There was a recent earthquake that hit the San Francisco Bay area in the US. Here is a friend's experience in his own words...
"...just experienced my first earthquake. i was pulling up at the parking lot of the masjid for isha [prayer], and i waited a second to shut the engine off and i was like “why is my car shaking like that?” — i took my foot off the brake and my car was still shaking. i got out of the car, walked away from it, puzzled at the shaking (the whole time i thought it was the car, i didn’t realize it was the ground).
i only realized after the salah [prayer] when the sheikh started talking about a verse 'You did indeed wish for death (AshShahadah - martyrdom) before you met it. Now you have seen it openly with your own eyes.' (3:143) and saying how we’d just experienced being saved from death, and then the man said that people should go home and be with their families. so i asked my friend and he told me it was an earthquake.
5.6 on the Richter scale."
How many times do we inadvertently experience a close brush with death unaware how close it is to us. How many times are we given a renewed lease on life unawares. Our countless blessings unaware.
Subhan Allah, yesterday we had a similar experience here in Egypt. We had a small earthquake in Cairo that went nearly unnoticed. Our lives could end in a second, and without us knowing, we can leave everything we know and everyone we love.. What if I died yesterday, what shall happen to my world? and what shall happen to me?
ReplyDeleteI passed by a graveyard today, I always remind myself that I will end up here before I know it. I will not take with me anything except my few good deeds. No one and nothing else except the mercy of God would help me there. There is true loneliness if not prepared.
God's clear messages are everywhere, but we choose to shut our eyes and ears and hearts. He is the Refuge, He is the Refuge.
My father once told me that one day I might choke to death. I often choke. And I was so close to death once. At another time, I lost consciousness. I remember that at both times it was the face of a very close and beautiful human being that gave me a reason to survive. I guess it is loved ones that I will miss, yes. But seriously, what is it about death that we fear so much? It is only the grief that we won't be able to go back and undo our mistakes may be. But is death really an abhorred phase? I found myself repeating in my prayers right after my father's recent death, "He is with You God now. We all left him in the ground but he has no one but You now. And You indeed love him more than we ever will. You are his Merciful Creator, so have mercy on him my Lord." So imagine with me, won't it be a relief from life's constant pains hassles? Aren't you keen to go meet Allah and be with Him alone? I know I am; if it weren't just for what I know and He only knows. But He is The Most-Merciful and He knows how much I long for the peace of His company. May God grant us all an end that pleases Him.
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