On human goodness despite religion, and prayers unanswered.

[Yorktown]

A touching story during the Iranian revolution: a Muslim girl praying for the safety of Hindus.

That girl was good despite her religion condemning Hindus as polytheists and idolaters.

A Muslim girl's prayer for her Hindu brothers

(..) It still disturbs me emotionally, even after 29 long years.

I was working as a physician in Iran at a hospital in Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan province in Iran. The Islamic revolution was at its peak (..) the province of Kurdistan was thrown into tremendous turmoil and upheaval. (..) The city of Sanandaj was besieged by the army and blown apart by continuous mortar shelling for about two days. Then the army literally terrorized the city.

Due to certain prior commitments, I had to stay back with a surgeon friend after sending our families to India. We stayed at a rented place for those few days. The upper storey of the house was occupied by a kind landlord and his family (..) We stayed holed up in the basement of that house right through all the shelling.

Next morning after the takeover, we were urgently required to attend the heavy casualties at the hospital. Even as we prepared to leave, I remember Nahideh, the daughter of our landlord, read out the holy Koran praying for the safety of us, her Hindu brothers. Her serene face, as she recited the ayat, has been etched on my memory for an entire lifetime. (..)

Forty minutes later, on the same day, I suddenly heard the screams of my landlord and his family, right outside the Emergency door. I rushed out only to find Nahideh fighting for her life. She was brutally hit by a sniper's bullet, her skull had cracked and she was bleeding profusely. All our desperate attempts to revive her proved futile.

Her death left a gaping hole in my faith. It confused me about the sanctity of prayers as I kept questioning God about his demands. How could someone who prayed for the well-being and safety of others meet such a cruel end in our presence? I am in waiting but haven't yet got a satisfactory reply from Him. (..)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/relationships/soul-curry/A-Muslim-girls-prayer-for-her-Hindu-brothers/articleshow/47443091.cms

[struggle4progress]

1. The Education of Ruby Nell

I was born in Mississippi in 1954, the oldest child of Abon and Lucille Bridges. That year the United States handed down its landmark decision ordering the integration of public schools ... We moved to New Orleans, where my father found work as a service station attendant ... In the spring of 1960 I took a test, along with other black kindergarteners in the city, to see who would go to an integrated school come September ... I would be going to William Frantz alone ... "The marshals will take good car of you, Ruby Nell," Mama assured me. "Remember, if you get afraid, say your prayers. You can pray to God anytime, anywhere. He will always hear you" ...
http://www.rubybridges.com/story.htm

... From her window, Mrs. Henry always watched me walk into school. One morning when I got to our classroom, she said she’d been surprised to see me talk to the mob. “I saw your lips moving,” she said, “but I couldn’t make out what you were saying to those people” ... I told her. “I was praying for them.” Usually I prayed in the car on the way to school, but that day I’d forgotten until I was in the crowd. Please be with me, I’d asked God, and be with those people too. Forgive them because they don’t know what they’re doing”...
http://www.orucc.org/2012/faith-at-the-crossroads-ruby-bridges-preached-by-winton-boyd