Friday Evening Reflections

Yesterday morning, I turned on the TV and saw a scene similar to this:



The Israelis had hit the UN main relief agency facility in Gaza. It appears that the Israelis had a Steve Urkel moment. Remember him? He's the guy that was always having little clutzy accidental moments. Afterwards, he would look around and say, "Did I do that?" And everyone would laugh. But what the Israelis did isn't funny. And probably wasn't an "accident".

Neither is this.

CNN also said that they finally managed to get a crew into Gaza yesterday. They entered Gaza through Egypt. Why couldn't they have entered through Egypt before yesterday? Were the Egyptians helping the Israelis in keeping journalists out of Gaza just like they helped them by closing their border to the Palestinian people? Since when do the Israelis control the Egyptian border?

Today, CNN claims they were able to see what three weeks of air strikes and ground assaults has done to the innocent civilians in Gaza.

Well, CNN. Now you are in. Where is your extensive coverage?

What CNN (and other American networks) has been covering non-stop is the US Airways Flight 1549 accident over the Hudson River in New York City.


The plan had left La Guardia and was destined for Charlotte, North Carolina.

However, they are speculating that some birds, possibly Canadian geese, were sucked into the plane's engines causing the pilot to have to "ditch" the plane into the Hudson River.

Imagine: you wake up in the morning planning to take a flight somewhere, possibly home, maybe to a business appointment, or to play some golf as one passenger said, and then suddenly you find yourself an actor in a strange play. Instead of enjoying a nice flight and arriving at your destination, you find your plane crashing to the ground and end up having to be rescued from the freezing water. You then go to the hospital and maybe find yourself giving interviews to the media. If you're like one of the passengers, you may even find yourself being a guest on the Larry King show that evening. Talk about a change in plans.

Allah (swt) is the Best of Planners, Alhamdulillah. We never know what He has planned for us on any given day.

Reminds me of a video of a khutbah given by Imam Siraj Wahaj that I saw one time. He was talking about one of the victims of the DC Snipers.

The victim was killed as he was coming out of a convenience store. Imagine, Imam Siraj said, one minute you're walking out of the store and scratching off your lottery ticket and the next thing you know you are in the grave being questioned by the Angels.

Alhamdulillah!

One never knows!

Having a powerful airplane being brought down by birds also reminded me of the power of the Almighty Allah (swt). And I remembered what He told us about birds in the Qur'an:

"Do they not see the birds held (flying) in the midst of the sky? None holds them but Allah (none gave them the ability to fly but Allah). Verily, in this are clear Ayat (proofs and signs) for a people who believe (in the Oneness of Allah)." An-Nahl, 79

and

"Do they not see the birds above them, spreading out their wings and folding them in? None upholds them except the Most Gracious (Allah). Verily, He is All-Seer of everything." Al-Mulk, 19

I wonder if there were any Muslims on that plane?!

Alhamdulillah! We should never take life for granted.

Insha Allah you all have a nice weekend.