I nearly cried the other day. I was almost in tears due to very severe tooth ache. I recall constantly asking God to relieve me of this pain as it was seriously affecting my ability to do anything that day.
All this changed when I had to change my little girl’s face bandage. We’ve become inventive these days. No longer do we bandage her face, then bandage the bandage to keep it in place, then stockinet both bandages to keep them from shifting too much. Now we simply place a ‘cut-to-size’ mepitel and bandage on her face(because gauze strands stick to the open areas and thus require more damage control with the next change), and voila! The lengthy, hour long bandage change was necessary before, but as her facial wounds slowly show signs of healing, we’ve resorted to alternative bandage methods. But, I digress.
Changing bandages isn’t my favourite part of EB, but sometimes, it’s the most rewarding. Half way through her bandage changed, I became aware that my toothache was still very much present, but the pain of my beloved made it dull in comparison. More than that though, I came to the realisation that whilst I was in near tears over a tiny little tooth, and my daughter was in tears for a much more painful reason, I rarely give as much thought to how much pain mankind can procure in the Hereafter. Our worldly life has us delving so deeply into materialism and instant gratification that we often forget that we will one day be held accountable for all that we do. We expect instant responses when begging The Almighty to fulfil our needs, yet we live our daily lives heedless of His commands. Despite all this, His mercy constantly descends upon us, and there are signs all over to remind us of His greatness.
And so as I sat on the couch that day, with a crying baby and a sore tooth, I fervently prayed that I not be of those doomed for the Hellfire, because if I am unable to handle this worldly pain, how can I even imagine being able to handle the pain of the Hereafter, a pain which we are taught is at least seventy times greater.
I loathe pain. I loathe seeing my little girl in pain, but I am appalled at how easily we allow ourselves and those we love to slowly draw closer to the pain of the Hereafter. And so on the couch I sat and prayed
رَبَّنَا اصْرِفْ عَنَّا عَذَابَ جَهَنَّمَ إِنَّ عَذَابَهَا كَانَ غَرَامًا
[Rabbanaa isrif ‘annaa ‘athaaba Jahannama inna ‘athaabahaa kaana gharaamaa]
“Oh our Lord! Avert the punishment of Hellfire from us, (for) its torment is surely everlasting”. [Quran 25:75]
