Between the world that we met

And the world that has met us. Or rather, of the world that has caught up with us. The first belonged to our mothers, the latter belongs to our children. We knew the first as the normal, we know the second as the ‘new normal’. Of the first modesty in speech and conduct was key; in the second, ego, brazen indulgence in violence and corruption has become the doxa. Nothing is stranger than the world we have found ourselves in at the moment- ours is that in which women sell their wombs to make money; children murder their parents out of their desire to become overnight millionaires. Buffeted by these realities, I found Ibn al-Qayyim’s advise very apposite

He was born on the 7th of Safar in the year 691H (1292CE), and was raised in a house of knowledge and excellence. This offered him the chance to take knowledge from the senior scholars of his time, at a time when the various sciences of knowledge flourished. He studied under al-Nabilusi, al-Qadi Taqiyy -Din Sulayman, ‘Isa al-Mut’im, Fatimah bint Jawhar, among many others. Many scholars have testified to his prodigious knowledge and piety. In one of his many writings, he says: “A friend will not (literally) share your struggles, and a loved one cannot physically take away your pain, and a close one will not stay up the night on your behalf, so look after yourself, protect it, nurture it and do not give life’s events more than what they are really worth. Be certain that when you break no one will heal you except you, and when you are defeated no one will give you victory except your determination. Your ability to stand up again and carry on is your responsibility”.

He says further: “Do not look for your self-worth in the eyes of people; look for your worth from within your subconscious. If your subconscious is at peace then you will ascend high, and if you truly know yourself then what is said about you should not and would not harm you. Do not carry the worries of this life on your head because this is for the Almighty not you; …do not carry the anxiety of today over to tomorrow because that is in the Hands of the Almighty. Be concerned only with one thing: How to Please your Creator; because if you please Him, He would be pleased with you; He would fulfill your desires and enrich you.

Ibn Qayyim says again: “Sadness departs with a sajdah (placing of the forelock on the ground in prayers); happiness comes with a sincere du’a (supplication). The Almighty does not forget the good you do…nor does He Forget the good you did to others and the pain you relieved them from. Nor will He forget the heart which was in grief but which you turned to happiness. Live your life with this principle: Be good even if you do not receive goodness not because of other’s sake but because He loves the good doers”.

Brethren, while making sense of the above, my attention was drawn to another intervention offered by Shaykh Khalid Yasin. He says as follows: “Let not the people come to know except of your happiness, and let them not see except your smile. If life becomes constricted upon you, then within the Qur’an is your orchard. If you feel curtailed and restricted, then to the heavens raise your call. And if they ask you of your affairs, then praise the Almighty and smile.

“If you see an ant on the path, then do not crush it, and seek the Face of Almighty thereby, so that He will have mercy on you like you had mercy on it, and remember that the ant also glorifies the Almighty. So do not halt its glorification by killing it. And if you pass by a bird drinking from the blessing of water, then do not pass close to it in case you startle it. Rather, seek the pleasure of the Almighty thereby, so that He grants you safety on the day when hearts shall reach the throat in pain. And if you come across a cat in the middle of the road, then avoid hitting it, and seek the pleasure of the Almighty thereby, so that He could, by that singular action, avert for you death in the most painful and violent way. And if you want to throw out food, then make it your intention that animals can eat from it and seek the pleasure of the Almighty thereby, so that He may continue to provide for you from where you do not expect. Do good, no matter how small it seems to you, because you do not know which good deed will make you enter into Paradise.