In the third of a series of blogs published throughout Ramadan, our West-London Nisa-Nashim co-chair, Lorraine Hamid, speaks about the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower.
Lorraine will be posting each week during Ramadan to share further thoughts and insights into this important month. Ramadan Mubarak to all of our Muslim sisters.
A towering inferno stands a mile and a half away from me as I write this, how is it that this Ramadan has been beset by yet another tragedy?
Last week I wrote my Ramadan blog following the heinous attacks in London Bridge. I was full of emotion – anxiety, fear, anger, defiance. My knack for dramatic timing has struck again as I am rewriting this blog yet again due to another very difficult night for London. As with the London Bridge attack we were barely in bed at 1am when the sounds of sirens and helicopters filled the air around us. This went on all night and we now know 200 fire fighters were involved and were still putting out flames at 8am this morning. As it stands we have no idea about the number of fatalities, but the numbers could be very high. There are unbelievably awful stories pouring in now from those who managed to get out and from those who watched from outside. People threw children out of the windows from several stories up, mothers inadvertently lost children on the dark stairwells as they rushed down through the thick smoke. The horror of death and destruction is back on the streets of London for the second time in as many weeks of Ramadan.
As Muslims are up late and barely sleeping a lot of Ramadan, so many of us watched these events on rolling news as they unfolded. That includes the dramatic election last week, which seems so long ago and so irrelevant now. Even though Ramadan is about trying retreat from the world a bit and raise your consciousness to another realm, it has been exceptionally hard to do this in 2017. I don’t know what that says about me, you cannot help but put on the news channels when the sirens and copters are circling to see what is happening. You cannot help but look on social media for news of people you might know, an idea of why this has happened and who is responsible. It’s very hard to stop watching the election results rolling in after the twists and turns of the election campaign led to results that confound all the ‘experts’. On the other hand, I think these events also pull you deeply into examining yourself in as much as the awareness of faith, ritual and test of character is a big part of Ramadan.
We’re already into the second ten days of the month which are focused on forgiveness. The first ten were about mercy and now we are on forgiveness. This is more poignant now than ever before. Because of these tragic events, the sudden and random loss of life on the streets around you, you cannot help but feel more gratitude to be alive. In turn then I feel the need to seek more forgiveness for not doing the utmost with the gift of life that, alhamdulillah, thank God, I still have. It’s true that so far, this month, I could have prayed more, read more and been more focused on how to be a better human being. Undoubtedly there is massive room for improvement on all those fronts. But I believe that whilst, God willing, I am alive, every day is another chance for me to make a change, to act so that I might live as a better version of myself.
Ramadan is also exactly the right time to reinforce this belief and action. I am alive and as long as I am, have certainty in my belief that God is Oft Forgiving and Most Merciful. These attributes of God are repeatedly referred to in the Quran: “seek forgiveness, indeed God is forgiving and merciful” (73:20), “Your Lord says, call upon me, I will respond to you” (40:60).
During Ramadan especially, I must believe that I have every chance of being forgiven for my mistakes and being helped to make a change should I choose to just ask for that. As with anything, if you want change, if you want to transform your life, you must take action, starting with sincere intentions and setting out the steps to get there. Ramadan is for forgiveness and God is waiting for me to ask for that and for anything else I want, so what am I waiting for? I need to ask for it and I will be listened to. It’s not every day you have a conversation and know that the other person is listening and willing to help. So to me, this concept is a very humbling, liberating and powerful. It is why a lot of people are propelled forwards in Ramadan. Like all human beings, Muslims suffer from guilt, overwhelm, self-doubt and hopelessness. The holy month’s offering to step up to a clean slate is irresistible, so a lot of people use Ramadan to rebuild their faith and their life. From permanently giving up alcohol (which isn’t allowed for Muslims at any time) to giving up smoking (which is banned during the fast and disliked in normal time), leaving a job that was pulling them down in some way, or simply starting to pray their daily prayers, Ramadan is often a turning point.
Going back to the towering inferno in west London last night, a lot of Muslim residents were awake at 1am having their early breakfast before the fast begins, reading and praying, when the fire started in the block. Some media reports are crediting this as a factor in the evacuation. They could smell the smoke fumes and investigated what was going on as the fire alarms were NOT going off. They were awake and alert enough to go and quickly wake their families and alert their neighbours to escape. There is no way of knowing what would have happened were it not Ramadan of course. But this night of Ramadan is certainly not one that those residents will ever forget.
I am seeing a lot of amazing work on the ground already by the churches and local mosque which is already geared up for feeding iftar every night to hundreds of people. The now homeless people of Grenfell Tower have been offered refuge in the mosque alongside the churches and will those families will eat with their Muslim neighbours today and possibly for many days to come. This is a moment for us to redouble our efforts in Ramadan’s other major pillar: charitable works. Many people very close to home need our help. As it stands the local council is asking for people to email a central contact with offers of help as the centres are overwhelmed with donations and people offering help. Please contact Amanda.gill@rbkc.gov.uk to set out whatever you can offer and she is talking to the centres on the ground to see what they need and will get back to you. Stay safe London, and salam, shalom and peace be upon all of you.