Amid drought, Bay Area Muslims to pray for rain
Shah Ahmed, center, and others pray for rain at the Salam Islamic Center in Sacramento on Jan. 10. (Randall Benton/Sacramento Bee, via AP)
Who says you can’t make it rain? A group of Bay Area Muslims is taking steps to cook up a little moisture, holding a prayer service this weekend to implore a higher power to scare up some clouds.
Dozens of well-wishers, perhaps even hundreds, are expected to gather at the fairgrounds in Pleasanton on Saturday and recite the traditional Islamic rain prayer. The public — and people of all faiths — are invited to attend the event.
“We have a specific prayer where we’re asking God to help us out,” said Irfan Rydhan with the South Bay Islamic Association, noting that the prophet Muhammad offered a drought invocation more than 1,000 years ago. “Rain is considered a blessed thing because it provides life all over the world. We’re asking for the blessing.”
Rydhan’s group is not the first to request a little help from above. As California faces its third year of unusually dry weather, Muslims, Christians and others have been tapping their faiths.
A study group at a Baptist Church in Merced beseeched God for about a half hour last week to shake off the drought. Muslims in Folsom held a prayer service earlier this month as the community’s reservoir dipped to a record low. And rain dances among Native American groups have taken place from San Diego to Monterey.
Asked if Saturday’s prayer service will really help, Rydhan noted that a storm hit California this week after prayers were said in the Sacramento area: “It should hopefully add more rain.”
--Irfan Rydhanmobile: (408) 509-7965__._,_.___
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Saturday 8 February 2014
SF Chronicle: Amid drought, Bay Area Muslims to pray for rain
On Sat, Feb 1, 2014 at 3:17 AM, Irfan Rydhan <irfan.rydhan@gmail.com> wrote:
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