📘 ❞ The Message 17 ❝ كتاب ــ United Muslims of Australia

عن كتاب The Message 17:
Let the journey begin...
Imam Al Fudayl ibn Iyaadh - Rahimahu Allah - once sat with an elderly man
and asked him, "How old are you?"
The man replied, "60 years old."
"Did you know," said Al Fudayl, "that for 60 years you have been travelling
towards your Lord, and that you have almost arrived."
The man was reduced to silence. He whispered, "Inna lillaahi wa Inna Ilayhi
Raaji'oon (To Allah we belong and to Him we return)."
Al Fudayl asked, "Do you know the meaning of that statement. You are say-
ing that you are Allah's slave and that to Him you are returning. Whoever
knows that he is the slave of Allah, and that to Him he shall return, should
know that he shall be stopped on the Day of Judgment. And whoever knows
that he will be stopped let him also know that he will be responsible for what
he did in life. And whoever knows that he will be responsible for what he did,
let him know that he will be questioned.
And whoever knows that he will be
questioned, let him prepare an answer now!"
"What then shall I do," asked the man.
"It is simple," said Al Fudayl. "Do good in what is left of your life, forgiven
shall be your past. If not, you shall be taken to account for the past and what
is to come."
In the not-so-far-away days of old, whenever a journey was to be undertaken
proper provisions had to be prepared. The deserts were long, hot, and harsh.
Unmerciful. There were no truck stops to
fill up with Doritos, or rest stops to
buy a coke from a vending machine. In fact, there was not even a human in
sight for miles upon miles of barren sand dunes.
Thus, you had to have the provision with you before you made the journey.
Enough food, enough water, enough everything to carry you to your destina-
tion