While most UCLA students are still snoring away at 5 in the
morning, a select group of Muslim women plan to wake up and pray
for peace at that hour.
In a show of piety and empathy, around 10 to 15 Muslim students
will be getting up before sunrise Thursday and Friday morning to
say a special prayer, the dua’, to offer hope to those
suffering in Iraq and around the world.
“We just pray for what’s best for people,”
said Mariam Jukaku, a second-year computer science student and
managing editor of the al-Talib magazine.
“It’s pretty much just so we can show our compassion
and recognize that some people don’t have as much as we
do,” affirmed Jewelle Francisco, a fourth-year business
economics student and vice president of the Muslim Student
Association.
Although the making of dua’ happens to fall in same week
as Hajj, a Muslim holiday, and coincides with Islamic Awareness
Week, it was the looming shadow of a war with Iraq that led to the
idea.
“That’s what sparked this,” explained Sana
Ahmedani, a second-year student at the Anderson School of Business.
“We know that innocent people are going to die, no matter
what.”
To this end, the MSA Women’s Committee decided to create a
phone tree which volunteers would use to call one another before
dawn and remind each other to wake up and say a prayer.
“The early morning is supposed to be the holiest time, or
the best time to make prayers,” said Francisco.
Muslims are supposed to pray five times a day, beginning at
sunrise, or the time of day known as the Fajr. However, it is
during the time before sunrise, the Tahajjud, that Muslims believe
Allah pays the most attention to their requests.
“It shows sincerity. It shows that you put your trust in
God, that you believe that everything occurs under his will,”
said Ahmedani.
Muslim prayer consists of an orchestrated series of movements,
with alterations of sitting up and prostrating while whispering
praises to Allah. Besides occurring outside of the traditional five
prayer periods, the dua’ differs in that after performing the
usual movements, the supplicant says an extra prayer at the end,
either in English or in Arabic.
“Every person does it individually, so there isn’t a
set supplication we make,” said Ahmedani. She also clarified
that Muslims often perform dua’ on their own, asking for
anything from emotional well-being to personal wealth, and that
dua’ is performed by both men and women.
The scope of the prayer, according to Ahmedani, is not just
limited to the people of Iraq.
“Maybe the media are paying attention to Iraq right now,
but people are dying everywhere for no good reason,” she
said.
Mohammad Mertaban, a fourth-year psychobiology and French
student and president of the MSA, said the making of dua’ was
also important to connect “everything back to a spiritual
base.”
“We try to connect everything to our spiritual
development. Because of the fact we have brothers and sisters dying
across the world, we feel it’s our duty to pray for them or
at least educate people about what’s going on,” he
said
It is hard to escape the possibility of war, however, and many
acknowledge that war with Iraq seems to be approaching
certainty.
There also seems to be a general agreement that the suffering of
Iraqis is not solely due to Saddam Hussein’s regime or
American military action.
“Obviously, Saddam Hussein is not the best for them. But I
think more than that the U.S.-imposed sanctions on Iraq have caused
so much suffering, and they need both to be lifted for (the people)
to live normal lives,” said Jukaku. “Every day is a
struggle for them.”
At the very least, praying for the people of Iraq draws
attention to the innocent lives that will be lost in the event of a
war, Ahmedani added.