In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Dear God, as our country remembers the heartbreaking events of September 11th, 2001, we humbly turn to You in prayer. At a time where our nation is facing unprecedented challenges, we need Your Spirit, Mercy, and Strength, now more than ever, to guide us down the right path.

Dear Lord, we pray that you have taken under Your Merciful wings those who innocently perished on that tragic day. We are grateful they were once a part of our lives. We thank You for the love and joy they gave their parents, spouses, children, friends, and co-workers. We thank You for the testimony of their faith in their churches, mosques, synagogues, and temples. We thank you for the comfort and courage they extended to others in their last moments.

Dear God, with Your compassion, please answer our prayer.

Dear Almighty, shower Your comfort upon the families of the victims. We pray for all who searched the streets and hospital rooms and rubble with fading hopes of finding a dear one alive. Replace the pain in their hearts with the knowledge that their loved ones are in an abode of peace. We pray their tears of grief are replaced with a tranquility of the soul that only You can bestow. Dear God, with Your compassion, please answer our prayer.

O’ our Sustainer, bless the children of the victims. Bless them with bountiful lives, with direction and remembrance, with discipline and virtue. Bless them with all that is good, and protect them from all that is evil. May the loss of one or both parents be replaced by Your Merciful and Blessed guidance. For You are the best of all guides. May the country do what it must to ensure their future. Dear God, with Your compassion, please answer our prayer.

Dear God, we pray for the rescue workers and volunteers from across the nation, who worked faithfully and tirelessly to find survivors and cleared the debris. Sustain them all, dear God and please answer our prayer.

O’ Lord strengthen our nation and protect us from evil. Guide our leaders, elevate our society, and enrich the fabric of the country. Dear God, with Your compassion, please answer our prayer.

O’ Most Merciful, we have seen the very worst that we are capable of— vengeance, greed, and murder. But we have seen the very best that we are capable of - courage, compassion, service, faith, heroism, community, love. Strengthen us and make us better people who will choose the latter and better way.

Dear God, it is in You that we place our ultimate trust; it is to You that we pray; it is to you that we ask for guidance.

Dear Almighty, please bless the victims; Dear Sustainer, please bless the families; Dear God, please bless America.

Amen.

(Composed by Khadija Abdullah and Omar Ricci, Los Angeles, California—August 2002)