Are You a Sign of the Last Day?

Titulli: Are You a Sign of the Last Day? Mon 9 Jul 2012 - 7:19

Are You a Sign of the Last Day?

It was while watching the Oprah Winfrey Show many years ago when
I realized that times have really changed…

This particular show interviewed a mother who had written and
published a children's book and dedicated it to her daughter. The mother
shared with Oprah that she now realized that she had spent many of the
daughter's young years working hard in her career and hadn't given her daughter
the time and attention she deserved.

The book was a gift from mother to daughter saying, I'm sorry and I love you. Moved by
the sincerity of the mother, Oprah turned to the daughter, who was also present
on the show, and asked her about the heartfelt dedication in the book.

In response, the daughter scoffed at the dedication and said it
meant nothing to her. She said that a meager book could never make up for
all she'd lost in those years of her mother not being there for her...

... A friend of mine once shared the story of a young woman
who had accepted Islam and fell sick shortly thereafter and was
hospitalized. Her new Muslim companions would gather at her bedside
reciting Qu'ran and keeping her company. One day one of the Muslims was
reciting Qur'an and the woman started to turn her head back and forth in
apparent agitation. Concerned, the Muslims asked what was wrong.

The sick woman responded by saying that it was hard to
concentrate because she didn't know whom to listen to.

“What do you mean?” the Muslims asked her.

Agitated, she said to the one reciting Qur'an, “Should I
listen to you and should I listen to them?”

The reciter turned and didn't see anyone. “I'm the
only one reciting,” he said.

The woman, who did not know Arabic, responded saying, “I hear
someone else saying, 'Yaa
ayyu han-nafsul mut-ma-innah. 'Irji'ee ilaa rabbiki raaDiyya-tam
marDiyyah. Fad-khulee fee 'ebaadee, wad-khulee jannatee.”

"O
reassured soul, Return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing [to
Him], And enter among My [righteous]servants, And enter My
Paradise"(Al-Fajr,
89:27-30)

A moment later, she died...

... I don't know why, but the daughter's words to her mother
that day as I watched Oprah affected me deeply. I nearly cried.

I wished I could somehow reach out to the daughter and tell her
that it was she who should be apologizing to her mother. It was she who
should be asking for forgiveness. It was she who should be dedicating,
not a book, but her life to
the woman who carried her for nine long months and endured agonizing pain to
see her safely into the world.

If your mother had
done only that, I wanted to tell her, a life of toiling
servitude at her feet could not repay even
a single contraction your mother suffered birthing you.

I wanted, too, to ask this single question: For whose comfort do you
think your mother worked so long and hard in her career?

Allah says:

“And
your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him, and that you be dutiful to
your parents. If one or both of them attain old age in your life, say not to
them Uff[i] [a word of disrespect], nor
shout at them but address them in terms of honor. And lower unto them the wing of
submission and humility through mercy, and say, 'My Lord! Bestow on them
Your Mercy as they did bring me up when I was young.' Your Lord knows
best what is in your inner-selves. If you are righteous, then, verily, He
is Most Forgiving to those who turn unto Him again and again in obedience, and
in repentance.(17:23-24)

Time and time again we read verses about Allah's mercy and
forgiveness, but it is often not real for us. It is only when we hear
stories like the one about the young new Muslim that we begin to get a glimpse
into that vast world of Allah's compassion for His servants.

When I heard the story of the girl hearing the last verses
from Surat Al-Fajr before
death, my eyes welled with tears. I longed to hear those Divine words
recited to me. But as I reflected on my life and my shortcomings, I
wondered if I'd be given that gift.

What was it, I
wondered, that she
had done that pleased Allah so much that she earned this momentous
blessing? Was there something—anything—that I could do to earn
something similar?

... I thought of my parents, and of the love that the mother
must have had when dedicating a book to her daughter.

And I wondered at the regret the mother must have felt when
realizing that her daughter would never understand just how much she loved her
— even when she had no idea how to show it...

If I were to speak to the daughter of the career woman — or to
the daughter or son of an absent father — I could never say you don't have a
right to hurt, a right to cry, a right to wish things were different, or even
that you don't have the right to feel that your father or mother fell short in
their responsibilities to you.

For surely, it is true: Parents
are not angels. Parents are not without sin. And
parents, of a certainty, are riddled with faults.

But rest assured, dear soul, I'd
like to say, that
Allah knows what you've endured. Allah knows your pain.
Allah knows the hurt you nurse in your heart...

“Your
Lord knows best what is in your inner-selves…

Even if you suffered at their hands something so severe that you
had no choice but to speak up and seek help from others, what harm would it do,
even still, to honor and respect them?

What harm will your being righteous do to you?

“…If you
are righteous, then, verily, He is Most Forgiving to those who turn unto Him
again and again in obedience, and in repentance…”

But she was never there for me.

He was always gone.

Why didn't he try harder?

They should listen more...

But what of our falling short in our responsibilities to them?

We accept without question the duty of parents to provide, to be
kind, to “be there”, and to love us, regardless...

...Of our temper tantrums, our sudden outbursts,
our tumultuous teens...

Regardless of
our tendency to rarely, if ever, reach out to them.

So in those inevitable moments of hurt, when reflecting on the
wrongs of one's parents, why not pray for them? Why not ask Allah to
forgive them?

… “My
Lord! Bestow on them Your Mercy…”

A hadith reports the Prophet, sallallaahu'alayhi wa sallam, as
saying, “Verily,
on the Day of Resurrection, Allah has slaves to whom He will neither speak nor
purify nor look at.”When
he was asked who these people were, among them was the person “who disowns or
abandons his parents” (Ahmad).

Yet, as we draw ever closer to the Day of Judgment, there are so
few of us who are moved to utter a simple prayer asking Allah's
mercy for our parents, and so many of us who move our tongues
endlessly recounting their faults.

The Prophet, sallallaahu'alayhi
wa sallam, taught that one of the signs of the Last Day is that a
slave girl will give birth to her master. And, indeed, it seems
that that time is upon us...

A mother is given orders by her child. A father
is scolded for his faults. A mother dedicates a book—a life—to
a child and is told...

A meager book could never make up for all I've lost in those years of you
not being there...

What, dear child, would you feel, if that book were
your Book of Deeds handed to you on the Day of Judgment?

Could your list of transgressions therein—against your
parents and yourself—make
up for all that you lost
in not “being there” for your own soul?

And perhaps, you simply saying to your career mother or absent
father, “I love
you and will honor you still” would be the
cause for every single ink stroke in your Book of sin to be erased
– forever – from your account.

And perhaps, too, while your soul is being taken from your body,
you will hear—because of this “meager” good deed—a voice from on high saying...

“O
reassured soul, return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing [to Him], and
enter among My [righteous] servants. And enter My Paradise.”

And perhaps your mother and father will enter with you, too.

Words of love.. words for love...