A precious gift

*** In the name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate; blessings and peace be upon Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. Reflection Praise be to God, the Sustainer of all the Worlds, The Merciful, the Compassionate. Lord of the Day of Judgement Thee alone do we worship and Thee Do we ask for help. Guide us on the Straight Path. The path of those on whom Thou has bestowed Thy Grace Not of those upon whom is Thy Wrath, Nor those who have gone astray. Ameen. (O God! do grant us our request) - Al-Fatihah (The Opening) *** IN the middle of this year one Dr Safiah Osman sent me ‘a precious gift’ – a book written by her entitled ‘Let Us Remember Allah For The Wonder of His Creation’. The word ‘a precious gift from...to...and date...’ was specially printed on an early page of the book and I was one lucky person who personally recieved the book from Dr Safiah who penned my name on it and also writen this word: “I have enjoyed your highly readable and non didactic articles...” Going through and examining the book which notes that all proceeds from its sale will go to orphans and children who live in extreme poverty, I knew it was ‘truly a precious gift’ but the sad episode of it is, I had left in buried on my desk at home and soon after have forgotten about it due to my busy scedule. Yes, we are busy ‘chasing the world’, forgetting to take our time (slowing down) in enjoying ‘the sweet and simple life’ with the guidance of Allah’s words; the book was one of the many ‘kitabs’ written by righteous persons that could make us remember Allah SWT. Alhamdulillah (praise be to God, The Almighty) this Ramadan, I have had much time to myself and one night after I got very angry and fed up upon seeing and hearing a much overdone news item over a private TV station regarding the fame ‘liwat’ (sodomy) case, I switched off the TV and looked for books to read and hence came across the thick book entitled ‘Let Us Remember Allah For The Wonder of His Creation’ by Dr Safiah. After flipping the book’s pages, I found out it was a great help if we wanted to ‘run away’ from the ‘madness’ of the selfish people of the world who do not care whether it was Ramadan or not, they come out with all sorts of ‘rubbish’ just to please their political masters. Dr Safiah in her preface of the book noted, the book is a collection of poetry and poetic style prose aimed at providing input to young people around the world about the wonder of Allah’s creation, about love for the seas, oceans and mountains; trees, rivers, animals, insects, plants and vegetation. “I sincerely hope that the highly readable book will help young people begin to see the beauty and spendour of the world around them, aworld created by Allah SWT, with new eyes and new insights. “I also hope that through a wider appreciation of the beauty and wonder of His Creation, they will praise and honour, love and fear Allah, the All-Mighty, the All-Merciful. May the young people be encouraged and guided to better understand the beautiful religion of Islam, feel the joy and sweetness of faith in their hearts and minds each day and every day of their lives. “Bearing in mind that there are vast individual differences in young peoples’ language development, specially in their ability to read and comprehend what is read, this book is a humble effort to reach out to those who may find something suited to their level of linguistic maturity more appealing. May they greet each passing day in the year with a great deal of enthusiasm to learn more about Islam.” Yes, we are in this world to be a much better person each day including to be closer to Allah SWT this Ramadan, but with all the negative traits sown by elements around us such as the mass media especially the electronic dan print ones; our young generation needs more attention and gladly in my hands I have this ‘precious gift’ to share with with them. Ones eyes and ears should not be ‘made available’ to see and hear ‘haram’ (forbidden) things such as that ‘rubbish’ news item from the TV station whats more during this sacred month of Ramadan; Dr Safiah among others suggested that you: - * In the darkness of the early morning, just before the sun comes out, wait for a while and listen to the rooster singing in his beautiful strong voice, happily telling the world what time it is. The rooster sings especially to those in deep sleep, in deep slumber, lest they forget to perform their fajr or break of dawn prayer. * Discover a world of beautiful sounds. First, listen to the smallest of sounds. Let us close our eyes and listen to the sound of the breeze stirring among the trees and then, listen to the sound of the wind whispering through the bamboo leaves. Then, listen to the sound of the wildly blowing winds. *Listen to the gentle lapping of the sea. Listen also to the cries of shore birds, near the edge, when in large numbers, they tell us that the sea is near, very near. Then listen to the sound of the seagulls as they dip and soar and then dip and soar again in the open sky. *Surely, our breath is taken away when in the early hours of the morning we see the glorious sunrise in all its shades of deep orange, bright and pale yellow. Then, as we watch the golden sunlight pouring through the windows, we thank no other but Allah SWT. * How pleasant it is to just lie down on green grass and watch the coconut trees on white sandy beaches swaying to the rhythm of the sea and let us also look at orchids; purple, bright-red and orange and of every imaginable colour. In particular, we must not forget the graceful, yellow dancing fairies and lakes filled with pink and white lilies. In the Holy Qur’an, Allah SWT conveys to us that it is He Who has bestowed upon us the precious gifts of being able to hear, see and feel. “And Allah has brought you out from the womb of your mothers while you know nothing. And he gave you hearing, sight and hearts that you might give thanks (to Allah).” – Surah An-Nahl 16: 78 Life passes on and time runs out. So, moment to moment, we must remember that as human beings we have been created and bought into existence by Allah SWT for a purpose and reason. Let us thank Allah SWT for the wonder of His creation of ears to hear, to hear the sound of sadness, of joy and of good cheer. And with eyes to see, we can see Allah’s vast Mercy. Surely, we must thank Allah SWT for the beauty and perfection of His Creation and surely, we must be grateful to Him for the precious gift of sight, the gift of eyes to see, to see the wonder of His Creation. Yes, all the above activities mentioned are simple things in life; so take your own sweet time to enjoy your life; for life is too short to keep on worrying about ‘worldly matters’; but make sure you are in His right path; one book that could guide you is Dr Safiah’s, ‘Let Us Remember Allah For The Wonder of His Creation’ published by MPH. We must be always be in His straight path because Allah SWT says: “And whoever is blind in this world (i.e., does not see Allah’s Signs and believes not in Him), will be blind in the Hereafter, and more astray from the Path.” (Surah Al-Isra’ 17: 72)