BARKA DA SALLAH!

Every year the month of Ramadan comes and goes; every year we Fast, yet many of us without proper appreciation of the potentials of character building that the Ramadan Fast holds for us. Perhaps our lack of knowledge of the real objectives of Fasting often tends to produce an adverse effect in us for, as […]

Every year the month of Ramadan comes and goes; every year we Fast, yet many of us without proper appreciation of the potentials of character building that the Ramadan Fast holds for us. Perhaps our lack of knowledge of the real objectives of Fasting often tends to produce an adverse effect in us for, as is well known, the best of medicines could have ill-effects if not taken in accordance with the physician’s instructions.
Fasting is meant to mellow us into exhibiting the finer tracts of human character. We ought to welcome Fasting as a practical means of reforming ourselves rather than considering the period as an inevitable religious bondage, eagerly awaiting the time to free ourselves therefrom at the end of the month, to resume our ways of old again.
Two years ago on these pages we celebrated Sallah with some human character-moulding exhortations from the book DON’T BE SAD (original Arabic name LA TAHZAN) by Aaidh Ibn Abdullah Al-Qarnee. The book is one of the most phenomenal one may ever come across. The English translation, all of 456 pages, is well rendered by Faisal ibn Muhammad, and is so very digestible. (When the first discussion of the book appeared on these pages several years ago, many readers – a Deputy Governor of a certain state, a Minister, some Senators, and the more important common people like this writer – communicated to find out how they could obtain a copy. Had your columnist been a book merchant, or even a businessman, he would have made some nice dough, as they say in America).
Your writer did procure a number of copies and distributed to many (especially non-Muslims) who asked for it, and provided information to the Muslims that they could ask friends to buy copies for them from Saudi Arabia or the UK. The books literally flew out of Saudi and London bookstores. And, my hometown Kano being hard-core mercantile, soon our booksellers quickly went over to Saudia and brought over tens of thousands of copies LA TAHZAN (and its twin, ENJOY YOUR LIFE, which was also discussed here) to Nigeria. (It helped that your writer alerted the publishers in Saudi Arabia of the avalanche of demand, then.)
LA TAHZAN aims at repelling despair and replacing it with a pragmatic and ultimately satisfying outlook on life. Al Qarni, in his Introduction, says the book is not only for Muslims, but is suitable for all readers, as it contains sayings of Eastern and Western writers and philosophers. We shall today reproduce the few snippets, actually ageless wisdom, we originally presented here two years ago, to take us beyond Ramadan. Enjoy:
DOING GOOD TO OTHERS GIVES COMFORT TO THE HEART: The first person who benefits from an act of charity is the benefactor himself; by finding peace, by watching a smile form on the lips of another. If you find yourself in distress, show kindness to others, give to the needy, defend the oppressed, feed the poor, help those in distress, and visit the sick.
THE PAST IS GONE FOREVER: Do not live in the nightmares of former times or under the shade of what you have missed. Episodes of the past are finished with; sadness cannot retrieve them, melancholy cannot make things right, and depression will never bring the past back to life.
TODAY IS ALL THAT YOU HAVE: When you wake up in the morning, do not expect to see the evening. Live as though today is all that you have. Yesterday has passed with its good and evil, while tomorrow has not yet arrived. If you have eaten warm, fresh bread today, then what do yesterday’s dry, rotten bread and tomorrows’s anticipated bread matter?
LEAVE THE FUTURE ALONE UNTIL IT COMES: Be not hasty and do not rush for things that have yet to come to pass. Do you think it wise to pick fruits before they become ripe? Many are those who cry because they see themselves starving tomorrow, falling sick after a month, or because they fear the world will come to an end after a year. Someone who has no clue as to when he will die (which is all of us) should not busy himself with such thoughts. Since you are absorbed in the toils of today, leave tomorrow until it comes. Beware of becoming unduly attached to future prospects in this world.
DO NOT EXPECT GRATITUDE FROM ANYBODY: Do not be dismayed when you find that others forget your favours or disregard your kind acts. Some people may even despise you and treat you as enemy for no other reason than that you have shown them kindness. Hence do not be in a state of agitation if you give someone a pen as a gift and he uses it to satirise you, or if you give someone a walking stick to lean upon and he strikes you with it. Most human beings are ungrateful to the Lord Himself Who created them and sustains them, so why bother if they are ungrateful to you?
CONTEMPLATE AND BE THANKFUL: Remember the favours of Allah upon you and how they surround you from above and below – indeed from every direction. Should you take it lightly that you slumber soundly while misery hinders the sleep of many? You possess all that life has to offer, yet you remain ignorant of those that have nothing? You have feet? Consider those who have not. Consider the faculties of hearing and seeing with which you have been endowed, while many have not. Reflect on your ability to reason, and remember those who suffer from mental ailments.
BE CONTENT WITH WHAT YOU HAVE: If you are a seeker of happiness, be satisfied with the looks Allah has favoured you with, with your family situation, with the sound of your voice, with the level of your understanding. In fact, you should imagine being contented with even less than you have now.
PEOPLE SHOULD DEPEND ON YOU, NOT YOU ON THEM: The noble-hearted one works for people and does not allow them to serve him. Therefore, make no decisions or plans that will require your reliance upon others. Be useful to people, do not use them. Stand on your own.
FAITH IS LIFE ITSELF: Those that are wretched, in the full sense of the word, are those that are bereft of the treasures of faith. They are always in misery, anger and humiliation.
DON’T BE SAD: Sadness enervates the spirit’s will to action, paralysing the body into inactivity. The secret of this is that sadness prevents one from action, instead of compelling one towards it. The heart benefits nothing through grief. Sadness is a harmful element that afflicts the soul. There is no real benefit in sadness; in fact, Prophet Muhammad, upon whom be peace, used to seek refuge from sadness in this supplication: ‘O Allah, I seek refuge in You from anxiety and grief.”
And so, Barka da Sallah once again. Allah maimaita mana! May Allah have accepted our devotions during Ramadan, and may we have been fortunate to have witnessed Lailatul Qadr, amin. May we live to see the next Ramadan, and the next, and the next next, in sha Allah.