USA: Interfaith leaders to pray for rain at Chino's Baitul Hameed Mosque

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“As citizens in California, we’re doing our part in awareness and conservation. What makes people of faith different is that we also turn to God when there is a need. This is an example of that.”

Imam Mohammed Zafarullah Hanjra

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: The Press Enterprise
By Alejandra Molina | June 19, 2015

About 700 people are expected to gather Saturday evening to pray for rain, in light of a three-year drought that faith leaders say is deserving of spiritual attention.

The interfaith service, hosted by the Baitul Hameed Mosque in Chino, begins at 6:30 p.m. and will include Daniel Stevenson, stake president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Rev. Michael Miller from St. Margaret Mary Catholic church, both in Chino.

Prayer for rain is common, but the aim Saturday is to bring together people of different faiths and pray for a common need, said Ahsan M. Khan, president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Los Angeles East Chapter, which includes Chino, Chino Hills, and Pomona.

In this drought, the role of a responsible resident is different than the role of a person of faith, Khan said.

“The need for rain is something that we all have,” Khan said. “As citizens in California, we’re doing our part in awareness and conservation. What makes people of faith different is that we also turn to God when there is a need. This is an example of that.”

Khan led his first rain prayer in Los Angeles in early May with about 300 Muslim worshipers.

He noted that less than two weeks later, it rained in the Los Angeles area, an occurrence that some dubbed “Miracle May.”

A record rainfall of .16 inches fell in downtown Los Angeles May 14, breaking an old record of .03 in 1902, according to the National Weather Service.

“We felt our prayers were heard, but we didn’t go around saying, ‘Look what we’ve done.’ That’s for people to decide if it was fulfilled or not,“ Khan said.

Khan said they wanted to hold the prayer during the spiritual month of Ramadan, which began Thursday, and encompasses prayer, dawn-to-dusk fasting, and nightly feasts.

“The concept of mercy is a fundamental part of Ramadan and it’s also the whole reason why we’re turning to God in this prayer for rain,” he said.

Miller, of St. Margaret Mary’s, said he was humbled when he was personally invited to participate Saturday.

Need tends to bring people together, Miller said, and the need for rain can be a way to coalesce with other faith leaders.

To Miller, the thought of prayer as an anti-drought strategy, is more complex than looking at the issue through a cause and effect lens.

“It’s complex thing,” Miller said. “I believe there’s a God. I believe he’s personal and I’m personal. When people ask for things, it affects me. If I can respond to them and that person is good, then I do respond, and why wouldn’t God do that?”

Imam Mohammed Zafarullah Hanjra of Baitul Hameed Mosque will say the prayer. Afterward, representatives of Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Hinduism will discuss how they pray for rain. An Iftar dinner, the nightly breaking of Ramadan fasts, will follow.

Hanjra said the interfaith prayer is crucial.

“These days it is very important that we should create harmony and love to understand each other,” he said. We want to create that kind of atmosphere with our communities.”


INTERFAITH "PRAYER FOR RAIN"

When: 6:30 p.m. Saturday, June 20
Where: Baitul Hameed Mosque, 11941 Ramona Ave., Chino
Information: 909-627-2252


Contact the writer: amolina@pe.com or 951-368-9462



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