The Trust of the Rahm

Pregnancy brings on a flood of emotions. She had those emotions as well. Since the day she conceived him, she had dreams that was shed as tears every night. Being a slave in an Empire so huge that still has its impacts seen in today's modern world is not easy. With all the complications of pregnancy, physiological and psychological changes, she bore him. A fear was always there in the corner of her heart - the fear of losing him in front of her eyes.

Umm Musa was an ordinary slave woman ordered to toil and labour in harsh conditions under the ruthless Pharaoh's rule. With security checks and police chiefs all over the city, the Bani Israel had no way of escape. Every woman anticipates her delivery due date. It brings feelings of love for the unborn, anxiety on how things are going to turn out, dreams she held for so long, anticipation of holding him in her hands and yearning to look into his eyes. But for Umm Musa, she dreaded that day. Painfully, she ailed in silence and eventually gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

Her eyes welled up seeing the 9-month-old life inside her womb now on her hands, close to her chest. A moment that every mother cherishes. A moment where she is so cautious where she does't exhale in fear of losing that magical moment in the tide of time. A moment she could keep on gazing at the coolness of her eyes. Umm Musa had all those feelings too. But, her son was in extreme danger. The Egyptian soldiers patrolling outside would burst into her house and slaughter the newborn barbarously if the heard the cries of a baby.

She was devastated. Which mother would have thought to feed the baby in such a terrible situation? And that is when Allah SWT inspired her to feed the baby. See, you don't need to be super-prophets to be connected to Allah. You just need to be vulnerable and have the courage to reach out to Him. The result of having Tawakkul is that Allah SWT took full responsibility of her affairs and inspired her to act swiflty.

She fed baby Musa and silenced his cries. Mother and child were safe from the soldiers but for how long? She sat desolate thinking what to do next. And Allah inspired her again. Allah ordered her to place the baby in a chest-like box and to throw it into a winding and whirling river. The courage it took to convince herself that it isn't an insane act must have been extremely huge. What gave her that courage? 

Just to give you a picture of how a river is; it is absolutely deadly to "throw" a fragile newborn whose skeletal strucutres are still delicate into a river. The tides of river that rise and fall, the bed rocks of river with the sharp edges at every corner, the downstream rush at its peak, the crocodiles and other deadly predators hunting for their prey and The Rabb of the 'Alameen, The Most Knowledgable,ordered Umm Musa to throw the baby into it.The tawakkul of a believer should seem to be an absolute insane trust to the disbelievers. What is insane for others is the right thing to do for the believer. Ajeeb are the affairs of the ghurabaa!

Allah's promise to Umm Musa was fulfilled when baby Musa was returned to her to nurse him. She wasn't only allowed to nurse him but to do so with full rights as the order itself came from the Palace of Fira'un from whom she dreaded the fate of her child! Again, this is the result of tawakkul. Allah fulfils His Promise made to His slave. Ask any mother who has lost her child. She would give up her whole life without a second thought if she could hold her baby one last time. The depression of Umm Musa after throwing baby Musa into the river did not weaken her. Instead, it strengthen her heart and made it firm upon His Promise.

Ask yourselves, when was the last time you insanely had tawakkul on Allah? Having tawakkul is not the absence of worry. Rather, it is directing it toward the One who can remove it and replace it with peace and serenity. How ever huge you might see your problem as, no matter how much obstacles there are on the path, ask yourself,who could stop if Allah 'Azza wa Jal has taken charge of helping you through out?

Sometimes we are used to riding so high that we forget the success that is actually a combination of two things ; our effort and Allah's Help. That is what Ummu Musa did. An effort so huge, so painful and yet she chose to do it. And the rest is history.

Knowledge isn't found in the books but in the heart

Thanks to the era of Internet, we have successfully deluded ourselves with the impression we are students of knowledge. The numerous courses available online, livestream programs, recorded audios have benefitted greatly but it also took a toll on the Nafs. We call ourselves Taalibul Ilm without pausing to think what we claim to be. We embraced knowledge with wide arms and warm hugs in the beginning but that “knowledge” has been reduced to bits and pieces of information. Piles of books read, hundreds of Hadiths encountered, countless courses attended but the soul comes to a standstill. It is not being moved by all those “knowledge” as was used to. It is a call for danger.

The reason for this is the partial approach of the whole process. We learn the information but fail to portray it in our lives. It is only when the information is represented in real life, knowledge comes to life. Other than that, it is dead information sitting in a dusty corner of the cortex.

A well-known Sahaabiyah who is perhaps the least represented as Taalibul Ilm or to be considered an important source for solving Masaa’il of Fiqh is the one whom this article will be addressing. Read on.

Sumayyah bint Khayyat (RA) is an inspirational role model for each and every student of knowledge. It might be peculiar to associate this to Sumayyah (RA) but, in truth, she was the epitome of Islam. She was the first person to shed her blood on the face of this Earth for the sake of Islam.With no sense of disrespect or insult intended, if we compare ourselves to Sumayyah (RA), it is us who have more information than her. We know more Quran as the Quran wasn’t complete during her lifetime, we know more ahadith than her, we have solutions to different kind of Fiqh Masaa’ils and so on. The information she had compared to ours’ is scarce yet she lived a life of honour and died with dignity.

Sumayyah (RA) had little information but she “knew” Islam way better than us. She had deep knowledge of Laa ila ha illallah. And to that she clung tightly like a life support. She placed all her energy into it and it became intense with each whip, strike,burn and bruise on her body. The information revolved to become knowledge. She transformed and became the embodiment of La ila ha illallah. A former slave, married to a man from foreign land, being bullied by the Arab women, deemed to be worthless in their eyes, not possessing any beauty, had conquered her soul and died after living a life of dignity. The hands that hit her might have felt the pain of it but her grasp of La ila ha illallah just got stronger with each strike. Ajeeb indeed! 

That is the responsibility she had for the knowledge she acquired. After knowing the Truth and coming to realize the Oneness of Allah, she lived and died with that knowledge engraved in her heart, soul and actions. It was that knowledge which made the desert’s heat bearable, her oppressor’s whips to be the tickets to Jannah and her name to be announced as first Shaheed in Islam. She died a death where the sand dunes of the desert, the oasis, the palm trees, the barren sky, the glorious sun witnessed silently, mourning for their inability to do anything else.

Fast forward to our time. Sitting in front of the laptop and typing into the search engine all our problems and hoping to get an answer that serves our desires. We obtain information at the tip of fingers but our heart is rendered void as each day passes. The dissemination of knowledge –even if it is one verse as the Prophet (SAW) had said- ended up as rants on Twitter and endless comments battle on Facebook.  The information is processed by the neurons but never seem to strike the soul. The “knowledge” we have doesn’t even give us the strength to donate more than average, to concentrate in our Salah incessantly every single day, to give us the vigor to wake up for Tahajjud and yet, we have declared ourselves to be Taalibul Ilm. Ajeeb indeed!

 Look at how Allah describes the knowledgeable in the Quran.

And among people and moving creatures and grazing livestock are various colors similarly. Only those fear Allah , from among His servants, who have knowledge. Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Forgiving.

Time has come for us to reflect on this deeply and ask ourselves some important questions. We need to dare our soul and see if the time spent “seeking knowledge” deserves what it is called. Without some serious soul-searching, we might end up just like the Children of Israel. They were oceans of knowledge yet chose to turn a blind eye towards Islam. They were amongst the wisest people yet failed to convince their soul. The accumulation of research, study and memorization of books had led most of their souls astray. Allah SWT describes the stories of the past for us to take heed. And it is time we do so.