Reflections on the ‘road’

Over a week ago, we lost her. She did not and could not have seen her imminent death. The dead, in most instances, does not know he is going to die until death comes. Indeed, the argument cannot be pleaded that we do not know what death is. Death, the certain; death, the unknowable. How […]

Over a week ago, we lost her. She did not and could not have seen her imminent death. The dead, in most instances, does not know he is going to die until death comes. Indeed, the argument cannot be pleaded that we do not know what death is. Death, the certain; death, the unknowable. How does it feel to be dead? Ask the dead. How does it feel to be dead? How does it feel when you are asleep?

Death. Life. Resurrection. When some people die, it feels as if life has lost its value, and forever too. When others die, the neighbourhood heaves a sigh of relief. Imam al-Shafii, in his often-quoted lines, once said: some do die, but their honour and good memory live on after them; some are alive but in the estimation of the people around them, they are actually dead.

Yes. She lived life like a honeybee. Nobody, nobody was able to mention one thing that she did wrong, throughout her life. But she is gone, and forever too. But she lives on, in our lives, and forever too!

On my way back from the West Coast where I had gone to commiserate with my in-laws over her death, I found myself pondering how many trips she had also made on the same road that I was travelling on. I wondered whether just a month ago when she came to Nigeria, she realized that that was going to be her last trip. I found myself in deep contemplation. I discovered that what I was seeing or looking at was different from what others were concerned about. I was seeing life in its ephemerality. The beauties I saw along the road reminded me not of the permanence of life but its transitory nature.

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Then I heard voices. I started hearing voices of the past; the past in the present; muted voices. I became attentive to the conflict in me; the conflict in-between what I see and what I hear. Then my mind began to focus on this more- that one of the reasons we fail to live the ideal life is that we give priority to our eyes more than we do our ears. Even then whenever we look at things in our environment, it is usually in a perfunctory manner, not with depth and introspection.

Meanwhile, those imbued with learning and discernment are aware that the sense of hearing is actually and naturally precedent to that of seeing. In other words, during the embryonic stage, the sense of hearing usually develops first before that of seeing thus making it the first sensory organ to function in human life. This becomes more evident upon delivery when babies begin to respond to sounds produced in their milieu. Yes. The baby would become startled and terrified whenever it suddenly hears a sound, but whenever a hand is placed near her eyes, she would not experience any feeling of danger. At least this was true of the babies of yesterday; of days when the world had not lost its innocence; of days when I was in the cradle.

In other words, the sense of hearing usually begins its function at the very moment when humans start to experience life while some other organs may wait for days, or even years before they begin to function. Unless rays of light are reflected on objects which are then refracted on the eyes, the latter would not function. Is it not the case brethren that while your eyes and mine become useless in the dark, our sense of hearing remains “on duty”?

Brethren read chapter 18 of the Quran; ponder the story of the Companions of the Cave for more insights and evidence to show that our hearing is actually the real chord that binds us to the world. When the Almighty decreed that the latter should fall asleep for hundreds of years, He said: “Then We smote their ears many years in the Cave.” (Q18: 11), it was for a purpose.

Brethren, have you ever pondered why the word ear is always referred to in the singular form while the word eyes are employed in the plural form in the Quran? Why is this so? Is it not true that while we can, by choice, close our eyes and refrain from seeing things that do not appeal to us, we do not and cannot, on the other hand, close our ears from hearing sounds in nature, be they beautiful or ugly? Whereas someone in a room where ten people are talking at the same time will be forced to assimilate the contrarieties in the sound they are making, humans have the ability to determine what to see or watch. Thus, while our sense of sight may vary, that of hearing establishes the unicity of our humanity. While the dead may not see the living anymore, they are well-apprised of what happens after them.