Prepared for my
sisters group...
~*Aishah's Journey Continues…April 19, 2005…Three Years Later*~
Wow!!…It's my three-year anniversary as a Muslim! Allah Akbar! Al-hamdulillah!
And the journey continues! There are so many things to reflect on! Subhan'Allah! Not only am I now back from my one-year hiatus in Saudi Arabia, but I am back to work as well, and overwhelmed all over again!
You know, in the end it's how we
live each day that, by the grace and mercy of Allah subhanaahu wa ta'ala that
we are given, that counts…above all else we have to keep our focus. After all…the day that counts above all
others is the Day of Judgment!
Allah and His Messenger, peace be upon him, encourage us to
contemplate death and be ready for it with good deeds. This is regarded as a
sign of goodness. Ibn ' Umar reports: "I came to the Prophet, peace be
upon him, and I was the tenth of the first ten people (who embraced Islam). A
man from among the Ansar got up and said: "O Prophet of Allah, who is the
most sagacious and the most prudent among the people?" He replied:
"Those who are most aware of death and prepare themselves for it. They are
the wisest of people and will have honor in this world and a generous reward in
the Hereafter'." Ibn 'Umar also said that Allah's Messenger, peace be upon
him, said: "You should remember the reality that brings an end to all
worldly joys and pleasures, namely, death." (Both hadith are narrated by
At-Tabarani with a sound chain of narrators) Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 4:
Contemplation of death and preparation for it by good deeds.
So, whenever it seems that life is overwhelming me, as it does with all of us from time-to-time, I find that if I shift my focus toward something outside of the realm of my own dilemmas, and spend a little time on good deeds, that it just seems to make everything else come into a more hopeful light.
Oftentimes people think that good deeds
have to translate into something tangible, but they can just as easily be a
smile, an intention, or even just a few moments spent sending up a dua on behalf
of someone else in need; what ever it is that is within your means to do; if it
is from your heart, it's a good deed!
Even if it's merely asking Allah subhanaahu wa ta'ala to grant a loved
one beautiful sunlight, shade trees and ever expanding boundaries in their
grave! Every now and then when I think
of this dua, I imagine the very things I ask for happening at that the very
moment the thoughts formulate in my mind…and I try to imagine the peace and
happiness that loved one might find in knowing that they were remembered…a
feeling of peacefulness seems to magically wash over me. Subhan'Allah…
Another way I occupy my time is
working! *smile* Yep…I'm back into the drill…my one-year
vacation is now officially over!
Hahaha I'm back working for a
Muslim civil rights organization in Washington, D.C., Al-hamdulillah. It is keeping me waaaaaaay busy
sisters! Subhan'Allah! But it is also opening up the doors for new
adventures. *wink*
You know, one day this past week, late
in the afternoon, I was frantically going through the motions of getting my
work load to a point where I could stop and pack-up because I had promised my
daughter Hanane (the young woman I adopted in my heart two years ago Ramadan),
that I would spend some time with her at the end of the day. She had been gently chastising me for not
spending any more time with her now that I was home than I had while I was
living in Saudi Arabia! Mmm…on second
thought! Maybe that wasn't so subtle a
hint! *smile*
Anyhow, I noted that it was 3:00 and
remembered that Hanane had told me that she gets off work at 4:00. Right now my hours are 10-4 (but in reality
like 10-6!), so it seemed like a good plan to choose a metro-convenient
location for a dinner meeting. I
stopped momentarily to call Hanane at work to organize a plan for the evening,
and satisfied with the arrangement, I ended the conversation.
However, a little earlier in the
afternoon I had noticed that one of my staff (there are two that I supervise),
was sitting at his desk with his hands holding his head like something was
wrong. I hesitated in the entrance of
the office where this brother and his co-worker, a sister, do their work, and
the sister looked up at me in response to my questioning glance and said,
"He's making dua."
That seemed like a reasonable
explanation, so I just quietly turned away and went back to my own desk.
About 10 minutes after I had finished
talking with Hanane, the brother (his name is Ahmed) came into my office to
address me about something he was working on, and I could see from his eyes
that he was deeply disturbed.
He tried his best to escape from my
presence without telling me what was wrong, but I was gently persistent and he
finally relented to sitting in a chair near the door.
There is a second chair next to the one
that Ahmed sat in and I took a seat beside him. Try as I might, I could not pry the problem out of him...I could
only hand him a tissue from a small packet I had retrieved from a pocket in my
briefcase as tears streamed down his face.
Talk about feeling helpless...
Well...my motherly instincts kicked in,
and I decided to just sit quietly for a few moments, and I simply stretched my
arm across to where my hand could rest on the middle of his back, as he sat
there with his elbows buried into the top of his legs, face in his hands, and I
began to gently make circle patterns around and around in an attempt to help
him relax a little.
After a few minutes I noticed that this
deeply troubled brother seemed to get the tears under control (he hadn't been
outright sobbing, it was just those gentle, streaming tears that, you know,
sometimes just seem to quietly run out regardless of whether you want them to
or not...).
Well, to break the silence, I began to
make semi-idle chit-chat about some of the other ideas I was thinking about to
help us get better organized in the office.
The place was quite chaotic when I arrived and in just the first week
alone, both staff members had thanked me several times for all I had already
tried to do in order to make their jobs a little easier for them. Al-hamdulillah.
So, Ahmed finally spoke and once again
offered his appreciation to me for what we had accomplished in such a short
time, and that it had made a lot of difference to both he and his
co-worker. I told him no thanks were
necessary, that I was merely happy to help.
This seemed to sufficiently break the
ice, and finally, he began to tell me what was wrong.
Ahmed is from Ghana. I didn't ask too many questions so I don't
have a lot of details, but apparently much of his family is still there. I'm guessing that Ahmed is maybe in his late
40's or early 50's. He was educated to
be a pharmacy technician, but none of his training is based in the U.S., and he
hasn't been able to get work in his field.
I'm not sure how it happened that he came to work in the office, but he
struggles somewhat, which from what I can see so far, is simply because of a
lack of guidance. The staff had, prior
to my arrival, merely been dictated at to do this, and do that...under too much
pressure and with insufficient resources.
In addition to this I got him to confess to me that he is only being
paid an hourly rate that is not too far above minimum wage. Ugg...I felt terrible about learning that...
But then to make it even worse...I learned
of the news that he had received earlier in the afternoon when I first saw him
at his desk with his head in his hands.
It seems that two of his daughters,
ages 17 and 19, have been hospitalized.
The first daughter being hospitalized as much as a month ago and the
second more recently, and one of them with meningitis. La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah!
I don't know anything about the
difficulties that his family members in Ghana struggled with in getting word to
him, or why it took so long, but he was just, on that particular day, hearing
this news for the first time, and it was through a message delivered with no
additional information.
With so little to go on, Ahmed
attempted to make a follow-up call but was unsuccessful at reaching the
intended recipient.
My heart was heavy with concern and at
the same time filled with a sense of helplessness other than to say I would
make dua for his daughters.
Then I asked him if he had an
international long-distance calling card.
He said no.
Well, funny thing was, just over the
weekend I had purchased a calling card online from my favorite
email-delivery-PIN-number calling card website, (www.card4sale.com),
so I got up from my chair and told him to stay where he was.
Clicking into my email I found the PIN
number and dial-up access number, jotted it down on a piece of paper, and told
him that when I had purchased the card just the day before, I used it once to
call a sister in my e-group who's mother had passed away recently, and after
entering the PIN number the recording told me I had 400 minutes! So I was figuring there should be plenty of
minutes left to call Ghana!
It was such a simple thing...but the
look on this brother's face when I handed him the little slip of paper with the
numbers written on it was as if I had handed him a gold brick...subhan'Allah...
I firmly decided as he walked out of my
office to use the phone at his desk, that at the first opportunity I could get,
I was going to discuss with the organization's director the possibility of
giving this Brother raise. I know the
organization can't do anything miraculous, but if they'll even give him another
dollar I'm sure it would be appreciated.
And when a person feels appreciated, well, they tend to feel a more
willing to put a little bit of something extra into their work. That's my philosophy anyway... *smile*
So, I guess the moral of the story
is...you never quite know...with even the smallest of deed...what the benefits
are that you will reap in return...but an expression of astonished gratitude on
the face of someone who moments before was suffering in silent anguish with
worry for his children, was worth more than the cost of the calling card, and a
blessing that I certainly never anticipated, but that came anyway because I
opened up my heart and mind to whatever Allah subhanaahu wa ta'ala would have
me to do in those moments.
Ahmed would never have asked me for
help; I know that. But Allah subhanaahu
wa ta'ala also knew when Brother Ahmed sat in that chair in my office that he
wouldn't have to ask for help...so Allah subhanaahu wa ta'ala brought the help
to Brother Ahmed...and I am so grateful that Allah subhanaahu wa ta'ala found
me worthy to be given even this smallest of opportunities to do something nice
for someone else...
Call me crazy, and some might, *lol* -
but that's pretty much how I kind-of live each day, dear sisters.
Whoever relieves a fellow Muslim from grief among the grief's of
the world, Allaah will relieve him from grief from among the grief's on the Day
of Judgment. Whoever shows ease on the poor impoverished person; Allaah will
show ease on him in the Aakhirat (hereafter), and also in this world. And also
whoever protects and guards all fellow Muslims, Allaah will protect him in this
world and in the Aakhirat. And Allaah is the helper in the assistance of a
servant when the servant is in the assistance of his brother. [Muslim]
There is so much suffering in this
life...I kinda figure that if I am blessed with a new dawn after any night that
I have fallen asleep; I try to do something, anything, to maintain a
consciousness of Allah subhanaahu wa ta'ala throughout that day. And that's pretty much how I get through
'em...the days that is...*smile*.
So, with a virtual smile and hug around
the neck, I bid you a peaceful night's rest, insha'Allah. It's much too far past my bedtime!
With fond thoughts and duas for each of
you, my dear sisters…
Ma'Salaama,
~Aishah
The testimony of faith is saying with
conviction,
"Ash hadu an la ilaha illa Allah wa ash hadu anna Muhammadar Rasul Allah."
("I
declare there is no god but Allah and I declare that Muhammad is the Messenger
of Allah.")
The first
part, “There is no true god but God,” means that none has
the right to
be worshipped but God alone, and that God has neither partner nor son.
This testimony
of faith is called the Shahada, a simple formula that should be said
with
conviction in order to convert to Islam.
The testimony
of faith is the most important pillar of Islam.
If
I am right, it is from Allah; if wrong, it is from me.
I
ask Allah Almighty to protect you and me from errors
and
from all that displease Him.
"Al-Hamdu-lillahi
rabbil-alameen"
SISTER AISHAH'S ISLAMIC JOURNEY