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1) THE TREASURES OF YOUTH – give not up that hope or helping hand
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was very kind and respectful towards children. He would pick them up in his arms, play games with them, and kiss them. Loving and spending valuable time with your children now are moments you will cherish for the rest of your life! Don’t neglect your children because of work or any other commitments.
WE ALLKNOW them too well: The itsy-bitsy teenagers walking down the street in itsy-bitsy clothes. Sports, night clubs, drugs are but a few examples of what they mostly find time to do. When subjected to jeers like 'loser' and 'uncool', they cave in under the increasing pressure, and in an effort to prove themselves as daredevils, they get swayed with the wind, only to later discover that they have even surpassed their peers.
But wait a minute! Instead, isn't youth a stage of life for high aspirations, productive work, and achievement? So surely it's not a Muslim youth that you think is being portrayed in this vignette, do you? I'm afraid you do. And rightfully so.
Misguided Quests for Bliss
Lost in the glint and glamour of a West-affected life, pondering over the best way to make it through to happiness, these young Muslims always feel a bit depressed, a bit left out, a bit lost and unhappy, without exactly knowing why. They look so hard for happiness that sometimes they even forget what they are looking for, and get deceived by appearances.
Wealth, power, prestige, charm galore-hey, you name it. Yet once they attain these vanities, they often realize they are still not satisfied. Happiness was not where it first appeared to be. They are like the man who takes to drinking because he feels himself a failure, who then fails all the more only because he started drinking!
So they continue their endless pursuit of pleasure, never knowing that pleasure cannot be endless here on imperfect earth, but only in Heaven above. Satan is a busy guy. So he makes them ignorant of this simply reality. Consequently, these young people keep looking for happiness in all the wrong places, and then when they fail—as they inevitably do—their hearts scream out in pain.
Our Worldly Appetites
To understand this state better, let's picture a child who has an empty stomach. He finds some food lay out in front of him, and obviously the hunger pangs make him yearn like crazy for these scrumptious eatables. The youth depicted above too-after having deprived himself of his prestigious status of being a Muslim, of being the bearer of the glad tidings for the worlds, of being the son of his great spiritual father, our beloved Prophet (PBUH) is now empty within. So he wildly leaps onto anything that he can lay his hands on.
Yet had his stomach been properly full-his "within" satisfied by the sustenance of his revealed beliefs, his divine faith-he would have easily been able to discern that all materialistic (and not infrequently Western) influences are but a disruption from his true path of bliss.
All the more futile when you realize that more often than not, our image of our success and happiness is what we imagine others will think of us. We think our shallow musings real, when in fact it is what our Creator thinks of us that is the real truth about us, for if we are pleased with our Lord, and then He is pleased with us. This is the wealth that neither the tyrants of the world nor upheavals of life can take away from us.
Exemplars of Content
Imam Ibn Taymiyyah, rahimahullah, repeatedly faced imprisonment and exile for speaking the truth for Allah's sake. In these circumstances, his words of exceeding depth and beauty were only this:
"There is a Paradise here on earth, and whoever does not enter it here will not enter the Paradise of the Hereafter".
"What can my enemies possibly do to me? My Paradise is in my heart. Wherever I go, it goes with me."
Can he who carries Paradise in his heart ever be unhappy?
Then there was Yusuf, alayhe salam, and the wife of the Aziz, about both of whom it has been rightly said: "Verily, passion turns kings into slaves, and patience turns slaves into kings." Islamic history is rife with such youthful heroes, who made themselves shine and stand above all by following the true love, the love that drenched in the delights of Allah's blessings and His remembrance. Not only this, but they also re-established the glory of the Muslim Ummah, helping it rise through the challenges of the most turbulent and trying times. Many of them underwent grueling physical and emotional tortures. Yet they were strong as mountains, had the courage of lions…. And yet had the Zuhd, the asceticism, of hearts detached from the life of this world. Thus they experienced Islam in a way that was inspiring and joyful.
Allah Almighty in the Quran also narrates the story of a group of enlightened young men who had figured out what it is all about, for they had discovered the true meaning in life: God is One.
Behold! They were a (group of) youths who took shelter in the cave (apart from their people).
Immortalized by the Quran as The Companions of the Cave who testified to true iman Billah, faith in Allah, when no one in their entire Christian nation believed in God as truly One. Thus they knew that all the awaited them now was the wrath of the mightiest monarch of their times, and agonizing death at his hands.
Thus they prayed to their Lord: "And they said: Our Lord! Grant us mercy from Your own (providence). And furnish us, in our (present) circumstances, with right guidance" (18:10).
So, Allah accepted their prayers and says in the Quran.
"So We struck ( a seal of sleep) upon their ears in the cave for a (great) number of years. Then We awakened them, so that We might distinguish which of the two parties (among them) would best enumerate the length they had abided (in the Cave). We (now) relate to you their tidings with (profound) truth: Indeed, they were youths who believed in their Lord (alone). So We increased them in guidance. Thus We secured their hearts when they stood (before their people) and proclaimed: Our Lord is the (only) Lord of the heavens and the earth! Therefore, never shall we call upon any god apart from Him! For very truly, we would have then uttered an outrageous lie!" (Surat Al-Kahf, 18:11-14).
They remained asleep in the cave for 309 years, only by the Will of Allah, for Allah protects those of Tawakkul, who rely on Allah alone and beseech Him for guidance. And that's what follows in the later ayat:
"your Lord will unfold for you (something) of His mercy, and He will furnish you in your (present) circumstances with good facility (to meet your needs). And (had any of you people been in witness), you would have seen the sun as it rose inclining away from their cave toward the right; and, as it set, declining away from them toward the left—while they were (asleep) in a deep hollow within. This is of the (miraculous) signs of God. Whomever God guides, then he is (TRULY)guided. But whoever He leaves to stray, then never shall you find for him any rightly guiding patron. Moreover, you would have thought them awake, though they lay sleeping. For We turned them on (their) right sides and then on their left, while their dog stretched forth his forelegs at the threshold. Were you to have come upon them, most surely, you would have (frantically) turned away from them in flight, for you would have been filled with horror (at the sight) of them" (Surat Al-Kahf, 18:16-18).
Thus, Allah's Messenger (PBUH), mentioned the young person who spent his or her youth in the worship of Allah as among the seven people who will be granted shade under His Throne on Judgment Day, when there will be no shade but that of the 'Arsh of Almighty Allah (Bukhari).
Birds of a Feather
This story of the Companions of the Cave also illustrates a vital means by which the young believer can reform and safeguard himself and stay steadfast on this straight and blissful path-namely, by keeping the company of the righteous. Life is full of frustrating hitches. Not just hitches, but deep dark ditches. Most of these can be avoided. But we often discover this only after falling into many. The best way is to learn what those pitfalls are through the admonitions of those who have knowledge and experience, who can explain why and how to avoid such pain and setback from the beginning.
That is the very reason why the prophets too were sent to this world, to guide their people upon the safe and straight path and connect them to Allah. Through the revealed knowledge vouchsafed them from Allah, they could make the ignorant realize that they had a past, pre-earthly past in which they had taken the covenant of Alastu, Am I not! In this world, successful are those who renew and adhere to the proclamation they made when asked by Allah, Alastu bi rabbium, Am I not your Lord?
"(Remember) when their Lord took from the loins of the children of Adam their progeny and made them testify about themselves: "Am I not (alastu) your Lord?' They said, "yea! We testify!—lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection, "As for us, we were heedless of this" (7:172).
Now prophet hood has been sealed. The only people who can help make us desire Allah's love are the heirs of the Prophets, the 'ulama' (the learned of Allah)! These are the ones who themselves have focused all their energies on acquiring knowledge of Allah and His religion, and who have reformed themselves to the point that a common man derives peace just by sitting in their company. That is to say, it is incumbent upon us to benefit from the company of those blessed by Allah with 'ilm and 'amal, revealed knowledge and the implementation of that revelation in their own lives. For in this blessed company, we can hope to reform the course of our lives in the light of the Quran and the Sunnah. We should at least make an effort, and the guidance, God willing, shall follow from the All-Merciful.
In light of the seemingly insurmountable dangers that families are facing nowadays, many Muslim parents have altogether given up on their children. Yet while these young people may be well beyond the grasp of their parents, if they begin sitting in good company, then surely at least some, if not all, parts of their lives will come back into congruence with their lost spiritual values.
Still you say, How can one leave it all, all the 'fun' or the constant search for it? Well, it may not prove easy in the beginning, but there is nothing exhilarating or thrilling in easy stuff, is there? Being the heroic youth that you are, won't you challenge yourself up to the eternal pleasures, the ultimate chalice?
And once you have achieved it and tasted the love of your Lord, then shall you realize why it is the best of treasures, for whoever has attained true love of his Lord fears losing any moment with Him and nothing else.
(Courtesy: Al Jumuah Magazine)
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