A painful love
As humans we often experience physical and emotional pain in the form of illness and grief. As a parent however, this sense of pain and helplessness is multiplied further and felt even more intensely when a child is sick or injured. Today was one of those days.
My eldest son ended up with a deep, sharp cut on the forehead after running at high-speed into a wall. After patching him up we rushed him to A&E filled with panic and fear, only to have the wound reopen 24 hours later, followed by another gruelling, exhausting trip to the hospital. As I contemplated the events of the day, the following words of Muhammad ﷺ gave comfort to my very tired heart:
“Whatever befalls a Muslim of exhaustion, illness, worry, grief, nuisance or trouble, even though it may be no more than a prick of a thorn, earns him forgiveness by Allah of some of his sins.” (Bukhari)
SubhanAllah our Lord has so much mercy that even when we feel slight pain from the prick of a thorn some of our sins are forgiven. So what must be the extent of the mercy for a parent who is filled with worry and grief over a sick child? The parent loves the child in the most pure, selfless way and would do anything to prevent or remove any harm from the child. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ reminds us that this love is only from one of the parts of Allah’s mercy which he has sent down for the whole of creation. What must then be the love and mercy of the Creator for his creation?
“Verily, Allah has one hundred portions of mercy. From one portion the creation has been given mercy between themselves and ninety nine portions are reserved for the Day of Resurrection.”
May Allah protect and preserve all our children and shower us with His mercy on the day when we need it the most. Ameen.Leave and Let Live
“And it is all the same for them whether you warn them or do not warn them – they will not believe.” (Quran 36:10)
This is the tenth ayah from Surah Yasin, which is considered the heart of the Quran, how fitting then that it’s recital is recommended once in every 24 hours, perhaps as a means of keeping the heart alive in an attempt to purify it.
In life you will always meet people who will stand up against you. They maybe stubborn and oppose you in beliefs or more often worldly matters. I came across this ayah today which is more relevant to calling people to Allah, however it can be applied as a general principle to many situations that we come across in our everyday lives. How often do we reach a point where we become increasingly frustrated, annoyed and angry because people don’t see our point of view.
The message from the Quran is that in such cases we should not be disheartened but rather leave them alone and continue on our way. Arrogance, denial and antagonism are parts of life and rather than becoming engrossed with changing those who are set and firm in their ways, we should focus our efforts on those who are open and inclined towards us.
May Allah make us amongst those who say “We here and we obey.” (Quran 24:51) Ameen.
Rabbee Zidnee Ilma 