What promises, man?

 Today, I am in a destructive mood. All of a sudden, my gut feeling wants me to act like a rebel and do away with everyone who acts against me. That feeling of being betrayed with a promise is inexplicable in words; not that I haven’t ever heard of something like ‘promises-are-meant-to-be-broken’ but realizing that someone gave you a word (that something will be done) for his own selfish purpose, it makes me think lowly of that person so much so that I wish to put his name under brackets of suspicion for future references.

I’ve learnt a lesson. The next time he comes asking for help, I’ll straightaway return him with a big ‘NO’ –as big as it could be-promise breakers can’t be deserving of my admiration. Period.

But wait, I just heard the call for prayer and a thought just struck me that need to be mentioned here. I did not wake for fajr today—why? I had been busy with my own rendezvous last night and it was difficult to wake up in the morning. The reason doesn’t end there, the current stability of my life is to be blamed for- I have no reasons to worry at all- I have the entire day to perform its Qadha ..God can wait, no?

That’s me today.

But the person I am when afflicted with sorrow is drastically different:- I go around being kind to friends and foes alike, I find religious songs more mellifluous than other genres (that appear evil at that time) , being of aid to somebody unimportant seems alluring and optional prayers are performed with optimum zeal, commitments after commitments are piled up..Why? Because if I have to ask something from the Lord, I have to be the type He appreciates; and when my needs are answered, I revert back to my original ways of arrogance and self adoration.

Even then, God doesn’t stop His blessings on me, nor does He expose my fallacies before all those people who hold me in high regards.

And here I am, trying to rebuke the person who replied my generosity with his stinginess. A human cannot bear contempt from another human; and yet I believe it’s all right to take the Lord of the Worlds for granted?

Man's transition.

When I was a kid, I loved visiting my village; not with the intent of meeting our relatives back home or bathing in its pure, unadulterated habitat but to get a chance to experience the nature in its truest diversity during the 36 hour rail journey .I loved seeing the mountains with sun peeping from its behind, the large rivers gushing underneath, the serenity of the hills, flocks of sheep being guided through and trees alongside our track that seemed running in the opposite direction.  I would plant my cheeks on the train’s window and look in the reverse marvelling at the speed of those trees –some were short, others dense, perennial, tall etc; it actually seemed to me then that they were all running along us albeit in another direction.  But it wasn’t the case, and having realized the fact that it was we who were speeding ahead while the trees stood still, a grown up me dubbed that innocence as sheer stupidity.

Perhaps, stupidity would be a wrong word for it. You see, there are some things that people around teach you while there are other facts that are unravelled by a deep contemplating heart that is wrapped with past experiences. When I look back at the alacrity by which my life rushed by, I can visualize past events that run before my eyes like those trees whereas the truth is something else. It is me who went running by, turning a year older every year, with a kitty full of occurrences- good, bad, sweet, disappointing, bitter-and these events lay still- engraved in the bosoms of memory.

I’m reminded of one of the most beautiful sayings of a man I knew long before I learnt to recognize my own self, ..I’m not talking about my father but I am referring to his master and my guide Hazrat Ali Ibn Abi Talib (A.S). He said, “Man does not know where he came from or where is he going; he was created from a drop of dirty liquid and yet he walks around like he knows everything?”

The saying in itself may exhibit beauty and eloquence unheard of but it’s seriously ironical for materialistic people like us. We have no idea about our origin-what we were, how we came into existence, what was it like in our mother’s womb-and yet we struggle for fame, power, recognition like everything mighty under the sun belongs to us alone. What is it that makes us forget our nothingness (before we were born) so much so that we do not recognize those in their graves knowing that that is an inevitable reality, no matter how much you deny. And we continue to suppress others while paving our ways out for success and elevation?

Allah, the Glorified, in His book of Hadith-e-Qudsi says, “I did not create the children of Adam to be destroyed but to make them live forever.” And the best way to prolong your life- of the soul and not the body- is to correct your actions in accordance with things pleasurable to Allah (swt)- You see the equation works like this –

Good intentions  +  Good deed =  Rewards

Rewards  ↔  Heaven ↔  Eternity !!