Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
There is a great lesson that should remain etched in our memory and affect our outlook on things; and I see our brothers in the earthquake-stricken areas teaching us the greatest lessons in faith and patience. My heart burns with love for them in Allah, and I feel a sense of pride in Islam.
Come, you who used to look at atheist scholars with admiration and respect because they are well-dressed, wealthy, and have titles like "Doctor" and "Professor," while you look down on your Muslim brothers with disdain because they are poor and their clothes are worn out!
Has your heart not burned with feelings of love, reverence, and admiration for the simple scholar who is barely able to stand as he asks for water for ablution? For the elderly woman who asks for her hijab before she is pulled out from under the rubble? For the little girl who groans in pain and says, "Today is complete, I have prayed"?
Have you not looked at them with love, respect, pride, and honor? As for me, by Allah, I love them and I am proud of them, and I ask Allah to gather me with them in this world as conquerors, and in Paradise as brothers on facing couches.
Do you still look down on those who are dazzled by the charlatans of the Arabs and the charlatans of the West, such as the physicist "Stephen Hawking" and the biologist "Richard Dawkins"? Those who spent their lives trying to convince people that there is no god, and that we exist in vain, thus devaluing the human soul.
While your Muslim brothers are digging through the rubble with their nails, and then they rejoice and glorify Allah when they pull out any human being in whom the soul flows; because they know that "Whoever gives life to it, it is as if he has given life to all people."
Do you still feel inferior because your nation is not at the forefront of discoveries and inventions? Do you still feel an inferiority complex towards the Western masters who trade in science and discoveries but do not respect the value of man, the values of nature, and religion, but make man a slave to matter, a servant to it?
And does the rise of these people in space and their descent deep into the earth without faith equal a moment of the steadfastness of your brothers and their certainty? By Allah, a moment of their attachment to Allah is better than the lifetimes of those who disbelieved in Allah altogether.
As for me, by Allah, I am proud of my brothers; the elderly scholar, the dusty man, and the poor child. They are mine and I am theirs, and they are the crowns of the heads, our teachers in faith, patience, and certainty. I am prouder to be their brother than any titles or degrees.
The nation of Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the best of nations, no matter how weak it may be, and it is filled with examples that inspire pride and honor, a testament to his (peace be upon him) saying: "My nation is like rain; you do not know which part of it is better, the beginning or the end."
Our Prophet (peace be upon him) raised his hands and said, "O Allah, my nation, my nation," and he wept. So Jibril informed him from the Lord of Might: "We will please you with your nation and not displease you with it."
O Allah, bring forth from among our afflicted people those who will disfigure the faces of the disbelievers and the oppressors, and honor Islam and the Muslims with them.
Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.