10 Assurance article - part I of II

Thinking Anew:

10 Assurances in an Economic Downturn

Adopted from the khutba given on April 3^rd, 2009 at New Brunswick Islamic Center, NJ

By Faraz Khan

Today a total of 13.2 million Americans are out of work. The first quarter financial report indicates a US Jobless rate of 8.5%, the highest in 25 years. Although talk of recession and depression looms over, nobody knows the breadth and depth of the financial crisis. The news is disturbing; companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were bailed out, AIG’s executive bonuses and golden parachutes are in the headlines, Madoff’s Ponzi scheme that has been called the largest investor fraud ever committed by a single person. Furthermore, financial giants and the vaults of Wall Street such as Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan, Bank of America, Merril Lynch seem to have eroded in an unprecedented financial tsunami. Today, American vernacular is gaining words like bail outs, stimulus packages, toxic assets, lay-offs, downturn, bankruptcies, foreclosures and trillions of dollars debt.

Not surprisingly, there have been 13 recessions since 1929 – the beginning of the Great Depression. However, this recession punch has knocked out the capital from capitalism. Unfortunately, many have been robbed of their life savings but there are no suspects and no arrests have been made. Nor, have any heroes have emerged from this crisis. Retirement funds and life savings disappeared like groundwater in a drought. Job loss is an ugly reality.

In these tumultuous times, when everyone is sensing the downpour of uncertainty, anxiety, frustration, fear, and a sense of loss, how can we uplift our souls and see these epochs as possible harbingers of prosperity that lay hidden from our sight? In what state of mind does one recognize that the free-dealing days of capitalism are over? And where does prayer fit into the grand scheme of financial uncertainties?

These are the inescapable questions for which each soul yearns to find an unwavering support. It is not the recession that sends panic but a wavering heart that is not grounded in reality. It is the realization that dreams based on greed and corruption laced with usury will only bring nightmares not peace to one’s mind.