Living with Malaria - United Against Malaria

Living with Malaria - United Against Malaria

United For Change

Speaker: Imam Mohamed Magid

Opening

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ

Khutbat al-Hajah (Opening Sermon)

In the name of Allah, and praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. I seek refuge in Allah from the evil of the hearts and from the misdeeds of deeds. Whom Allah guides, he is the guided one, and whom He misguides, you will not find for him a guiding guardian.

Ramadan: The Month of Action

Alhamdulillah, this is the beautiful gathering in the month of Ramadan, in the month of action. The Messenger of Allah has done more actions in the month of Ramadan than in any other month. And he was more generous in the month of Ramadan than in any other month.

It is the month of Ramadan that Muslims have seen the blessing of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the life of the Messenger of Allah, from the opening of Mecca and the winning of Badr.

Today, alhamdulillah, the Muslims have gathered here today for a beautiful cause. As the brother Imam Jawahari has said, I work with the people of other faiths in different programs, whether homelessness or domestic violence, and I see people come around, come on the ground, or come for a good cause.

Now is the first time I have seen, actually in America, that we have interfaith unity. This gathering for a great cause, and may Allah bless Imam Zaid and the others who have really been behind this initiative, this whole project. And inshallah, this is the beginning of many years to come of uniting together to make a difference.

The Call to Ease People's Hardship

As you know that the Messenger of Allah has called us to ease people's difficulty and hardship. And there is a promise that if we do so, Allah will ease our own difficulty and hardship. And the Messenger of Allah said in a hadith:

"Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has chosen people to serve others."

Until the Day of Judgment comes, they'll be talking to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. They'll be sitting under light seats, talking to Allah while people are waiting for their judgment. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us among those.

The Story of the Companion's Supplication

Imam Malik, rahimahullah, he asked Muhammad ibn Munkadir, rahimahullah. Then the Messenger of Allah said to the man—the Messenger of Allah was moved by the suffering of his companions, and he said, "Oh my brother, don't you ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to get you out of this difficulty?"

The man says, "I do ask Allah."

The Messenger of Allah asked him, "What do you say in your prayer, supplication?"

He said, "Oh Allah, if you were to punish me in life to come, oh Allah, bring all the punishment in this life."

The Messenger of Allah cried, more tears were shed from his eyes. He said, "Oh my brother, you will not be able to handle this. You should have said:

'Oh Allah, give us the best of this world, and the best of the world to come, and protect us from hellfire.'"

Making This World a Better Place

My brothers and sisters, your gathering today is to try to make this world a better world, so that by doing so, you and I will make our life to come a better world. Because whoever eases the difficulty of a Muslim in this life, Allah will ease the difficulty in life to come. And a Muslim is a compassionate person.

He does not see people suffering and stay still. And that's why we as the Ummah of the Messenger of Allah, we have to present the mercy to the mankind.

The Crisis of Malaria in Sudan

Do you know that in Sudan, about 8 million people are affected by malaria? About 4,000 people every month, not a year, die from malaria—4,000 people.

Estimated about 44 or so, or 48,000 people die of malaria. 30% of people hospitalized in Sudan because of malaria. 25 to 40% of people visit outpatient clinic in Sudan because of malaria.

And Muslims, when he or she enjoys the comfort of life, they want to share it with others. Alhamdulillah, my children growing up in America, when we're visiting Sudan, we have to take malaria pills to protect ourselves from catching malaria. But what will happen to people who don't have access to medical treatment or mosquito net—simple things?

The Hadith: Love for Your Brother What You Love for Yourself

And the Messenger of Allah says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 13; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 45)

"No one becomes a true believer until he or she loves for their fellow Muslims what they love for themselves."

None of us want to have malaria. Therefore, we should not want it for other people.

And not to want it for other people requires action to prevent it. And therefore, the test of faith for a Muslim is not to claim just that he is a Muslim, believe in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but the actions toward humanity. In many hadith of Rasulallah is a manifestation of faith.

The Hadith: The One Who Sleeps with a Full Stomach

When Rasulullah, for example, says:

(Al-Adab al-Mufrad by Imam al-Bukhari, Hadith 112)

"He is not a true Muslim, the one who sleeps with full stomach, knowing that his neighbor is suffering from hunger."

It's Rasulullah that he reached out to people who are in need more than anyone else. In matter of fact, one time there was an emergency in Medina and they heard a crying somewhere in Medina and Rasulullah, he

went and checked it out.

And Abu Bakr was about to go, they saw Rasulullah—Rasulullah was coming back. "I checked it out, everything is alright." For a Muslim is a compassionate person, the person that cares about other people's welfare.

The Reality of Poverty and Disease

The minister of health in Sudan, in a recent interview, he said that the disease that caused about 40 something people to die in Sudan, it required money, required coordinated effort to eradicate poverty. Because places where they suffer most diseases, the spread of malaria, is the place where the community is poor and have no access to healthcare.

He said that the village in Sudan that have the age from 5 to 15, 5 to 15 and children, that their children are dying of malaria, they are losing the second generation. And most of the death in Sudan of people of malaria are children and women. We have to think every child is my child and every lady is my mother or my sister or like my wife.

The Hadith: The Believers Are Like One Body

To conclude, because I want you to hear Imam Zaid. Rasulullah gave an example and he used fever to draw the concept near to our mind. He says he says, Mustafa saying:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6011; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2586)

"The examples of believers, like one body."

And that's why I like, what is it? One body, one goal. One goal. He said, the examples of the believers like one body and every part of it, if any part of it aches, in pain, sick, the rest of it responds with what? With pain as well. But he said fever and Sheikh Hamza Yusuf has more background in medical than anyone that I know here so far.

And fever—Sheikh Hamza, that meant to respond to something foreign come to the body, is a sign that the body is rejecting something, fighting something. I want to see the temperature in this room increased when Imam Zaid talks. I want you to have fever today.

Fever in the not wishing you to get sick—but the fever of doing something, having an action to promise that all of us will put our hand together and to take this project and we'll be the gift of American Muslims to our

fellow Muslim in Africa. To say that the ocean does not create any kind of distance between us because our body is connected.

الْأَرْوَاحُ جُنُودٌ مُجَنَّدَةٌ

"Our souls and spirits are united."

The Call to Action in Ramadan

And today especially we're fasting. May Allah make us go to this place of fasting by exercising the generosity of giving so that we'll have double reward today or actually more than one. But we're fasting and we're giving and we put our heads together, ideas together to see what will be the next project after we address this project today.

May Allah bless you, bless your gathering, bless those who have come and spread the word. Those who have not been here, let the present person convey the message to the person who's been absent today and invite them to join us in this effort.

Closing

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

End of Speech