New York: 9/11 – Ten Years On

Today my television is showing wall to wall coverage of the live proceedings on the tenth anniversary of the atrocious attack on innocent US citizens. The families, friends and sympathisers of the thousands of victims of the day are reliving the pain of their loss. Each day in the past ten years has been a day of pain and suffering for these unfortunate families.

The whole world is awaiting an end to this global battle where alliances of governments are hunting down and taking out disaffected groups who are hell-bent in creating disorder until they are given 'power' over people.

The grief and bitterness of families of war victims is not any less in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, etc. The main question in everyone’s hearts is, ‘when will this end?’ We all know that there is no ending to this by tomorrow or the day after. What can we do until that end comes over the horizon?

The eternal spiritual teaching for our predicament is given in the Holy Quran, it says:

Be steadfast and strive to excel in steadfastness and be on your guard. [3:201, Holy Quran]

The Holy Quran also says:

And good and evil are not alike. Repel evil with that which is best. And lo, he between whom and thyself was enmity will become as though he were a warm friend. But none is granted it save those who are steadfast; and none is granted it save those who possess a large share of good. [41:35-36, Holy Quran]

President Obama spoke today along the same lines:

"It will be said of us that we kept that faith; that we took a painful blow, and we emerged stronger than before. “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” (Holy Bible, Psalm 30:5)"

We all want a world where we can all live together in peace, happiness and a mutual 'joy that cometh in the morning'. We must continue to strive hard to bring about peace and civil order. Before we even start, a dedication should be made in our hearts to remain steadfast in this ever-shifting reality.

9/11 and every coming day should be a day of steadfastness and hard work towards creating a good and moral global society out of the ashes of Ground Zero and all the other Ground Zeros around the world. We pray for all those affected by 9/11 and we hope all families that lost loved ones on that fatal day can rebuild their lives successfully.

At the memorial service for 9/11 victims, the poignant words were delivered:

"An event which was set about to destroy us has actually united us even more"




The Ahmadiyya Post, New York. By Zubair Ahmed. Sept 11th 2011