31st January | On age, life and death

Bismillah.

Alhamdulillah we have come to the last day of January for 2013. It feels like it was only yesterday we welcomed the first day of new year. I am not going to be biased, although I am a September baby, I think January is the nicest sounding month, just like Rabi'ul Awal.

And speaking of Rabi'ul Awal, KLites have something special to look forward to tomorrow 1st February. There will be Mawlid Akbar organized by Darul Murtadza In sha Allah.

So how old will you be this year? My mother will be 74 come September In sha Allah. I will insist that I am 42 until September comes. Praise be to Allah that He has granted time and life, this long and I cannot thank Him enough for not taking my life when I was 24.

Yesterday I visited someone who passed away at the age of 80 something. Inna lillah wa inna ilai hira ji'un. As I stood by the mayit, I remembered several verses of the Qur'an from Surah Al-Waqi'ah: 

"So why (do you) not (intervene) when the soul (of a dying person) reaches the throat, and you are watching? And We are closer to him than you, but you do not perceive."

It's surreal because only three years ago I attended the funeral of this person's daughter and now it's her turn.  We thought we care and are sympathetic towards a dying person but it was the Prophet salallah alaihi wasalam who asked to carry the pangs of death for his ummat! 

So I ask myself, which is better, to invest and accumulate wealth to leave behind for people who may not be of benefit to us after we die, or to invest our time and life on doing things that would be pleasing to Rasulullah salallah alaihi wasalam and to accumulate as much salawat as possible? He, salallah alaihi wasalam who will look out for us at seerat and mizan, concerned about our fate. He who will let us drink at Kawthar and quench our thirst.

May Allah increase our consciousness of the Prophet each month beyond this month of Rabi'ul Awal and each year. May the mawlid which we have attended and will attend, would bring us closer to the reality of Prophet Muhammad salallah alaihi wasalam. Ameen.

Sallu 'alan Nabi!

31.1.13