Saturday 10 May 2014

When it rained in Makkah...


I saw pictures today, of the Ka’aba in Makkah… with water pouring down all its sides, and then pictures of Makkah being flooded...

My mind filled up with thoughts of how I last saw the mosque under heavy construction and renovations, just over 2 weeks ago myself – and my imagination ran awry with a barrage of what if scenarios; of what torrential rain could do in terms of wreaking havoc upon the many pilgrims and the hundreds upon hundreds of people visiting the Holy Mosque. My mind went into fast forward, crying instantly… worrying about how all these people from afar put their hearts and savings into bringing themselves to this House of Allah, to pour their hearts out and beg for mercy and miracles – and how they would be greeted with this hardship, making it ever more so hard… so hard because they won’t be able to pray surrounded by so much water… so hard because every ritual would become tougher and more testing… and in that short moment when I came upon this news, I started searching the internet for videos.

 The first one I found showed people praying in the puddles of water surrounding the Ka’aba, as if there was nothing out of place… I saw this and it made me want to cry even more – while my younger sister, watching from beside me said – ‘‘Think about how their dua’s are being granted as they make them – because not only are they in the House of Allah, but they’re praying while it’s raining!’’ and I thought – subhaanAllah… we really focus on things from such different places… we – the people i.e.

Then later in the day, I came upon a post from one of my favourite teachers::

‘‘The first thing, the last thing, and indeed everything that my teacher taught me, can be summarized as: always be grateful to the Lord. After the shocking floods in Makkah yesterday, I called him:
Me: Shaykh, are you ok?
Shaykh: We are drowning in His Mercy, not in the flood.

Allahumma lakal hamd ya Rabb, always and forever.’’

We – the people, have so much more to learn, so far to go… May our Lord give us patience, resilience and grace through the toughest of times, and may He bless us to be forever grateful, come snow, wind, hail, rain or shine – in all aspects of our lives – Allahumma Ameen wa lakal hamd wa la hawla wala quwwata illa billa wa la illaha illAllah wa AllahoAkbar

1 comment:

Name said...

You made me sound so eloquent! :D
Here's some virtual love for this post:
<3