A Picture of Human Suffering

• I see six bodies in the makeshift morgue, a crude metal box teeming with flies, situated beneath an awning at Babylon General Hospital.

• There are scores of slightly injured patients hobbling through the grounds. Beds are laid in the entrance, every space being exploited. But it is upstairs on those wards that the suffering scream.

• Among the 168 patients I counted, not one was being treated for bullet wounds. All of them, men, women, children, bore the wounds of bomb shrapnel. It peppered their bodies. Blackened the skin. Smashed heads. Tore limbs.

• Two sisters, Khoda, five, and Mariam Nasser, aged 10, share the same bed. Khoda is crying when I approach. Her mother is trying to re-dress the wounds to her forehead and the back of her skull. Mariam sits there saying nothing, a dressing over her left shoulder, cuts all over her back and one eye bloodied. They had been playing in the garden of their home, 15 miles from Al Hillah, when the bombs went off.

• Goran Ali, three, has a huge blood-blister beneath one eye. His little body is a mess of tubes. His mother Zubeida just looks at me shaking her head at the madness of it all.

• Kifel Hassan, 13, tries to tell me what happened when the explosions struck but the effort made in pointing to his mother, his brother and sister, all lying injured alongside him, proves too much. He lowers his bandaged arm. He has lost his hand.

• Sejad Ali is five and lies alone. His three brothers were killed. His parents are burying them as I look upon this lad with wounds all over his body.

• Khalid Hallil, 21, was inside his house three miles from the centre. His left thigh is torn from knee to crotch. His father Hamid speaks English: "Metal just came from everywhere. Believe me, there were no soldiers in the area. Only civilians. There was no reason for attacking us in our homes. No justification for this murderous act.

• "Tell your countrymen what is happening. Let them see with their eyes instead of listening to Tony Blair's lying words. Look, this is reality - not the make-believe world of Bush and Blair."

• Ali Abed bends to kiss his injured son Hussein. Ali tells me his wife died in the attack. He is all that's left for his four-year-old boy.

• Azor Abdul Waled, 20, holds her seven-month-old daughter Zena, her head swathed in bandages. Two other daughters have died. Her own right leg is gashed. She comes from the village of Al-Ameinera, six miles south. And she tells me a different story. Azor says that US soldiers had tried to land in the village outskirts by helicopter but that local militia and tribesmen had sent up a hail of fire which had seen off the three twin-prop transporters. Then, some 10 minutes later, fighters screamed out of the sky, delivering their fatal payloads.

• "All the injuries you see were caused by cluster bombs," Dr Hydar Abbas tells me. "Most of the people came from the southern and western periphery. The majority of the victims were children who died because they were outside.

• "We have an ambulance driver, Abdul Zahra, whose leg has had to be amputated after he came under attack while he was driving to the area.

• "What kind of war is it that you and America are fighting? Do you really think that you will be supported by the Iraqi people if you win? Do you think we will all forget this and say it was for our own good?

• "This war is building a hatred which will grow and grow against you. I have no anger for the British people. But one day, I fear they will suffer for this just as we do now."

• I find another ambulance driver, Hassan Ali, 37, and ask him what happened two days ago. He said he was racing to the scene of the first attack when cluster bombs erupted around him, cutting his tyres to shreds.

• "I turned around and slowly drove back to shelter," he says. "Even in that short space, I saw so many injured. Some dead. Animals - dogs, cattle, sheep - lying all over." He adds that there are reports that a bus containing 35 people had been hit by a tank or artillery shell. But I cannot obtain confirmation.

Kathy Kelly a relief worker says:

• We were utterly appalled when we heard that the Bush Administration is saying the war is a success because there have only been hundreds of casualties in spite of ... thousands of cruise missiles and bombs.

• "But we now know of some of these so-called success stories and it can make you wonder what kind of perversity can be possessing the oval office and the defense planners. Some of our team members today, with Dr. April Hurley, encountered a family that was just rushing into a hospital after a bomb hit the picnic lunch they were having in front of their home. At least one child was killed, two others are in uncertain condition.

• "And at both of the hospitals we visited today, doctors are working around the clock really trying their best to heal people and - if they have minimal injuries - send them on their way so that they can make beds available for the many, many more casualties they expect to come. Particularly as there are reports of more massive bombings and a possible siege of Baghdad.

• "Meanwhile of course, we are very, very concerned for people of Basra on their third day without electricity and water [ed. note: we are hearing water service has been partially restored in Basra]. They cant survive without water.

Stewart Vriesinga reported:

• "Most of the Iraqis we meet seem to remain calm in the face of bombing. They ask us, 'Why?' They ask us after each bomb, 'How many people do you think died in that one?' The question is rhetorical. We know that. We do not respond because there is really nothing to say.

• Respected Brothers and Elders, the question is, what do we say or do?

As Muslims we need to look at the situation from various perspectives:

• Feel the pain of our fellow Muslim brothers and sisters. When we look at the innocent five year old child with his leg blown off, picture your own child, grandchild or young brother or sister in that position.

  Allâh Subhanahu wa ta’âla says:
  “Verily the Believers the brothers unto one another”
  
  Nabi Sallallâhu alayhi wa sallam said:
  “The Believers are like one body, when the eye feels pain, the whole body is affected, when the head feels pain the whole body is affected.”

Change our lives to conform to requirements of our Dîn.

• Allâh Subhanahu wa Ta’âla says:
  Trust in Allâh. Never give up hope in the mercy and justice of Allâh. Know that whatever Allâh does, is done in His wisdom and through His love, kindness and mercy.

• Allâh Subhanahu wa Ta’âla says:
  “Wa may yatawakkal alAllâhi fa howa hasbuhu” “Innallathina qâloo rabbunallâhu thummastaqâmu tatanazzalu… two ayât” 
  Making du'â. Everything is in the hands of Allâh, so ask of Him.

• Allâh Subhanahu wa Ta’âla says: 
  “When my servants ask concerning me, say that I am most close to them. I answer their call the very moment they ask of me.
  
  Assist physically. Be counted among those that opposed the war in whichever way possible. Speak about what is happening and speak out against the oppression and injustice. Create awareness in the community.
  
  Nabi Sallallâhu alayhi wa sallam said: “Man ra’â minkum munkaran falyughayyirhu biyadihi, wa man lam…”

• Assist financially
  Allâh Subhanahu wa Ta’âla says: “Wa yu’thiruna alâ anfusihim wa law kâna bihim khasâsah”