Scrambling for my cellphone, I quickly google the duá we read when entering the graveyard…
“Oh Allah! Oh Allah! Please let me find the duá” I whisper fervently as I wait for Shaykh Google to produce the hit I need, whilst frantically searching my subconscious trying to remember the duá we had been taught. “Oh come on Google! What’s taking you so long!” screams the voice in my head, frustrated that it cannot find what it’s looking for. “Jackpot!” Google found the duá and my memory now confirms it.
“ السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ يَا أَهْلَ الدِّيَارِ مِنَ المُؤْمِنِيْنَ وَالمُسْلِمِيْنَ وَ إِنَّا إِنْ شَاءَ اللهُ بِكُمْ لَاحِقُوْنَ نَسْأَلُ اللهَ لَنَا وَلَكُمْ العَافِيَةَ ”
“Peace be upon you, oh Muslims residing here. By the Will of Allah we will also be coming to you. We ask Allah for our wellbeing/safety and yours.” -Muslim
Amazing what a reminder can do, SubhaanAllah.
Ashamedly, I stare at the book in my hand reading the duá I’d just written down. I should have known it, regardless of whether I frequent the graveyard or not. Suddenly, filled with fear, I enter into the place I’ll call home someday. The sight before me is unbelievable. So many tomb stones, mostly belonging to people I’ve never met, yet they are my brethren. I slowly walk the path towards my grandmother’s grave. It’s the first time I’ve come to visit her since she passed away 6 years ago. I remember trying to find her grave once before but with all the residence at the Johnson Road Qabarstán, I didn’t manage to find the one I had come to meet. But today was different. We’re with my dad today, and he knows where she’s buried. In the distance I see my father motioning for me to hurry up, but my body cannot obey. Not because I’m being rebellious (na’oothu billah), but rather because the prospect of death weighs heavily upon my heart.
What a sinful slave I’ve been, whilst my Master is The Most-Forgiving. I remember the times I’ve wasted on things that took me away from my Allah rather than towards Him, yet The Most-Merciful has brought me back, and now I hope to live life according to His instructions. But most of all, I think of the life I have left. Am I really doing all that I can to ensure that I please my Rabb? Has He not given me life and luxuries? Has He not taught me His book and the sciences of His deen? Has He not guided me to the ‘sirát almustaqím’? Weighed down by how little I’ve shown my appreciation, I feel my legs become heavy, as if forcing me to sit down and reflect on what has passed and the way forward. I would’ve given in, had I not seen my father in the distance… waiting for me. I know how important it is to him that we visit her. That we visit both his mother and father, that we visit them as a family.
After what feels like forever of reading tombstones, I finally get to her grave and my legs give in, as if to say ‘ سَمِعْنَا وَ أَطَعْنَا ’ “we hear and we obey”. It’s at that moment that I realise that the graveyard is of the best places for me to be, as it’s a reminder that I too won’t live forever. Though it may seem as evil thing to say, I’m glad my grandparents have left this worldly abode, because they no longer have to experience the magnanimity of trials overtaking the ummah of AlHabeeb AlMustafa (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam). No longer will they suffer because of it. We only pray that their stay in the Barzakh is an easy one, filled with promises of the pleasures to come. “Will I experience such joys in the Hereafter?” I ask myself as I play with the sand below me. The sand; cold, moist and crumbly as it runs through my fingers today, will be my canopy under which I lay tomorrow. My thoughts run wild as my brother recites Surah Yaseen at their graves. Seems like just the other day when I was reciting to them, & helping them with their daily activities. How time has passed subhaanAllah.
Reminders of death have been common of late, and has allowed me the opportunity to reflect on where my life is headed. The prophet S.A.W tells us in a hadeeth:
‘ أَكْثِرُوْا ذِكْرَ هَاذِمِ اللَّذَّاتِ ’
“Remember often the cutter off of pleasures (ie. Death)” – Tirmidhi
not because he wants to depress us (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), but rather to motivate us to live better lives for the sake of Allah S.W.T. Lives in which we are honest and sincere. Lives wherein we deal kindly and justly with others regardless of who they may be. A life of Islam, like that of our habeeb (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), his companions (radhiyAllahu ‘anhum), and our pious predecessors (rahimahum Allah).
Imagine waking up every morning praising Allah for what we have instead of being upset about situations we cannot change. Imagine a life of contentment even in the most trying times. A life where your heart is at peace because you know that Allah grants whatever is best for you and that He is in control of everything. A direct line to The Almighty, knowing that you can call upon Him at any time and that He will most definitely respond.
This is the world we are promised in qurán and hadeeth, if only we stood up and made the change. Let us purify our intentions and beseech Allah to make us of those who submit to His deen. Let us become the ummah of salaah, the ummah of zakaah, fasting and hajj. Let us become the ummah of “Laa ilaaha illá Allah” and be conscious that we can leave this dunya at any time, so that we may live a life that is pleasing to Allah.
We ask Allah S.W.T to aid us in living life sunnah and to protect us from the whisperings of Shaytaan. We ask that accepts us and our actions and that He protects us from the calamities of the Hereafter. May Allah grant the best of endings and reunite us with our loved ones in the company of the pious on the Day of Hisaab.
Ameen, thumma ameen