Come with Me to See the Clouds

I hate airplanes... I hate take-offs... I hate landings... I hate how my ears go funny on me... the tickle and the pain all mixed together... No thank you, I'll skip the sweets and the chewing gum. It never did help anyway...

Take-off has begun and I have a window seat... This time I am going to pretend that I am bird. I will fly away and watch the world I am leaving behind... I am gliding upwards... Lego houses and cars beneath me... Skylines flattened into 3d models... you know like the ones you find in malls advertising one venture or another... No crowds... Actually, not a living being in sight... not even miniature dolls... All disappeared like magic.... Lifeless cities, lifeless countries, lifeless continents, lifeless earth... all left behind.... Where did everyone go? I continue to glide higher... It's a very geological picture from all the way up here... The 3d model has gone flat... leaving behind plain terrain... desert-like terrain... All the colors have mixed together into a very solitary brown... No greens, no blues.... just brown...

It seems like this is it. I can't fly any higher and now all I can see are blue skies and cotton clouds. I continue to glide through them... I have left my earth behind...

Good bye bird... I am Salama again... I missed you earth. I missed you home. I missed you "my things". I missed you "everybody" living on this earth... But I thought you would all come with me to see the clouds?

During take-off on the last flight I was on, I decided I was going to observe the earth as we headed for the skies... I've done this many times before but this was different. As it grew smaller, I began to think about the day when all that connects us to this overwhelming mass known as "earth" will bear no significance... Left all alone... Just us and our deeds. Subhan Allah, then why oh why am I still living like it will be mine forever?

I ask Allah that He bestows upon us all the gift of "hidaya" and that He puts us on the path of "Ebad Alsaliheen"...

Az-Zalzalah (The Earthquake)
إِذَا زُلْزِلَتِ الْأَرْضُ زِلْزَالَهَا (99:1)
99:1 (Asad) WHEN THE EARTH quakes with her [last] mighty quaking,
وَأَخْرَجَتِ الْأَرْضُ أَثْقَالَهَا (99:2)
99:2 (Asad) and [when] the earth yields up her burdens, [1]
وَقَالَ الْإِنسَانُ مَا لَهَا (99:3)
99:3 (Asad) and man cries out, "What has happened to her?" -
يَوْمَئِذٍ تُحَدِّثُ أَخْبَارَهَا (99:4)
99:4 (Asad) on that Day will she recount all her tidings,
بِأَنَّ رَبَّكَ أَوْحَى لَهَا (99:5)
99:5 (Asad) as thy Sustainer will have inspired her to do! [2]
يَوْمَئِذٍ يَصْدُرُ النَّاسُ أَشْتَاتًا لِّيُرَوْا أَعْمَالَهُمْ(99:6)
99:6 (Asad) On that Day will all men come forward, cut off from one another, [3] to be shown their [past] deeds.
فَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ (99:7)
99:7 (Asad) And so, he who shall have done an atom's weight of good, shall behold it;
وَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ (99:8)
99:8 (Asad) and he who shall have done an atom's weight of evil, shall behold it.

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Khali Ibrahim... What made you cry?

Assalamu Alaikum,

For those of you who did not watch Sheikh Nabil Al-Awadhi's interview with brother Ibrahim Nasser during Ramadhan, I urge you all to take the time to do this as I had given you a very modest account of his story in my previous post...  I could never do his story justice in words... 

This video is dedicated to every Muslim who is looking for the path to contentment... to every Muslim searching for the true meaning of submission to Allah... to every Muslim who is trying to find within him/herself a sense of inner serenity... to every human being who is seeking to find meaning to life on earth .... to Ibrahim's family who spent countless days and nights around his bed emanating 'hope' to the world around them .... to his mother who knew no boundaries to loving her beautiful son ... and especially to Ibrahim himself (may Allah's compassion be with him) who left this world and yet lives on in the hearts of the many people that he continues to touch...

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كرنفال المدرسة

حدثتكم أحبتي في الله في مقالي السابق (أين نحن من هذا) عن تلك العائلة القادمة من جنوب أفريقيا وها أنا اليوم أعود لأخبركم عن موقف آخر مع هذه العائلة التي علمتني الكثيرعن تربية الأبناء تربية دعائمها ومقوماتها المبادىء والقيم الأسلاميه لديننا العظيم، في يوم من الأيام بينما كانت ابنتي تتجاذب أطراف الحديث مع إبنتهم البالغة العاشرة من عمرها سألتها ابنتي إن كانت ستراها في كرنفال المدرسة والمقرر إقامته يوم الجمعة وهكذا الحال من كل عام فردت على ابنتي بكل رضا واقتناع بأن يوم الجمعة هو يوم مخصص لذهاب جميع العائلة إلى المسجد فذهلت من جوابها ذهولاَ جعلني أفكر فيما قالت هذه البنت البالغة من العمر عشر سنوات فقط وأردد بيني وبين نفسي أين نحن من هذا

بَلْ تُؤْثِرُونَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا
وَالْآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَى

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Khali Ibrahim...

“Oh no the pipe, the ventilator it’s red….”
“IIIII’mmmm oooookkkkkk Yummmmma… Eeeeeverything’s goooooing to be ooook insha-Allah”
“ Blood… that’s blood… Oh Allah ya kareem… What’s happening to Ibrahim?... The pipe… it’s swelling up… It’s looks like it’s going to burst… It has burst… Blood!... Ya Rab... Blood everywhere! What are we going to do? Ibrahim! Ibrahim! Habibi Ibrahim!”
“ASH-HADU ANLA ELAHA ILLA-ALLAH WA ASH- HADU ANNA MOHAMMADAN RASUL-ALLAH"

And he left with those final words… He left with the hope and the spirit of a fighter… He left because the time him had come for him to bid farewell to this earth where he lived each day hoping no one would notice his pain … struggling not to make it to the end of the day like the rest of us but determined to find his own way into the world…

He was not going to give in. They told him that the disease would slowly eat away at his every muscle till he finds himself confined to the perimeter of his bed. He “googled” the words “muscular dystrophy” and yes that’s what every article said but isn’t Allah great? Subhan Allah, the doctors seemed to have forgotten to mention that…

Their prognosis was right for the most part… He did end up bed-ridden for most of his twenty-four years yet his bedroom spoke of “life” and smelled of "life"… There was never any talk of death… How could there be when all he did was smile… He was the one who had brought so many days of laughter to the family as they gathered around him to savor special moments… Yet any observer would think he was confined… connected to tanks, iv injections, and pipes … Ironically, however, he had traveled to where many of us haven’t even come close… His heart was freer than most of us as he had learned to let go of it for those who needed it most... for those searching for a guiding light to Allah...

Again, they were right … Almost every muscle in his body had or was in the process of failing on him… except those stubborn ones in his fingers… And no one but Allah was going to take that away… With every stroke of his finger against his computer keyboard, he was determined to reach any "net surfer" seeking to find Allah. Subhan Allah, he was able to spend most of his time working on a blog that he had created in spite of his handicap to spread the beauty of Islam… www.waldalbahrain.net … He was a natural at the technology of computers and this is how Ibrahim had reached the world. Today his blog has more than a thousand followers... all mourning the loss of an incredible individual...

The time has come to say "Goodbye" to one of the greatest Ambassadors of Islam to have set foot on earth ... to one who continues to live on in the hearts of those he touched throughout his life... Ibrahim Nasser... You will be dearly missed and may Allah's rahma always be with you...

When I had gone to pay my condolences to the family, I recollect his two-year old niece running from one end of the living room to the other yelling “Khali Ibrahim went to Beit Allah! Khali Ibrahim went to Beit Allah!”… I remember thinking to myself “Yes, you’re right little one, where else would he be going insha-Allah?” ...

يَا أَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ (89:27)
89:27 (Asad) [But unto the righteous God will say,] "O thou human being that hast attained to inner peace! -

ارْجِعِي إِلَى رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةً مَّرْضِيَّةً (89:28)
89:28 (Asad) Return thou unto thy Sustainer, well-pleased [and] pleasing [Him]: -

فَادْخُلِي فِي عِبَادِي (89:29)
89:29 (Asad) enter, then, together with My [other true] servants – -

وَادْخُلِي جَنَّتِي (89:30)
89:30 (Asad) yea, enter thou My paradise!" -

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لا, بل محبة الله

   جلس معي في مكتبي المتواضع, وأنا أنظر إليه بإعجابٍ شديد, متأملة إبتسامته التي لا تفارقه, وحاجبيه الكثيفين وتجاعيده المرسومة على وجهه كأنها تحكي لي قصصاً مرَ بها في حياته.

     هذا الرجل الذي تعدى عمره الثمانين عاماً تبادل الحديث معي واسترجع ذاكرته إلى الوراء, إلى الأربعينيات, وبدأ يسرد لي جزءٌ بسيطٌ من حياته حيث إستلم أول وظيفة له وكان معاشه حينها لا يتعدى ال 147 روبية, فكان يقتطع منه 100 روبية ليعطيها أمه ويدَخر الباقي. إستمر على هذا الحال مدة سنتين تقريباً ومن بعدها تعددت وظائفه وتنقل من البحرين إلى السعودية, وهكذا, حتى جمع مبلغاً لا بأس به واشترى أرضاً في السعودية. في ذلك الوقت مرَِ أخيه بظروفٍ مالية صعبة, فإذا به يقول لي بأنه وهب الأرض التي يملكها لأخيه.. 

فسألته :" أتملك شيء شيءٌ آخر غير الأرض؟" فأجابني :" لا, بل محبة وكرم الله فقط."

     واصلت معه الحديث وأنا كلي شوق لمعرفة المزيد وسألته : " ألم تدخر شيئاً قبل زواجك؟" أجابني : " نعم, كنت أدخر طوال الوقت, حتى تسنى لي جمع مبلغ لا بأس به, وتزوجت زوجة مخلصة, شاركتني حياتي بحلوها ومرها."

ثم بدأ يحكي لي مشواره بعد الزواج والصعوبات التي واجهته في حياته والتي أصبح بحكمها يتنقل من بلدةٍ إلى أخرى, حتى إنتهى به المطاف في البحرين ليستقر فيها.

سألته: " ألم ترث شيئاً من أبيك؟" أجابني: " نعم, ورثت عنه حصة من بيته أنا وإخواني ولكني تنازلت عنها لأخي المحتاج"

     كم تمنيت أن لا ينتهي حديثنا فما زالت عندي الكثير من الأسئلة ولكنه بدأ ينظر إلى ساعته فقد حان موعد ذهابه إلى البيت لتناول الغداء, فاستأذن وذهب.

إِنَّمَا الصَّدَقَاتُ لِلْفُقَرَاءِ وَالْمَسَاكِينِ وَالْعَامِلِينَ عَلَيْهَا وَالْمُؤَلَّفَةِ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَفِي الرِّقَابِ وَالْغَارِمِينَ وَفِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَابْنِ السَّبِيلِ فَرِيضَةً مِنَ اللَّهِ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ) (التوبة:)))

) وَمَا أَنْفَقْتُمْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ فَهُوَ يُخْلِفُهُ وَهُوَ خَيْرُ الرَّازِقِينَ (سـبأ: من الآية39

وقال النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم: ( من كان في حاجة أخيه كان الله في حاجته ومن فرج عن مسلم كربة من كرب الدنيا فرج الله بها عنه كربة من كرب يوم القيامة )     

      

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Food Inc.

 إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا ٱلأَمَانَةَ عَلَى ٱلسَّمَاوَاتِ وَٱلأَرْضِ وَٱلْجِبَالِ فَأبَيْنَ أَن يَحْمِلْنَهَا وَأَشْفَقْنَ مِنْهَا وَحَمَلَهَا ٱلإِنْسَانُ إِنَّهُ كَانَ 
ظَلُوماً جَهُولاً 
الأحزاب72  

هل تعريف الأمانة؟ 

--->click here <--- 

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أين نحن من هذا؟

تعرفت على الأم وإبنتها في مدرسة إبنتي وأزداد قربي منهما مع حضور البنت إلى مركز تحفيظ القرآن ، فالعائلة مسلمة جاءت من جنوب أفريقيا

هذه البنت البالغة من العمر العاشرة تتحلى بالذكاء والمرح والأخلاق ، ومنذ تعرفي عليها منذ أكثر من عام لفت نظري ارتداءها لربطة الشعر

Bandana

فهي لا تخلع هذه الربطة عن شعرها ( في المدرسة ، خارج المدرسة ، و في مركز تحفيظ القرآن) وتسميه وبكل فخر
My mini scarf

و ترتديه بمختلف الألوان الجميلة المتناسقة مع ملابسها

لم أعرف سر ارتدائها لهذه الربطة إلا بعد أن أخبرتني الأم بأنها تعود ابنتها على وضع هذه الربطة لتمهد ولتسهل عليها ارتداء الحجاب في المستقبل ..... نسيت أن أخبركم بأن الأم محجبه

هذا موقف من المواقف التي شدتني و أشعرتني بالخجل من نفسي حين لمست تمسك هذه العائلة بالمبادئ الإسلامية والتزامها بتطبيقها في حياتهم وتعويد أولادهم عليها منذ الصغر

فأين نحن من هذا

"وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ لِأَمَانَاتِهِمْ وَعَهْدِهِمْ رَاعُونَ " (8) المؤمنون

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