Ouch

Ever pricked your finger? Or maybe tripped over a stone? It's painful isn't it? How about being cut with a knife or beaten with a stick? Haven't we all felt these pains in one way or another?

Let us look at some other pains... Ever lost a loved one? Sworn at by a total stranger? Discriminated? Or been left out?

These are pains that vary, some physical, some mental. But either way they cause great pain.

Today I decided to 'advice' someone and maybe guide them in the right direction. The intention as always was the pleasure of Allah. However, it was quite painful when that person responded in a negative manner, something I didn't expect and was totally hurt.

This post is written for a few reasons...

1. To apologise to that person for causing them pain and hurt, which was totally unintentional.

2. As usual, derive a beneficial lesson from this.

POINT

1. In life we do many things to please people. At times we even go out of our ways to assist them or cause them ease. At times we expect something in return and at other times we do it totally for the sake of Allah.

However, we should keep a few things in mind when helping people.

a. When a person aids another, Allah remains in his aid.

و الله في عون العبد ما كان العبد في عون أخيه

"And Allah remains in the aid of a servant as long as that servant remains in the aid of his brother"

[Sunan Muslim]

b. Removing a difficulty from someone in this world will mean that Allah will remove a difficulty of ours in the Hereafter.

من نفس ان مؤمن كربة من كرب الدنيا نفس الله عنه كربة من كرب يوم القيامة

"And whosoever relieves from a believer some grief pertaining to this world, Allah will relieve from him some grief pertaining to the Hereafter."

[Sunan Muslim]

c. A believer is rewarded for even a thorn that pricks him.

‏ما من مصيبة تصيب المسلم إلا كفر الله بها عنه حتى الشوكة يشاكها

"A Muslim is not afflicted by hardship but Allah expiates his sins from Him, due to that hardship, to the extent of even a thorn that pricks him"

[Saheeh al-Bukahri]

d. Allah is the one who rewards.

إن أجري الا علي الله و هو علي كل سيء شهيد

"My reward is from Allah only. And He is a Witness over all things."

[Surah Saba – 34:47]

2. When we are hurt we feel pain, we feel remorse and depression at times. We feel unappreciated and ungratified.

Have we ever turned a thought towards why we feel like that? It is solely because we done someone a favour and never got anything from them. If that wasn't bad enough, we actually went the opposite way and done them harm or went against their will and hurt them.

This is the feeling we get when one of our favours are unappreciated. Yet we fail to appreciate Allah for His countless favours and gifts. In fact, the more He gives us, the more we retaliate, the more we hurt Him and the more we turn away.

We're never reluctant to take a blade and cut off the Sunnah of our Beloved Prophet صلي الله عليه و سلم despite his sleepless nights for us; disregarding his tears that soaked his beard in our concern.

If we feel pain and remorse... How will Allah the Creator of all feel? How will the Prophet صلي الله عليه و سلم feel?

Are we justified in our actions?

3. When we do something we should always expect its reward from Allah and none other. The Prophet of Allah صلي الله عليه و سلم has said: "indeed even the slightest of show is Shirk" and it is mentioned that we will be asked to collect our rewards from the people who we done the deed for.

May Allah save us all and give us the inclination to do acts for His sake only. May He give us the strength to bear the torments from people and make it bearable by reminding us that the true reward is from Allah alone. Aameen

All Planned Out...

Human nature is such that it wants to plan ahead and feel in control and organised. And if we look at it, in life it sometimes is necessary to plan ahead. Some people like to plan day by day as it comes; some choose to plan a month ahead and others plan years ahead.

As many of my readers will be aware, I was suffering from appendicitis. I've had this problem since February and was admitted in emergency on two occasions, only to be discharged and put on the NHS waiting list.

Recently, I received a letter letting me know that I had a place in the hospital to have my surgery done and should contact the hospital. I was given Thursday 13th July 2006 to have a pre-assessment and thereafter be admitted on Wednesday 19th 2006. The operation was booked for Thursday 20th 2006 and my discharge date as Friday 21st of July 2006.

I had all these dates a week in advance and naturally I started planning out what I would be doing during the following week.

However, to cut a long story short, when I went for my pre-assessment on Thursday, I was admitted in emergency and had the operation done on the same day. The operation was a little 'messy' and it meant that I had to be in the hospital a day extra and was discharged on Saturday.

When I came out of Hospital, I was just thinking how I had planned a whole week ahead whereas everything happened to the contrary and finished within the week.

POINT 1

As I mentioned, in life it is neccessary to plan ahead. But it is far more necessary to realise that our planning ahead should be only limited to our worldly acts, for if the wordly acts are left out for any reason the consequences cannot be that bad.

However, in actions regarding our Hereafter, we should never leave anything til later but instead strive to commit and carry out that act as soon as possible. For if the acts of our hereafter are left out then the consequences and regrets are far greater.

POINT 2

When planning for anything we should never in our minds think that this is exactly what will happen. Instead we should pray to Allah to make matters easy for us and remember that life is unpredictable, one minute we are here, the next we could be gone.

POINT 3

Finally, there is no gift like health. Whilst in hospital, and even looking at myself, I can realise how the strongest of people crumble under pain. When our health is not to a level we can't even worship Allah to our maximum limits. This is why we have been told by the Prophet صلي الله عليه و سلم:

"Take benefit of five before five:

1. Your youth before your old age,
2. Your health before your sickness,
3. Your wealth before your poverty,
4. Your free-time before your preoccupation, and
5. Your life before your death."

[Bayhaqee]

May Allah give us all good health so that we can use it in His worship. May He also give us the courage and understanding to carry out acts of worship as soon as possible and not leave them to a later date. Aameen.

Please remember me in your Du'as and especially make Du'as for my recovery. Insha Allah, depending on my health, I will try and update as and when possible.

Eyes

My last post was on a gift that was given to me by my friend. Something I showed great appreciation for and I therefore treated it with the greatest of care and held it in high value and esteem. My lesson and message was that we should be thankful for these gifts and we should furthermore be more grateful towards Allah for His gifts.

Friday is probably the best day of the week for me for a number of reasons. To begin I have to lead the prayers at Rugby Mosque and to be able to provide a service to the Muslim Ummah is an honour whilst the peaceful journey there and back is a bonus. As the evening comes I get to see my adorable niece and nephew. Although looking after them and playing with them is like a full time job it is the best moments of my day and even my week. And without any surprise I sleep well after being drained out of all the energy I possessed.

Saturday, although being accounts day is also something I look forward to as we have football matches and therefore something else I enjoy and await during the week. After which my day usually ends in resting and some paperwork.

Finally, Sunday is family day and it is always a pleasure that needs no description or explanation.

However, this week went a 'little' different for me. It was a week where I realised that despite realising the value of the things we have, we only realise its true value when we actually lose it.

The weekend began as normal and I had my game of football as planned. The game was fun and winning was obviously even better. However, after a couple of hours after returning from football, I realised that I had an itch on my eye-lid and that it was a little painful. As usual, I left it to my body to deal with it and continued with my day. That evening, without actually realising, my eye had swollen and become red and I was hardly able to open it; forced to continue my activities with the aid of one eye I was hoping it would resolve sooner than later.

On Sunday, my eye went from bad to worse and I was unable to see anything from that eye, and to make matters worse my other eye was continuously watering and it was difficult to clearly see from there either.

The tasks which I carried out day after day without a second thought are now tasks that take a great deal of concentration and last forever.

...And I am still to experience how hard it is with an eye like this...

POINT

At times we tend to forget the gifts and bounties of Allah, especially those we have take for granted, like our eyes, hands, feet, speech etc. And then there are some that realise that we have been given these gifts yet they fail to realise how precious and valuable these gifts really are.

There are only a few people who realise the value of these gifts and many of these are those who have lost them. Ask the value of sight to a person who was once able to see; ask the value of speech to someone who is no longer able to talk; tell a person to explain the value of legs to someone who is now in a wheelchair...

Many a times we fail to show enough gratitude to Allah for the gifts He has given us and many of us feel it is enough thanks by just raising our hands and thanking Allah once in a while for these gifts.

The 'Ulamaa (scholars) have mentioned the true method of thankfulness for all the gifts of Allah:

01. Thank Allah through "speech".

We should all take time out to raise our hands in front of Allah and utter words of thanks and appreciation. This is thanking Allah by means of one's tongue.

02. Thank Allah through "appreciation"

It is also necessary for every person to have the feeling of appreciation for the gifts Allah has given to us. This is thanking Allah through one's heart.

03. Thanking Allah through "Actions"

This is where many people fail to thank Allah. We should show appreciation and thanks to Allah through our actions and this is achieved in two ways.

Firstly, we should thank Allah by our actions in general. And secondly, we should show appreciation through the particular parts of our body. For example, to show appreciation for our tongue we should not utter anything that would displease Allah; for appreciation for our eyes we should not look at anything which Allah has forbidden us to look at; and so forth.

I pray to Allah that He gives us the true understanding of His gifts and bounties and thereafter He gives us the ability, understanding and inclination to thank Him through the many channels He has made known to us. Aameen.

Please do remember me in your Duas.