Sing & Dance In The Rain

 "I'm singin' in the rain" Klaud Weiss
{Photo courtesy Klaud Weiss}

My husband and I had just finished coming back to bed after praying Fazr salath and just as we were about to fall asleep, we got startled when his cellphone rang out that early in the morning.  By the time he got to answering it, the caller had already left a voice mail.  

“Kkk…kaku” sobbed the male voice over the loudspeaker.  “Kaku…” he repeated. “Ami deshey choley jacchi.  Amma mara gechey”.  Translation…“Uncle, I’m going back home. Mom has passed away”.

We both stared at the phone for a few seconds absorbing the news, and then quickly remembered to say  “Inna lil lahi, wa inna ilaihi rajiun” meaning 'Surely we belong to God and to Him shall we return' (Quran 1:156).  After calling his cousin’s teenage son back and trying to comfort him as best as he knew how, for my husband too had lost a parent - his father, almost six years back - he came to join me at the living-room couch.  The sun was starting to come up now and we both stared passed our glass patio door at the beautiful orange and blue unveiling of the night sky to announce the coming day, just beyond all the green of the trees ahead. How magnificently light manages to rationalize and dismiss our darkest fears!

He almost whispered, “I’m feeling so incredibly sad”. 

“I know honey” I paused… “Alhamdulillah though.  Just imagine how lucky you and I are – to be given one more day to wake-up.  One more day to try to do good and undo any of the bad that we’ve done” I said to him, while he took my hand in his and nodded slowly in agreement. 

“Yeah, but… tomorrow I can be on the other side of that line sobbing for my mother”. And we both sat quietly for a while knowing the reply to that.  It can be any of us reaching out to our close ones, on the other side of that line, mourning the loss of a loved one. 

Sometimes we tend to have a carefree outlook that our “clock” isn’t ticking, and only the other person's are. Maybe its the mature ego defence of "suppression" in order to voluntarily withhold some unacceptable thought in order to go on happily in life.  Or maybe its just plain forgetfulness, when we hear that someone young has passed away, we often enough are shocked and exclaim, 

“But he was so young!”.  

We forget that we all - no matter what our age or our condition – have a ticker on us called the heart, just beating away. At times thumping with sorrow, other times beating happily,  pounding passionately away…and while at other times, just quietly ticking.  But this post isn't about death... Its the reminder of life!  But one cannot talk about the other, without mentioning both.  Just as one cannot think of darkness without remembering the absence and value of light.  

We’ve all mourned the loss of someone – human or animal – close to us… whether by death, or other form of painful separation – an ache which isn’t a stranger, but a generous friend in many faces - that spares none of us its many visits.  Its only human to mourn and shed tears when faced with grief,  and was best adviced by a noble Moroccan Shaykh (may Allah bless and preserve him) saying that, ‘weeping is a prayer that will surely be answered’.  But we should also remember through such trying times as prescribed by Islam, not to act bewildered, erratic, and say anything that will displease or insult the Creator.  We have to practice Sabr – the Islamic virtue of “patience” or “endurance” as one of the two parts of faith (the other being Shukr meaning “gratitude”). Each of our souls were sent here when He Wanted, and will be taken back When He Wills.   No matter what we might believe, we belong to not even ourselves, other than to Him.  And the only surety of life for anyone - is death.  While the biggest un-surety is whether we will wake-up to see another day, or be given another chance at it – to do better, be better than yesterday.  That’s why at the hearing of the passage of another departed soul – we should be humbled as close to the ground as possible while striving to go about life the way we would want to be recalled, remembered with fondness and laughs, missed with tears out of pure love, and prayed for with utter sincerity.  

Let’s strive each day to make it so great that when we meet Our Maker, we can stand in front of Him humbly without fear and with Him Smiling.  So that we can account for what we did with that beautiful vessel, our body - in which He sent the Angels to Blow our souls into – account for every action, words spoken, tears shed, and silence held – by each one of us.  How can you deny any of the accounts – when it was He Who Watched you when you took your first steps and Watched on as you took every step after that, till you came to a stop at the end of the path leading upto Him?  

So, even though He Knows already… Have a great story waiting, which you can’t wait to tell Him.  Go ahead…Tell Him how you sang and danced in the rain, through the storms instead of running for the shade... Just as you did through the storms of life that He Tested you with.  And in the meantime, maybe while Waiting for you to reach Him, even Allah will have to Take a peak again and again at the end of your story – just like you would do if you were to re-read a favorite storybook of yours - which you couldn’t wait to get to the end of.

Al Qur'an:
“Wherever you are, death will find you out, even if you are in towers built up strong and high!...” {Surah An-Nisa 4:78}


“It is God that takes the souls (of men) at death; and those that die not (He takes) during their sleep: those on whom He has passed the decree of death, He keeps back (from returning to life) but the rest He sends (to their bodies) for a term appointed. Verily in this are Signs for those who reflect.” {Quran: Surah Al-Zumar 39:42}

Hadith:
“Narrated by Ibn Umar (radiAllahu anhu) that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: "Increase your remembrance of the One which defeats pleasures" In this regard to life and death - our beloved Prophet (pbuh) said:  ''Do for your life as if you are to live eternally, and do for the hereafter as if you are to die tomorrow. ''

“Sa’d ibn ‘Ubadah (radiAllahu anhu) fell ill with some complaint that he suffered from, and the Prophet (pbuh) came to visit him, accompanied by some of his companions.  When he entered and found him in a coma, he asked, ‘Has he passed away?’ They said, ‘No, O’ Messenger of Allah.’  The Messenger (pbuh) of Allah wept, and when the people saw him weeping, they wept too.  He said, ‘Are you not listening?  Allah will not punish a man for the tears that fall from his eyes or for the grief that he feels in his heart, but He will either punish or have mercy on a man because of this,’ and he pointed to his to his tongue.” {narrated by ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar; Bukhari and Muslim}

The Prophet (pbuh) wept as his son Ibrahim (ra) passed away, and said to the Companions when they were surprised by this:
‘Not this do I forbid. These are the promptings of tenderness and mercy, and he that is not merciful; unto him shall no mercy be shown. O Ibrahim, if it were not that the promise of reunion is sure, and that this is a path which all must tread, and that the last of us shall overtake the first, verily we should grieve for you with a yet greater sorrow. Yet, we are stricken indeed with sorrow for you, O Ibrahim. The eye weeps, and the heart grieves, nor say we anything that would offend the Lord.’

Words of Wisdom:
“The greatest use of a life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.” {Anonymous}


“Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass,
It’s about dancing in the rain” {Anonymous}