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I came back from a four-day trip to Turkey to see first hand what is going on

there and to help inshallah to deliver some of the aid that we raised here in

this very mosque. I was there for a short trip four days only but the sites

that I saw the people that I met were so overwhelming. On the plane right

back I began to jot down some points of benefit for myself and I thought that

inshallah this actually might be a benefit to give a khutbah about. So today's

brief khutbah and reminder first and foremost to myself and then to my

brothers and sisters seven lessons that I personally felt after witnessing

the tragedy that took place in that land. Point number one as I travel through

some of the epicenters I went to Maraj which is one of the epicenters of where

the earthquake took place and to Orofa and others seeing hundreds of

buildings still collapsed. Driving through the cities and seeing tents upon

tents of people wherever they could find the place public parks converted into

tents. I realized the fragility of what we consider to be taken for granted. How

quickly our civil society, how quickly our infrastructure, how quickly what we

take for granted can simply be taken away from us. The entire city was destroyed

hundreds if not thousands of buildings in rubles and as you look into the

buildings you can see the clothes you can see the children's toys you can see

the mattresses and the furniture still there and there was a scent coming from

those buildings and the people next to me said this is the bodies that have not

yet been recovered I recognize the scent from other sites. How quickly

...