What were you doing while someone struggled for their last breath of air?
Recent years have been different, marked by losses and heavy hearts, whether on the global scale or even in the window of my own life. Perhaps the people who are grieved I didn’t know personally, but yes, they did have an impact on me in interconnected this web of sorts.
Even so, I have learned many, many things.
In the Qur’an, Allah SWT tells us:
Naught of disaster befalleth in the earth or in yourselves but it is in a Book before we
bring it into being –
Lo! that is easy for Allah –
57:22
Despite these losses, despite our heavy hearts, these things were destined before we even came into existence. They were always destined to happen at this time, at this place. It was all meant to be.
In these circumstances, you live knowing that life is fleeting: you hold things in your hands knowing that they won’t be there forever, you sit and observe because you know that moment won’t come back again, you ask Allah SWT for forgiveness for things you forgot, and you listen to your own heartbeat and wonder how many are recorded for you.
It seems scary, doesn’t it? It’s something I am still coming to terms with myself. But it’s the reality. It is every single person’s destiny. We don’t know the how and the why, but Alhumdulilah by the mercy of our Lord, we have been given a way to prepare for it. And that is Islam.
I have found myself appreciating the small moments, and trying to really remember and record them in my mind instead of mindlessly rushing to the next thing. I am trying to be more meaningful in whatever I do.
It’s important for us to reflect on how life is. It is temporary, as it was always meant to be.
For those whose souls have departed, we can only make du’a for them and be optimistic. We should always have hope in the mercy of Allah. We should always be working to run towards Him. We should always be thankful and appreciate even the things that seem hard to appreciate.
Our final home is the Hereafter, and we hope to return to our Lord in a state where we are pleased with Him and He, pleased with us.
