The Play Dough
She stared at the play dough in her hands. The
different colours reminded her of the rainbow that her father had shown her
just the day before. She was only four years old and doctors had given up
hope of her motor-skills ever returning to her since that ghastly accident
two years ago. Pushing the curls away from her eyes, she miraculously began
pulling at it: twisting, rolling and shaping it into the house ... the house
that she would always tell her father about whilst sitting on his lap and
swinging in their sun-filled veranda. He would always twirl her baby-soft
hair around his fingers and say:
“Darling, the happiest day of
my life will be when you build me a house with your play dough.”
That evening, a plastic toy box lid lay on the
doorway holding a house whose blue roof was ready to cave in, whose red walls
were set in a shape other than a square, whose green door leaning on the wall
appeared more like a warrior’s shield than a door. She waited in the guest
room hiding behind the curtain until she heard the car pull into the
driveway. The door banged, the alarm clicked and the sounds of footsteps
crunching the gravel pounded her ears as he jingled his keys in his pocket to
open the door.
Ah! It was a sight sweeter than the sweetest honey, more
fragrant than the richest perfume, the dawning of a new era in the future of
his baby, a sight that pieced together his shattered hopes, a sign that her
neuro-motor-skills were slowly returning to her.
He shouted out for her. She stood behind the
curtain grinning from ear to ear unable to contain her laughter, her pink
shoes with their white bows peeping out from beneath. She let out a small
giggle, then a bigger one until she burst out laughing. He rushed into the
room and cried ‘I caught you!’ She ran out from the curtain into his strong
arms which lofted her to the ceiling, spinning her around. He hugged her and
tears of joy streamed down his cheeks and soaked his beard.
What joy and excitement! What
happiness and elation! What delight!
All
because of the SOFT dough!!!
Had the dough not been soft and pliable the
house would never have been built and the return of her skills never proven.
If the dough was hard and tough, her father may have never seen this joyous
day. The pleasures of life lie in being soft and submissive, in being meek
and obedient.
A cake can only be baked if the egg eventually
cracks, the egg white allows itself to be whipped, the sugar granules slowly
dissolve, the flour allows itself to mix and the chocolate eventually melts
... A car can only be built if the steel eventually softens and becomes a
panel, the rubber allows itself to be moulded into a tyre, the petrol
eventually burns to provide energy and the parts allow themselves to be
restricted and bolted to one place ... and the list goes on and on.
Analyse the list of words in these examples:
soft, pliable, crack, whipped, dissolve, melt, soften, mould, burn,
restricted and bolted. Every single one of them indicates toward the meek
nature and submissive character of the dough, the cake and the car. The
pleasures and enjoyment of this world are the same. They could have only come
about when someone or something was submissive.
Attaining
the pleasure of Allah Ta‘ala is the very same. It requires total commitment,
loyalty and submission to the commands of Allah Ta‘ala and the sunnah of
Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam). It calls upon us to be soft and pliable, to be cracked
and whipped, to dissolve, melt and soften, to burn, to be moulded, to be
restricted and to be bolted. It demands that we be totally meek and
submissive to his laws without any hesitation or reluctance.
This was the hallmark in the life of Sayyidah
Haajar (‘alaihas salaam). When Nabi Ebrahim (‘alaihis salaam) brought
Sayyidah Haajar (‘alaihas salaam) to the barren land of Makkah Mukarramah,
she was, bluntly speaking, staring at her destruction. Such a land stretched
out before her eyes, where there was no soul to be seen or even heard, where
nothing edible grew ... a land that outwardly promised no future. She was,
however, fully aware of the fact that this was the command of Allah Ta‘ala
brought to her by the Nabi of Allah Ta‘ala. The command of Allah Ta‘ala and
the way of His messenger as a rule is never beyond a person’s ability. All it
requires is a bit of courage in the beginning. Then the road opens up.
The response of Sayyidah Haajar (‘alaihas
salaam) to this command of Allah Ta‘ala is worthy of being written in gold
and etched onto the heart of every Believer. Her words echoed the very
mindset that made her a celebrated member of a family chosen by Allah Ta‘ala.
She said:
“How will Allah Ta‘ala ever
destroy us when we submit wholeheartedly to His decree? I am happy with the
command of Allah Ta‘ala.”
“It does not befit a believing man or woman
when a matter has been decided by Allah Ta‘ala and His Rasul (‘alaihis
salaam), to have any option about their decision.” (Surah Ahzaab v 36)
Put the Horse Before the Cart
Submission entails that a
person follows deen objectively. At every moment one should be maintaining
the purity of the sharee‘ah, without looking for any
short-cuts or guise. Rephrasing the words, re-interpreting the meaning and
altering the context of deen to suit our convenience would be equal and akin
to putting the cart before the horse.
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The journey of Islam would
never start in that event.
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