The Muslim community in Chino has also practiced restraint by doing its part as California citizens — turning off the water from its fountain, one of the mosque’s trademarks, and reducing the volume of its sprinkle.
 |
| Anwer Mahmood Khan Photo: David Bauman / The Press Enterprise |
Source/Credit: The Press Enterprise
By Bo Kovitz | June 20, 2015
As many as 700 men and women of different faiths convened in Chino on Saturday evening as concerned California citizens, pouring their hearts out in prayer and asking God to quench Southern California's three-year-long thirst for rain.
In the evening heat, more than 100 Muslim men kneeled on traditional prayer rugs sprawled over the asphalt behind the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Baitul Hameed Mosque in Chino, as Imam Mohammed Zafarullah sounded prayers of rain to God. Muslim men and women prayed in two different spaces, but simultaneously performed the prayer as they touched their noses and hands to the ground before rising and cusping their hands toward the skies.
Afterward, the Muslim community joined representatives from Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism in the mosque’s conference hall to explore different spiritual traditions of praying for rain. Once leaders from local churches and temples led prayers and celebrated the event’s solidarity of faith, the fast was broken and the spiritual communities mingled over dinner.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim community decided to assume postures of surrender and pray three days after the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which itself means scorching heat or dryness.
Dr. Ahsan Mahmood Khan, president of the community’s Los Angeles East chapter, said the prayer was scheduled in the first 10 days of fasting as a celebration of God’s mercy while they seek his help.
The Muslim community in Chino has also practiced restraint by doing its part as California citizens — turning off the water from its fountain, one of the mosque’s trademarks, and reducing the volume of its sprinklers.
Yet beyond practicing water conservation, Khan said the community hopes to solve California’s dehydration by turning to the unseen.
“We need to be more considerate toward the environment,” said Sadiqa Rashid Malik, president of the ladies’ auxiliary at the Los Angeles East chapter. “We can help by reducing water intake by going green, but all the answers come from God.”
Whether water falls from the skies after the prayer ultimately boils down to God, Malik noted, describing how the will of God is a central tenet of Muslim faith. Malik said no prayer is wasted, even if Southern California remains parched.
Regardless of God’s will, what made Saturday evening’s prayer so powerful, in Khan’s belief, was that multiple faiths were praying, in their own ways, to one God, under one roof.
Armando Hernandez, of St. Margaret Mary Church in Chino, said that such an interfaith event will undoubtedly create more than the promise of rain for the community.
“I looked around this room and saw banners with mottoes that read love for all, hatred for none, and it reduced all of our faiths to that one common denominator: that we are children of the same God,” Hernandez said. “Hopefully, this will help the community act like we’re brothers and sisters.”
Contact the writer: 951 368-9421 or bkovitz@pe.com
Read original post here: Chino, California: Faiths converge to pray for end to California drought
This content-post is archived for backup and to keep archived records of any news Islam Ahmadiyya. The views expressed by the author and source of this news archive do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of Ahmadiyya Times. Ahmadiyya Times is not an organ of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, nor in any way associated with any of the community's official websites.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comments. Any comments irrelevant to the post's subject matter, containing abuses, and/or vulgar language will not be approved.