Sometimes we are so caught up in the minutiae of life that we lose sight
of the important things. Sometimes we
make the little things the most important things in our life. I think that's just human nature: not seeing
the woods for the trees.
I was rushing through my housekeeping and duties today: breakfast,
shopping, planning lunch, dinner and packed lunch for the next day, giving the
kids their bath in the morning, because the prayers in the evening mean I have
a little less time for their bedtime routine for a few weeks at this time of
year. I was worrying about how I would
get the hovering done, mop the downstairs and clean the bath and still have
time to catch up on my Arabic as I missed a lesson due to guests. In fact all I wanted to do was create some
tasbeehs and bracelets and work on the childrens journal I am trying to create.
Mid-morning I got a call from Pakistan.
My mum’s first cousin had passed away.
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi
raji'un
Surely we belong to Allah and to
Him shall we return
My mum and dad had been quite close to him and my in-laws were good
friends with him also. I remember him as
a jovial man full of laughter, fun and life.
A history professor, his wife was a teacher and he leaves behind six
daughters.
That was the end of hoovering and mopping. It suddenly didn’t matter at all anymore.
We all piled into the car, dropped the kids off at my mum’s and then
went to see his sister who is flying out to Pakistan today, utterly bereft. He was a good man. He prayed, he took care of his elderly,
widowed father, he made the effort to maintain kinship ties and he raised six daughters
and educated them as far as he could.
Anas may Allah be pleased with him)
reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "He who raises two
daughters until their puberty will be with me in Paradise like this", and
he symbolized the proximity by showing two of his fingers with a slight gap
between them." (Muslim)
The beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) encouraged his companions to
remember death often. Perhaps if we
remembered death more often, the small things in life would lose their hold
over us and we would be more mindful of the time we have in this life.
The thought of us being washed and wrapped in two sheets of white
cloth. Lowered into the ground and clods
of dirt being thrown onto us until we are covered. Then being alone under the ground with
nothing but our deeds to accompany us and earn us peace or torment.
When we think like this what comes to mind? How we treat others, whether we fulfil their
rights, what deeds we are sending ahead of us and what acts of ongoing benefit
(sadaqah jariyah) like building a well or a school we have undertaken. It certainly makes me think of what my legacy
will be: my children, the way I have treated my family, the things I need to do
to serve this ummah insh’Allah.
There is a hadith that always stays with me:
Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased
with him) narrated that Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said, “The lifespan
of my Ummah is from sixty to seventy (years).” (Tirmidhi – 4:2331)
I’m thirty-three. That makes me
middle-aged. Many people my age think
they are too young to marry or settle down.
Maybe they think that they are guaranteed a hundred years of life, when
in reality no-one is guaranteed the next minute from now.
May Allah SWT make the next journey of my uncle easy and comfortable,
make his grave a place of light and peace and make his reckoning easy. May Allah (SWT) bestow upon him Jannatul-Firdaws
insh’Allah and give his family sabr (patience).
I also make dua that Allah (SWT) gives us the opportunity to make the
most of the short time we have in this world and make ample preparations for
the next one insh’Allah.
Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (raḥimahullāh)
once stopped at the side of a grave with his companions and said, “If this
person in the grave was able to come back to this world, what do you reckon
he’d focus on doing?”
“He’d make plenty istighfār
(repentance) surely, and pray more and increase in all possible good deeds!”
they replied.
Al-Ḥasan said, “Well he’s missed
out on his chance to do that. So don’t *you* miss out on your chance right
now.” (source)
I too pray your uncle finds peace. You have put it across wonderfully, and when we find that death scares us, we know that we haven't been the best we could be. Thank you for your lovely reminder.
ReplyDeleteAllahu akbar
ReplyDelete