So yesterday I turn on the news about the people in Haiti. Devastating. Tens of thousands of people killed in the earthquake. Most of them are poor simple people, just trying to survive. As Native Deen, we encourage all our fans to donate to them through IR or any organization that will help them out and also our brothers and sisters elsewhere around the world. Its heart-breaking to hear about anyone going through such difficulties.

Also I read about some high-profile religious personalities that were embolden to try to explain why God would do something like this. See, religious leaders feel the pressure when something like this happens – how to explain to their peeps why our Creator would do something like this. If God is good, why does he allow earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, tsunamis, typhoons, cyclones, mudslides, and other natural disasters? It is very interesting that natural disasters are often termed “acts of God” while no mention is given to God for years, decades, or even centuries of great weather.

Its true most faiths including Islam believe that God used natural disasters to punish people. But when He did that, He usually wiped out everyone, right? He didn’t leave a child without a mother, or a wife without a husband, at least to my understanding. Not the case with most of these recent disasters.

Some time ago my daughter had a major fever. The pain was intense and of course as a young parent, we got worried we weren’t sure what to do. We took her to the hospital and the doctor said it could be many reasons. Gave us some medicine and told her to keep a watchful eye on her. So we all kept our focus on her which brought us closer together as a family as she slowly got better.

Pain is always looked on as a negative thing. However even in our own bodies pain is used to alert ourselves of some harm and for the body to heal and purify itself from infections and harm. As a Muslim, I believe Allah (SWA) uses pain sometimes to make us better and to bring focus to an location or area that normally is ignored. If it wasn’t for my daughters fever symptoms, we would have not given her the attention she needed to heal. Pain is not about suffering, its about healing and rebuilding.

If one believes that there is another eternal life after death, the pain in this life is a means to purify yourself for the next life. God is just, and if I suffer pain in this world, the more I ready myself for high marks in the next life. Mostly likely someone in Haiti with pure belief in one God who is suffering loss is at a higher place with God than me who is sitting comfortable behind my computer drinking herbal tea.

“We will surely test you through some fear, hunger, and loss of money, lives, and crops. Give good news to the steadfast. When an affliction befalls them, they say, ‘We belong to God, and to Him we are returning.’ These have deserved blessings from their Lord and mercy. These are the guided ones.” Quran 2:155-157

So if God is trying to get our attention to the condition of the people in Haiti, let us respond. Let us donate generously and pray for the people that God ease their suffering.  Amen.

Native Deen Performs to a sold-out show in home town Washington DC metro area (College Park, MD) for the Islamic Relief Evening of Inspiration Event. Check out footage of backstage practice and of the show.

Native Deen got the opportunity to be on the Alyona Show that airs world wide on the Russian-English television station RT. Check out our interview about the Best Buy ad that was released during Eid al-Adha.

Asalaamu Alaykum bros and sisters. Hope yall are doing ok. Its AM on the blogs again. I know yall miss Josh and Naeem writing blogs but inshaAllah they’ll be back. So we just came back from Oklahoma. It was a nice event – crowd really into it. You can watch the tour video of the event. We always like performing with Islamic Relief – its a great organization and people are usually professional. (And Naeem works for them too… so if I don’t say good things he’ll beat me up. One of those Native Deen spins we do, his hand will end up in my face – “BAAM!” I’m kidding of course). But Alhamdullilah, things are starting to move forward. We still are struggling to find time to work on the album, so make dua for us. I think all artists find it difficult to balance all the different aspects of being an artist – touring, performing, recording, writing, etc.

After the show, the brothers and sisters in Oklahoma invited us out to a nice dinner at IHOP. One brother owns it, so if you are ever in Oklahoma, check out the Muslim owned IHOP. I have to say though I was tired – Naeem and Josh seemed alert but I was trying HARD to stay awake. But what woke me up a bit was during the dinner Naeem read a tweet that we were one of the top Hip Hop albums on CD Baby, which is largest online distributor of independent music. That was pretty cool. We are currently #2. Please check it out and order from them or directly from our site – we are hoping to get to #1 so they can feature us. More dawah because all kinds of people visit that site. You can check it out here:

http://www.cdbaby.com/Top/hiphop

Support us and buy the album – If you have already, buy another one and send it as a gift to someone. Help us spread this message inshaAllah!