There are so many thoughts that are running through my head right now. As a social media professional, I am blessed to learn things as they happen, but that is also a curse.

It means you are the first to learn when bad things happen. At first, you hope it’s a mistake. You then pray please let it be an accident. That it was a technical malfunction.

When you slowly realize it is not a mistake or accident, you then find yourself wishing and praying for it to NOT be a Muslim. Please, don’t be a Muslim.

Here is the thing. No matter who did it, people still got hurt in Boston today. We have to let people grieve over what happened at the Boston Marathon. This is NOT the time to get on a soapbox and start quoting casualties in other countries.

What we as Muslims should be doing is going out and being helpers. We even have an example in the Sunnah of the Prophet (saws). They are called the Ansar (helpers). They helped early Muslims who migrated to Medina. How did they help? They opened their homes, they offered jobs, they did what ever was necessary to help in order to promote brotherhood.

When I go to a masjid, I often see only one or two brothers or sisters helping with clean up after an event. Why is that? We should all be running to help because it is just one more way we can attain Allah’s (swt) mercy.

Where is that sense of being a helper in our Ummah? Let us be the first to open our homes, help clear up the debris, donate blood and help promote brotherhood with ALL our American brothers and sisters.

We have been far too insular for far too long. Let us rise up and be a collective part of this community. Let us embrace our heritage as helpers.