Aslamu- Alikum wa Rahmatu-llah
So, I’m praying regularly again, and going to the Masjid
But it seems like every time you walk out the Masjid,
you got that guy standing at the door,
unassumingly looking around with the infamous charity box
in our case, it’s Kareem, who never seems to take a week off
If you’re lucky,
you’ll have a dollar to get yourself out of an awkward situation
But this time,
all I had was a twenty
Sure I felt bad about it considering that the fact that the Imam just gave a sermon
on how to trust Allah with all of your affairs
And how dismayed Kareem seemed with me
I thought about giving him the twenty
But I’ve seriously got a lot on my plate right now
Besides,
what’s twenty dollars going to do?
When you sit down and crunch the numbers over and over again
Your expenses in life seem never-ending
And you feel like it’s only a matter of time
before it all falls apart
I look at my niece Fatima,
and see that innocent stress-free child that I once was
She gets her daily allowance of one dollar, just like I used to
And doesn’t have to worry about spending on anything,
or anyone else
She’s pretty picky about it too
For some reason, she prefers coins instead of bills
I just wonder what she does with all that change
Many times you don’t get how blessed and stress-less you actually are,
until you or someone you know is struck with tragedy
Younus came by that day to inform me
that Kareem was actually hit by a car,
after Jum’aa, and suffered two broken legs
Younis was collecting money
from each member of the community
to help pay for his medical expenses
I told him I didn’t have much,
but Younus said that so many people were pitching in,
that anything would count
And suddenly, that twenty dollars
I refused to put in Kareem’s box for the sake of Allah
Went to Allah for the sake of Kareem
We’d all love to live the life of the rich and famous
But all that is skewed perception
Besides,
Allah can take it away from you in an instant
And leave you in a state of desperation,
yet with a much-needed dose of humility
That’s when it’s all put back in perspective
And you realize the wisdom of the prophet-pbuh-
when he said that “True richness lies in the heart”
the smaller things in life start to mean so much more
And you realize you have a whole lot to be grateful for
My sister called that day to talk to Fatima as usual
And after talking about everything,
and I mean everything!, that happened that day
She asked to speak to me
She told me to take Fatima to the toy store
and let her do her thing
I asked her what she meant by ‘her thing’
And she said all I had to do was take her
And that Fatima would know exactly what to do
But just like with Kareem,
tragedy is always around the corner
And people’s happiest moments in life
are often spoiled by unexpected disasters
But sometimes Allah spares you in his divine decree
to teach you a lesson
And Allah told me that lesson through Fatima
As her mom said, she knew exactly what to do
Apparently, that second piggybank is where she would keep her charity money
And every time she’d buy something for herself,
She’d also buy a toy for a refugee child
who couldn’t afford to
Fatima explained to me that if Allah gives you,
you should always give back
Even if it’s small,
because it might mean a lot to someone else
As usual,
the little girl with big heart was right
So, as you guys can see here,
Zeyara made the mistake that we always make
Which is ‘what’s this one good deed gonna do?
, what’s this one dollar gonna do?,
what’s this one act of kindness going to do?’
and the Prophet –pbuh- he warned us of that attitude,
he said ‘Do not belittle anyone of your good deeds,
even if it’s serving a glass of water
to your brother with a smile on your face’
because you don’t know which one Allah is going to accept
I mean, we constantly hear these numerous examples from the prophet-pbuh-
about the woman, for example, that entered into Paradise,
though she was an adulteress, because she gave water to a thirsty dog
or the man who was strolling in Paradise
because he removed something harmful from the road
the prophet-pbuh- said:
‘if the day of judgment comes and you have a plant it your hand’
–even though you know the Earth is gonna be shattered-
‘and you can plant it,
go ahead and plant it’
Because Allah might accept it
And if Allah accepts it,
then that’s all we want in this life
That’s all that counts on the day of judgment
And that’s why Abdullah ibn Omar said
that if I knew that Allah accepted a single prayer from me,
then I would wish for death
And if you notice, all of these different instances that we go through with the prophet-pbuh-
They all include an act of kindness, an act of charity, an act of service
Why? Because Allah shows mercy to the merciful
And so when you demonstrate, when you display an act of mercy
The Most Merciful will not let your mercy exceed his
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