Assalamu aleykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatu, my dear Muslim Sisters.
Today, I would like to talk to you about the current events and about the war taking place in the Middle East. The media is full of news about bombings, drones and destruction.The conflict has not only political repercussions on the development of the region, but it also impacts the daily lives of regular people, especially those of Muslim women, who suffer the most from all the violence, both physically and emotionally.
Firstly, many Muslim Sisters feel a deep and powerful anxiety and compassion for the people that live in these conflict areas from the Middle East. Even when we, Muslim women, are living in other countries, the news about all the pain and destruction going on in the Middle East, about the fear and uncertainty our Muslim Brothers and Sisters there are experiencing, give us a feeling of utter helplessness. Many of the other Muslim Sisters I talk to tell me how difficult it is for them to continuously read and hear such news. At the same time, it is impossible for us to detach from the plight of our Muslim Brothers and Sisters in the Middle East.
Secondly, for many of our Muslim Sisters, the current events going on in the region are not just something political, but something that has to do with our Faith and even with our identity. Muslim women feel a deep connection with people from the Middle East because of our common faith in Allah, our common traditions and culture, or even our family roots. For these reasons, the conflict in the Middle East is not something going on somewhere far away, but much rather it is something we feel very closely, and it causes a pain similar to that of hearing that someone you love and care for deeply is suffering. Many of our Muslim Sisters have started praying more often for the Mercy of Allah, to participate in charitable events or actions, even to disseminate news about what is really going on in the Middle East on social media, all of this in order to show their support and empathy towards those wounded and suffering from the unwarranted attacks on the region.
Moreover, many Muslim Sisters experience also a sort of exhaustion over the conflict. The constant flux of news, the polemics, the false accusations that are disseminated on the Internet can pose a powerful pressure on the psyche of a true Muslim believer. Some Muslim Sisters say that they had to explain themselves and their Faith in Allah to some of they friends, and that they faced a lack of understanding from some of them or they heard a bunch of Western stereotypes about Muslims, which caused an additional emotional load on them.
At the same time, many Sisters also talk about solidarity. In times like these, the feeling of solidarity inside the Muslim communities increases and intensifies: people help one another, they collect humanitarian aid, they share words of comfort and support to each other. Even simple actions, like sending short messages, giving donations or praying to Allah Almighty can convey the idea that we, Muslims elsewhere, are not indifferent to what is going on right now in the Middle East.
To sum up, the emotions that Muslim women are facing during such times are usually quite mixed and complex: anxiety, compassion, exhaustion, desire to offer comfort and support to our Muslim Brothers and Sisters in need. For most of us, the most important thing during these times is to keep our humanity and hope that, someday, hopefully in the near future, there will be finally peace in the region.
I, myself, because I have experienced war firsthand and all that war encompasses, am greatly afflicted by what our Muslim Brothers and Sisters have to face right now. It does not matter where you are or where in the world the conflict occurs, as a Muslim you are saddened and you suffer when you see others in pain. War is simply awful; no words can accurately describe it. It brings a lot of loss and destruction. May Allah Almighty guard us all against evil and protect the lives of all the innocent.
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