New year and our duty

New year celebrations went wild last night. We hear that the most expensive ones were in Dubai. May Allah guide those people towards spending in some worthwhile causes.

How can we celebrate when so much has happened in the previous year? Hundreds of thousand of innocent civilians killed, millions displaced, whole infrastructures wiped out. And it’s still going on.

This Hadith comes to mind;
“كيف انعمٰ و قد التقم صاحب القرن قرنه و أصغي سمعه و حني جبهته ينتظر لان يؤمر بالنفخ فينفخ فيه”

“How can I enjoy when the trumpet blower has put the trumpet on his lips, lowered his ears, leaned forward, waiting for the instruction to blow, so he could blow?”

Abu Hurayrah was invited to a feast in which there was a whole roasted goat on the table spread. He refused to eat saying “Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam died while he never saw such a dish, how can I eat it?”

Abdurrahman Ibn Awf was fasting. Food was presented for iftaar. He remembered his companions and said “We migrated with Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, then some of us fulfilled their oath (of supporting Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam) and gave their lives for his sake, like Mus’ab Ibn Umair. He was martyred in the battle of Uhud. We did not have clothes to shroud him. We only had one sheet, If we covered his head his feet would show up and if we covered his feet his head would remain visible. Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam instructed us to cover his head and put idhkhir grass on his feet. There are others like me who’s fruits ripened for them and now we are picking them”. Then he wept so bitterly that he couldn’t eat.

Umar Ibn al Khattab asked for some drinking water. The attendant sweetened it with a little bit of honey and brought the water. Umar radiallahu anhu said: “I am not saying it’s haram, but I notice that Allah Subhanahu wa ta’aala has rebuked some people for enjoying their luxuries in this dunya. He said
“أذهبتم طيباتكم في حياتكم الدنيا واستمتعتم بها”
You have used up your good things in”
your worldly life and enjoyed yourselves”.(46:20) Then he refused to drink that water and returned it.

One sahabi said “Are you not enjoying food and drink however you wish? I have seen Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam in such a state that he could not find enough dates to fill his stomach”

Ummul mu’mineen Aisha Siddiqa radiallahu anha was extremely generous. She would lead a simple life. Once she distributed a hundred thousand while she was fasting and she did not have anything for Iftar on that day. She would say “We in the household of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam would witness one crescent, and then another and then the third, (ie 2 months would pass) while the stove could not be heated in our house. (Because we would have nothing to cook). Her nephew Urwah asked “How would you survive?” She replied “Dates and water would keep us alive. Besides we had some Ansari neighbours who would send some milk for Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam and he would feed us from there”

When the salaf would see a person in distress, they would cry their eyes out. Today we see images of bodies blown up in pieces, children with amputations, snipers targeting the faces and blowing up parts of the head and then gloating over it, yet not a single tear appears in our eyes. The least we could do is make dua for them. But our mind just doesn’t go towards it.

It seems our hearts have become as hard as rocks and we can’t see any way of softening them. Surely over attachment with worldly life and indulgence in luxuries, pleasures, and Busying ourselves in amusements, Does have a huge affect on the heart.

We need to pass our hands over the heads of orphans, visit the sick in hospitals, wash and shroud the dead, attend funerals, and visit the graveyards. We need to busy ourselves in remembrance of Allah, we need to beg Allah for His blessings so that our condition can change for the better.

May Allah have mercy upon the whole world, give us the ability to change so that He may change our condition.
Ameen