Simple Math

So, you know how you listen to a lecture in one state, then a little while later you listen to the same bit of information and you contrive a whole new, relevant meaning to apply to your life? That happened to me today. I was listening to Anwar alAwlaki's "The Hereafter Series" in the car.. and it really opened my eyes to a truth I had forgotten... not just 'a' truth... but virtually the most important truth out there! And it has to do with simple math. We're here on this earth for what, 100 years tops... scrambling to live in luxury and wealth. Then, for people like us who believe in a hereafter, it's forever. Yaqm alQiyama alone is said to be 50,000 years! Simple math, now. If we are going to invest our time and energy and worry and woe into one or the other, which should it be??? God doesn't asks us for much at all, beside gratitude and patience. Sabr we shukr. In various forms... but the beauty of Islam is that it doesn't embrace that extremism. We are not a monastic people who reject the world and its pleasures, nor are we like the Christians, many of whom embrace a teaching of hating the world. No, the world is to be marveled at and is meant to draw us nearer to Allah, marveling at His splendor. Nor do we leave religion alone and saturate our time in love of this life. The Prophet used to pray to God 'Oh, Allah give me good in this life, and good in the next...', so he didn't neglect this life... but the problem arises when you come into a state of ghafla, or heedlessness which I often (regrettably) find myself in. In this state you virtually forget about the next life, and the way that the planets will be knocked out of their orbit and the ocean will boil over and the mountains will be flattened during yawm alQiyama. You forget that the first heaven consists of all of the stars seen by man, and that its size is only comparable to a ring tossed into the middle of a vast desert!!! This life and all of its drama and glamor are so terribly insignificant, and we are unaware of this until we wake up from it and we'll feel like it was all a dream. This is the deceit of shaytaan. Everything looks and feels so eternal. I think about my family memories, the future of my new family and kids... where we're going to live, travel... 'family planning' as I've mentioned in other blogs... its all so petty when you look at the big picture. But at the same time, its not petty. In fact, these details will all be played back to me on yawm al A3theem, and I'll answer for everything I thought, said, did, and neglected. SubhanaAllah! It really puts things into perspective. This life... its only the means to an end. The means is the test, the end is the reward of Allah ta'alas Merciful presence.... and may He make us of those glad to see Him. It's just.... I had forgotten. And the reminder struck me like a ton of bricks. So... HA! You almost had me fooled, there, dunya! Man, that was close and alhamdulillah I didn't end in such a state. May Allah keep me awake, and aware and out of ghafla. Me and us.

Oh, and I heard a cool quote about hijab the other day that was from an Arabic poem. There was a man who met a beautiful woman who covered her face upon meeting him, and he went on to compliment her and say basically, why would you cover your beautiful cheeks and lips? And she laughed at him and said something to the effect of 'uncovered i am hidden, but covered i am truly seen'. Isn't that cool? She's basically saying 'I am not my beauty', or like India.Arie said, 'I am not my hair'. ;p <3 Okay, self. Thats enough pondering for now. Talk to you later.