Hurricane Isaac Causes Ahmadi-Muslims to Pray for Mercy

You can laugh at me, but when I was a child, I used to worry about Noah's flood every time the rain kept on raining for a whole day. I stayed by the window like a sentinel, watching the puddles to see if they were turning into a flood, because the sermon on Noah haunted me. I believed in God's power and His ability to punish.

On Monday, I received an e-mail from the head of the women's auxiliary, Mahmooda Rehman, of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, warning me to keep a hurricane preparation list handy in case Isaac caused the same damage as Hurricane Katrina, since its upgrade to category 2.

What caught me off guard was the powerful prayer she included for us regarding the unsettling weather, "Make it a source of mercy, and do not make it a source of punishment." (Amen)

The beauty of this prayer holds so much power because it is so elegant in its simplicity. Wouldn't we all prefer mercy?

"Mercy is always preferable to getting what we deserve," Ghayyur Khan, ex-president of the Georgia Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, told me.

This prayer comes to us from the Holy Prophet, Muhammad (peace be upon him). He would pray this whenever there was a weather disturbance because he knew that many previous people were punished by God.

According to Christianity and Islam, Noah's people died in the flood because they rejected his message to reform their ways.

Like Christians, Muslims also believe the pharaoh followed Moses, who parted the waters, but God caused the pharaoh to drown because he believed in Moses too late.

According to the Quran, God caused clay to rain down on the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah to destroy the inhabitants because they would not believe in the prophet Lot's message. But the Quran tells us that there have been more than 124,000 prophets. Windstorms, earthquakes and floods are all sent to punish the people who refuse to listen to God's request that they obey Him and his messenger.

Another useful prayer Mrs. Rehman sent is for when you hear a thunder crack, because it is very frightening. My youngest son is 7 and he hates storms. I give him the homeopathic medicine Aconite, which for fear, because the thunder claps make him shake and shiver. I cannot reason with him because the fear overpowers him. Consequently, I should say this prayer: "O Allah, do not kill us with YOUR anger and make us not perish with YOUR punishment and save us before it."

When we hear the power of the storm, we are reminded that we are small and vulnerable, while the storm is big powerful.

One of my neighbors told me after the last flood that it had taken him 30 years to collect all his belongings and one flood had washed them all away. Wouldn't it be easier to pray that we do not have to experience that same misfortune?