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Last Ramadan was the first time I understood the beauty of being a good Muslim and its affects after death. There are people who work to leave a legacy but I think being a good Muslim alone can create that legacy.
A good Muslim will always continue to be remembered and will inspire others with their good character; by their loved ones but even possibly complete strangers. I’ve learnt enough about my grandparents and other deceased members of my family to know the former is true. The latter is what I learnt last Ramadan.
I had gone to the cemetery to do dua for a few different people, by one of the graves a woman stood doing dua and planting flowers despite the grave being quite full of them. The grave belonged to her teenage daughter. She told us how her daughter had been ill, something to do with her blood cells and had passed away the previous Ramadan.
The mother was also full of praise for her daughter which is of course natural but it felt very true too, not just compliments coloured by the love of a mother. She mentioned how her daughter (somewhere between 14-16, I’ve forgotten exactly) was a practicing Muslim and loved being so. She had been looking forward to fasting but died within the first few days of the blessed month.
I listened to this mother who believed her daughter had gone to the place she belonged to and left that which she was not made for, who believed her character was angelic and I thought how my mother wouldn’t honestly be able to say the same about me. This girl, younger than me, had died in such a blessed month and seemed to be so much better than me. I still remember Tayba, her name was Tayba, in my duas and hope to meet her in the highest station in Paradise.
I feel Tayba was a good Muslim and I believe that me making dua and not forgetting that encounter reinforces that. Not because I’m special but because she has a stranger who has never seen or heard her making dua for her by name. Would a bad person be blessed enough to be in not only their loved ones but also strangers duas?
This is how I gained a deeper understanding of how to gain a legacy as a Muslim. I don’t think it’s necessarily always being in the limelight with your work and (sincere) good deeds, but generally going about your daily life trying to be the best Muslim you can be will automatically result in your own legacy. I mean perhaps not that kind of legacy that leaves a mark on hundreds and thousands of people and over a long period of time but let’s face the inevitable fact that that only happens for the very special.
Deah, Yusur and Razan may just be that kind of special people. The more I learn about the 23, 21 and 19 year olds tragically murdered in the US earlier this week the greater the admiration I feel. They sound so ordinary yet so extraordinary.
Their faith was very important to them which shows in the accounts we are given of them. They loved their family, friends, sport, education and they were by all accounts happy, lovely people. They cared about their local community as well as the international community. Their loving, youthful nature and humanitarian acts have added to the utter sense of loss in what should be unimaginable circumstances.
They and their strong families have touched the lives of so many around the world. What a blessing to have beyond your death. Like Tayba they inspire me to be a better person, because like Tayba they have reminded me that death is not age dependent and remind me of the hadith which tells us to not waste our youth or health. All three are of a similar age to me and have been blessed enough to be role models even after their death. As others have said Allah chose them and their families to show the world what real good Muslims are like.
MashaAllah, subhanAllah their good deeds are being circulated and are encouraging others to do them same. I definitely want to do more work to leave a lasting impact on the world partly because of them; whether the rest of the world knows about it or not. They were fortunate to leave this world at a young age yet have already done so much good just by being normal and following their faith.
Through their example, I’ve renewed my intention to not waste my time and to make sure I use my life to make a positive impact. I don’t mind whether my legacy is like that of Tayba* or that of “Our Three Winners”* (of course latter would be better! :p) as long as I succeed in being a good Muslim.
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*May Allah make their time in the grave easy for grant them all jannah ul firdaws. Ameen
If you didn’t know, Deah was fundraising for Syrian children’s dental care. Please donate towards it or share with someone who can so it can act as sadaqa jariya for yourself and Deah. http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/syrian-dental-relief/206249#...
Information on what the donations will go towards: http://www.newsobserver.com/2015/02/13/4554223_in-death-three-students-k...
Comments
A friend of one of the victims has written about her in an article which is on the Guardian website: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/13/yusor-abu-salha-mor...
It's a good read because it lets you know the type of person she was.
"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.
Thanks, I'll have a read. There's already so many things I've read about them which show what great people they were MashaAllah.
"How many people find fault in what they're reading and the fault is in their own understanding" Al Mutanabbi
Chapel Hill was a terrorist attack by a Atheist against Muslims, this parking dispute is just a bullshit cover up. And while the Chapel Hill police have claimed that the triple homicide of these young Muslims was the result of a parking dispute, the friends and family of the victims claim that their deaths were the latest gruesome manifestation of Islamophobia – and it comes on the heels of close-by Duke University reversing a plan to have the MuslimVillage.com call to prayer being recited from the historic chapel after coming under pressure from Christian groups. A poll by the Pew Research Group showed that Muslims are the most disliked religious group in America.
The West has never been at ease with Islam since the Crusades. It is unfortunate that huge oil supplies lie under the Arabian Deserts. It is the West that stirred the trouble that led to 9/11. That attack was a desperate act of by men prepared to lose their life. We need to get to grips on who is the terrorist? On 24 November 1963, Lyndon Johnson said, “the battle against communism… must be joined… with strength and determination. Some three million lives were lost in the consequential battles. The US had to pull out due to Public Opinion. Communism lived on. So who was the terrorist?
The British establishment is wrong in thinking that Imams are to blame for extremism. Imams are not solution to the problem for extremism. Extremism is nothing to do with Imams. Extremism is not created from abroad, it is coming from within. Britain fails to help Muslim communities feel part of British society. Race trouble is being predicted by the Daily Express, because of an ethnic boom in UK major cities. Muslim communities need imams for the solutions of their needs and demands in their own native languages. Muslim parents would like to see their children well versed in Standard English and to go for higher studies and research to serve humanity. The fact is that majority of Muslim children leave schools with low grades because monolingual teachers are not capable to teach Standard English to bilingual Muslim children. A Muslim is a citizen of this tiny global village. He/she does not want to become notoriously monolingual Brit.
Terrorism and sexual grooming is nothing to do with Masajid, Imams and Muslim schools. Those Muslim youths who have been involved in terrorism and sexual grooming are the product of western education system which makes a man stupid, selfish and corrupt. They find themselves cut off from their cultural heritage, literature and poetry. They suffer from identity crises and I blame British schooling.
Terrorism, the use of violence against civilians is not new and it is not unique to Islamic extremists. Though we are hyper-aware of this threat from groups that view themselves as the only true Muslims, let us not forget that assaults on civilians have been used widely throughout human existence and was a widespread occurrence in the last century. Dresden, The Holocaust, Biafra, Rwanda, Cambodia, Oklahoma City... None of these had anything to do with Islam. The problem is not that Islam harbours fanatics, that Europeans allow Muslim immigrants to dwell in impoverished ghettos, or that the Western Nations support despots to ensure access to the oil of the Middle East, though all are true. The problem is that people, and states, are all too willing to use violence to advance their own self-interest. Until we eschew violence, it will always be a weapon easily adopted by the least among us to strike at the privileged.
Charlie Hebdo is a disgusting, racist and bigoted satirical publication that has been inviting such a tragedy for many years. What is the point of humour at the expense of others beliefs? The reason we're not allowed to depict our Prophet graphically is through his own instruction. He did not want to be "idolized" in any way. He even said himself "i am just a man". These terrorists have done the exact opposite - they have idolized him by claiming a false "vengeance". Still, i despise Charlie Hebdo. They were asking for it knowing full well the state of extremism in the world today. Islamic terrorism has nothing to do with Islam, it has to do with societal problems. That makes sense. That is why we see so many non-Muslim, poor Latin Americans, Africans and Indians resorting to terrorism as a means to vent their anger, right?
In Islam there is no commandment to kill people by making such allegations against them. The cartoonists had exercised their freedom of expression, and freedom of expression is totally allowed in Islam. Even during the Prophet's time there were several instances of ridicule, however the Prophet and his Companions neither punished such persons nor asked anyone to do so. On every occasion of this kind, the Prophet's Companions always tried to positively disseminate the message of Islam. They never tried to punish these people. The killing of those people who had published the cartoons is a gravely un-Islamic act in the name of Islam.
IA