Community
Jeremiah is one of the great prophets of our Old Testament. The Wikipedia article on Jeremiah tells me that his name in Arabic is Eremiya. The problem with being a prophet is that not everyone wants to hear what God tells you to say. Jeremiah spent time in jail for telling people what they didn’t want to hear.
God told Jeremiah, “You will go to them; but for their part, they will not listen to you”.
Today’s reading in the Lectionary has this verse from Jeremiah. My blogging friend Kaos asked me why I care about Kuwait when I am only an expat, passing through. When I saw this verse in the reading for today, as the Jews are being sent into exile in Babylonia, I knew for myself the answer:
From Jeremiah 29 7But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
Wherever we find ourselves – it’s up to us to make the best of our lives. There are reasons for every expat to care about Kuwait and what happens to Kuwait. Kuwait belongs to the Kuwaitis, and 67% of the population is “expat” or “visitor” or “laboror”(whatever lable you choose.) As long as we live and work side by side, we are a community, diverse and conglomerate, but all wanting to live in peace as best we can. Kuwait belongs to Kuwaitis, and the lives we lead as individuals make up a community that belongs to us all.
10 Comments »
Leave a reply to Purgatory72 Cancel reply
Recent Comments
intlxpatr on Waiting for Snow intlxpatr on Waiting for Snow Abou Tabblouleh on t… on Waiting for Snow Abou Tabbouleh on in… on Waiting for Snow intlxpatr on Waiting for Snow Wikipedia Donate Button
Amazina
Early Voting in Florida
Here There and Everywhere 
That’s amazing. It reminds me of the days I spent in the U.S. studying for my bachelors degree. Even though it was only for a few years, and in the end I knew I was going back to Kuwait, I had that same feeling: The need to seek the welfare of the community I was in. Maybe the vague sense of belonging sparks the need to better a community.
You can’t imagine how much I value that comment, N. Sometimes I toss these things out, not really with much hope that anyone will relate. Your response has given my day a beautiful start.
I can totally relate to what your saying. When I lived in Minneapolis I really felt it was my home even though I only stayed there for three years. I really cared about issues that the Minnesotans had to deal with such as immigration, crime, education etc. even if your not FROM there these issues still have to do with you.
“Wherever we find ourselves – it’s up to us to make the best of our lives” <— my life motto! I went to Minneapolis not knowing a SOUL it was the weirdest experience esp since I came from such a small community in Kuwait. It was hard but I always saw the light at the end of the tunnel, it really made me a different person.
Bravo Intlxpatr. What a response. Amazing. “in its welfare you will find your welfare”. I love that. I really look down on people who live in a country and take from its goods and then actually wish it harm. Unfortunately, I believe we have had such people in Kuwait.
You know I know when I got into college in the States the college got tuition but I still appreciate the US for the incredible education I was afforded there and the amazing treatment I got as a student and even as a Muslim girl. I can’t wish the US any harm because I still see one of its cities as my second home.
First I read it as Jumairah is a prophet, then I thought of Jeremiah Johnson, then I thought of someone with the last name Jeremy.
Chirp, every time you say Minnesota, I feel amazed. Like it is one of the very coldest states in the US – how did you choose MInnesota???
1001 – It’s like a great spiderweb, isn’t it? Fragile strands connecting people in ways we can’t imagine?
Purg – They have some great optitians in Kuwait 😉
i dont think the name Eremiya is accurate however i think he fits the category for one prophet mentioned in the quran
thu-alkifl
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhul-Kifl
i beleive Moses and Jeremiah are both law givers right?
That was a fascinating article, Error. I learned so much. No, Dhul Kifi is not Jeremiah, he is believed to be Ezekiel. But I loved learning that “thu-al” is also pronounced “dhul” and means double – exactly what it means in English, dual. I didn’t know that “dual” was of Arabic origin.
At the bottom of the article you cite, it gives a list of all the prophets we share in common – I’ve never seen that before. Jeremiah isn’t listed! Evidently, he is not part of your tradition. The Wikipedia article I cited in the entry above mentions several parallels with Moses, but not law-giving. Jeremiah differed from Moses in that his role was to preach repentance; he was horrified by the sinfullness he saw all around him, and he warned the Israelis that they must return to worship the one true God or terrible things would happen.
At another part, the Wikipedia article mentiones a verse in the Qur’an that might refer to Jeremiah or Ezra, but Ezra (Uzair) is a very different prophet altogether.
I found one more cite on Wikipedia, Prophets of Islam,where it says Jeremiah (Armya) is mentioned by Ibn Kathir in his Book of the Prophets.
guess what i found a link for ibn kathir book of prophets
here is the link
http://www.islambasics.com/view.php?bkID=85&chapter=23
i’m not a scholar but my take on this, is that the sources doesnt seem convincing
usually every narrator in sequence is mentioned. So you know who said what to whom by whom. You cant just say Bob said. It usually goes something like this, Michael narrated from his father Gabriel from his father John that he heard Ibn Abbas say so and so.
but yeah that was interesting
You’re right. I read through the reference on Jeremiah, and it has the legends, but the authorities are weak. At the beginning, it says ” blah blah blah but it is not true!” At any rate, at least Jeremiah gets a reference in one of your books, and the stories related are similar to ours. I had no idea we had so many sources in common.