we need to be mindful of the biggest blessing of all which is time and so, we make the most of the time we are given before that runs out too.

4. The first initial earthquake took place in the early hours of the morning in Turkey. Yet some of us go to sleep at night holding grudges with our loved ones. Every single night we embrace a temporary death and none of us know if we will wake from that in the morning. From grudges to mistakes for which we have not sought forgiveness, it is easy to assume that it can wait until the following day but nothing is for certain and so, if amends can be made in the now, there is no better time to do it.

5. Many of the deceased may have planned for and were eagerly anticipating the month of Ramadan. Little did they know that they would not witness another Ramadan. Dear brothers and sisters, we are only a month away from the blessed month and so, like the pious gone before us, we need to start building up to this month. And insh’Allah when this month comes to us again, lets make the most of this month by remembering this point because none of us know if we will experience the blessing of Ramadan again. Dear brothers and sisters, this week has left us feeling humbled by the might and power of Allah SWT. Reminders like this should serve to bring us out of our spiritual comas and return to Allah SWT in devotion and sincerity. Let us implement the lesson today into our lives so that we are not of those who are desensitised to these events but instead are of those who see events of this week as catalysts to bring our level of worship to the next level.