During today’s waaz mubarak, Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin RA emphasized the importance and the manifold bounties of itaam al taam – preparing and providing food for mumineen, especially during the auspicious days of Ashara Mubaraka. Making a meal for one mumin is the same as feeding 100,000 (1 lakh) people; and the act of feeding mumineen warms their hearts. Maulana Ali AS preferred the act of giving food to one mumin over going to the bazaar and freeing a slave. Imam Ja’far al Sadiq AS stated that Allah will reward the one who feeds a mumin with the fruits of Jannat and the one who gives a mumin something to drink with a taste of raheeq-e-makhtum.
Answering the call of Awliya al Allah AS, mumineen are feeding fellow mumineen. In the remembrance of Imam Husain AS and his hunger and thirst, mumineen around the world are partaking in the organization, preparation, and distribution of Niyaaz e Husain AS and Faiz al Mawaid al Burhaniyah (FMB) so that it reaches each and every mumin’s home.
Amidst a global pandemic that has affected nearly every country on this earth, our very own homes have become the place of matam and bukaa’. During this time, even though we are not able to gather in one masjid or mawaid, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin TUS has ensured that the same faiz and its barakat reaches each and every one of us.
Over the last four months, FMB worldwide has adjusted its operations to include precautionary and safety measures to deliver uncooked grains and fruits, staples for Shehrullah sihori and iftar; and today, to ensure the daily distribution of Niyaaz-e-Hussain AS to each mumin’s home. FMB distribution during the pandemic has grown from a reach of 123,000 homes to over 135,000 homes during Ashara Mubaraka 1442.
This is the first time in the last five months since the pandemic began, that FMB is being prepared and distributed worldwide and every day. In order to operationalize this herculean task, FMB developed standard operating procedures through multiple webinars to ensure that each community’s FMB committee undertook precautionary measures that adhere to local rules and regulations around COVID-19 in order to safely prepare and deliver niyaaz. FMB teams are tirelessly working day and night to deliver niyaaz to all homes before waaz. They are wearing masks and gloves, social distancing, and practicing extra hygiene within the kitchens; in parallel, FMB has distributed niyaaz checklists to mumineen with instructions on how to receive and store food that is delivered every morning. Just today, FMB has been prepared and distributed throughout 944 cities and villages to over 135,843 homes. This is no less the brilliance of our Maula TUS and Doat Mutlaqeen RA.
It is one of the numerous shaan of Doat Mutlaqeen AS to feed and uplift mumineen. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin RA and Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin TUS are doing just this, ensuring that the physical faiz – food – and the spiritual faiz – knowledge of Ahle Bayt AS – reaches all of us, despite the physical distance between us during Ashara Mubaraka.
And, along with these bountiful morsels of food, Maula TUS has graciously granted us the unthinkable and invaluable barakat of knowledge. We are blessed with listening to the waaz mubarak of his grandfather, Syedna Taher Saifuddin RA, father, Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin RA and our own Maula TUS in our homes. With each passing day of Ashara Mubaraka, let us cherish every morsel of food and ilm that, by Maula TUS’ doa and barakat, are reaching all of us. And, with each morsel, both physical and spiritual, let us continue to remember Imam Husain AS – his thirst and his hunger – for it is because of his suffering and his doa mubarak, that our eternal thirst is quenched here and in the hereafter.
