CHICAGO — According to a tradition attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, “God is with the brokenhearted.” That idea may provide some respite for many of us on the eve of Ramadan, those entering this Muslim holy month with shattered hearts.

Even as someone who has done his best to avoid social media, I turned on NPR the other day long enough to hear the wailing of Rania Abu Anza, who had spent a decade and three rounds of in vitro fertilization to become pregnant. Last weekend, her 5-month-old twins and a dozen other relatives were crushed to death under the rubble in Gaza after an Israeli airstrike.

Rania and her family were seeking refuge in Rafah because it had been declared a safe zone by the Israelis, who have driven most of the 1.7 million displaced Palestinians like her into the very space they are now bombing indiscriminately.

Every day, our emails, WhatsApp groups and social media feeds are flooded with dozens of such accounts. Motaz Abdullah, a Palestinian American father and my friend in Chicago, and I have talked about the guilt, helplessness and rage that have driven many of us to some very steep emotional edges since Oct. 7.

“I’ve sobbed more in the last five months than I have my entire life,” he said.

My conversation with Motaz is not unique, as I have spoken to dozens of other Palestinian American friends and family expressing similar sentiments. At this point, I often........

© USA TODAY