Living the Pakistan quake in Germany

Today is the day a devastating earth quake struck Pakistan last year. I still remember the events that happened. We got the news at night that there was a quake in Pakistan and a portion of a building in Islamabad collapsed. It seemed nothing too special. The following morning i woke up and opened and saw the death toll raised to dozens of thousands. I was shocked and so were my friends whoever i told. The whole nation then turned to help. I tapped into the helping streams and was overwhelmed by the volumn of efforts put in by normal people. The universities turned into supply hubs; students into NGOs; pockets into fountain-heads. People here were making their largest charity spendings. Calls were going on from China till US for managing funds and buying tents and stuff.

But still, as expected, such a huge help didn't turn out to be enough. There are still problems there, even after one year. Just the other day i heard in the news that there is no water supply in the city of Balakot. Govt plans to shift people into safe cities made in the area over the next 2-3 years. But how are they going to survive these many years in the coldest and highest of regions. They need constant help and honesty. May Allah enable us to help them continuously.

I have seen God - many times

I love my Lord: Allah. He never lets me go too far in pride. It's only last week that i bragged about my cooking, and this weekend i totally ruined a dish i was supposed to cook for a party of about 20 people. I wanted to make Chicken Karahi (one of my favorites) and ended up with boiled chicken in tasteless sauce. This has happened a lot. Whenever i get too proud, God gives me a chance to come down to earth. I remember after about one year of successful teaching at my university, i was over-confident that i could get any course i wanted. And i got rejected to teach a course that semester. Though painful at that time, it is soon realized that it was a blessing in the hiding.

Similarly, when i got some knowledge about Deen, i proudly quoted a hadith about an issue on a mailing list, and got an immediate reply disclosing the correct version of the hadith and advising me to be careful with them. May be it happens to others as well. So watch out for God's clues.