The Rock speaks

Since that day 6 months ago, I'd get up before everyone else, and run out to the shore, by the rocks and watch the water. My parents really chose the best place to live, this was so peaceful. These rocks were the place where my reality and dreams would clash, and my dreams would often rule, which is why I'd long to go back every single day, and no one at home knew about it.

And today, I had a memorable conversation with The Rock.

"How are you today?", asked The Rock.
"I'm good. My life is so empty."
"I can see that. It's because you don't let it fill up. Why don't you find things to do?"
"But I do so much. So much, that I fall behind. And there are so many things I want to do. My two days are never the same, and that's how a believer should be. The Prophet (pbuh) said, a muslim's two days that are the same is a loser".
"That's all fine", said The Rock, "but, what's the point in all this, if you don't have time to stop and observe the miracles...".
"What miracles?", I asked.
"You tell me. When was the last time you saw one?"
"Uhhh....I lost a gold earring and found it many days later 2 months ago, last week I wrote an exam without studying a word and aced it, I found a major sponsor for the event I'm organising next year.... "
"Are those really the kind of miracles that you would stop to notice? Or that you'd go out of your way to discover them, or that they're so special that you won't forget?"
"No... they just happen to me... and it's as if Allah's being merciful."
"Exaclty. What you are talking about are miracles, but those are mundane miracles", The Rock paused, and then smiled. "That's destiny, they're meant to happen, just as bad things happen too... but the real point of life lies in, discovering miracles that happen over and over again, every single day."
"Sounds magical. What are these miracles?"
The Rock's smile grew wider. It was getting late too, I had to be back in a few minutes.
"They are not miracles that you do not know. You know them, but you just need to appreciate their beauty from the depths of your heart. So you fill yourself with that, and then you'll never feel empty again".
"I have to go, but I'll think about what you said. Maybe, I'll discover these miracles before I see you tomorrow".

Matters of The Rock

The Rock is going to be a new category on my blog, a simple experiment... that I don't have the details of yet :P
I don't really another category/label, and everytime I add a new one it's after a lot of musings and debates. But here it is, Matters of the Rock. And I'm removing some of the less used labels.

Whom to give charity?

I will post the source as soon as I remember to look for the paper in Urdu where I read this hadith next time I go downstairs, but to the best of my memory:

A man came to the Prophet (pbuh), and asked - "If someone asks us for money, how do we know if they really deserve charity or not?"
The Prophet (pbuh) replied, "Give charity to the one who deserves, and also to the one who does not deserve, so that Allah (swt) may reward you for the deeds you deserve, and also reward you that which you do not deserve".

Mustapha

My friend and I were @ the foot of Jabel Hafeet, a beautifully lit green hill, in the middle of an oasis. Maghrib fell, and we heard the azan, and walked towards the masjid, but we were too far from it. My friend and I decided to pray out in the open on the grass. We walked to a cafeteria nearby to ask for the direction of the Qiblah. I noticed there was someone already praying inside the cafeteria, and there was a collection of prayer mats. I asked the guy for it in Arabic, and he was nice enough to take the mats, go out of the cafeteria and spread them out for us. We prayed, it was beautiful, with the vast expanse of green sand in front of us. We went back into the shop. I returned the mats to him, and he told us to pray for him. My friend and I without thinking said "inshallah", instead of making a dua for him. I guess it happens when you don't speak the language.
In that moment, I felt horrible for not being sincere to what I was saying. He was sincerely asking us to pray for him, he really wanted us to, perhaps because he didn't see a lot of people performing salah, that it was something disappearing slowly from around him, and when he did meet such people, he thought it to be a very precious experience...
"My name is Mustapha. Make dua for me using my name."

Asking someone to make dua for you is routine, whether it's in person, over the phone, at the airport or your MSN nickname. But just as asking is important, so is making that dua. And, what dua do we make for someone we don't know much about?
- To give them the best in this world, and the best in the hereafter, and to save them from the hellfire.

Upside down

Really. When I got my passport renewed in November last year, I opened up the new book to find out that they had stuck my signature upside down.
One could say that because my name begins and ends with an H, the person sticking it got confused, but the form clearly says that men sign on the left and put their thumb impression on the right- (or was it right thumb for men, left for women? can't remember)
Regardless, the thumb impression was on the wrong side too.

By the way Hafsa, it's an H, not a H ;)