Don't Spin

Sourate el-Gomoa, ayah 11.

And when they see some merchandise or some amusement they disperse headlong to it, and leave you (Muhammad SAW) standing [while delivering the Jumu'ah khutbah]. Say "That which Allah has is better than any amusement or merchandise! And Allah is the Best of Providers."

This ayah is based on an event in Muslim history. I learned this in the Fiqh of Chillin' class. Prophet Muhammad SAW was giving a khutbah and then there was the sound of a duff playing outside. It was a merchant selling food. All the people listening to the khutbah ran to get the food because at that time there was like a drought or no food or something. Only one man stayed, and I think it was Abu Bakr or some other person. Thus this ayah was revealed.

NOW, BACK TO US...

How can we tie this to our life?

 Put Allah before yourself and everything else. Here's an example, story-form.

It was a steaming hot Monday in June.

Z was spinning around in the living room, humming happily while everybody else minded their own business in their rooms. Then suddenly, the spinning Z's hand whizzed by a vase of snapdragon flowers. The vase tipped and fell to the ground. Dirt was all over the floor and among them, the snapdragons.

Oh no! Z thought. Good thing it fell on the carpet.

He began to clean it up, but at that moment, Z heard S coming out of her room. Z's eyes widened and he hid in the sunroom. He peeked at S through the sliding door.

"Who knocked the vase down?!" S yelled. "My best snapdragons!"

N came out of her room as well. "No one's out here. Maybe it fell by itself?"

"Couldn't have! It was square in the middle of the table, not at the edge! Someone for sure knocked it off!" S said.

"Well, Abi's at work, H is at the masjid and Mom is upstairs," N said. "There's nobody else except..."

"Z!" they both yelled at once.

"Oh no," Z whispered to himself. "I'm busted."

N and S came into the sunroom and saw Z. "Z!" S said. "Did you knock my vase down?"

Z didn't want to talk. He knew, if he told the truth, S was going to smack him and tell him to clean up the dirt on the floor and possibly buy more snapdragon seeds with his own money, if the situation got really bad.

On the other hand, if he lied, S would leave him alone.

Then Z thought deeper. What would the outcome be if he told the truth and got yelled at and smacked and all that other horridness? He for sure didn't want to get smacked. But the he remembered what Ummi had said about telling the truth and lying.

"Lying is a major sin, Z. If you lie, you get no reward, and your deed scale on the Day of Judgement will be heavier on the bad deed side. But if you tell the truth, you will get lots of reward for owning up and tolerating the yells and smacks you may get. And everything will be better in the future. Remember that."

Z decided to own up. Anyway, S and N already suspected it was him, and there was so much evidence why it could be him. They didn't have a cat, so Z couldn't use that old 'the cat knocked it down' excuse. So Z stood up straight and said, "Yes, S. I knocked it down. I was spinning around and hit it and it fell."

S's angry face got angrier. "Well, go clean it up, cow!" she yelled, and - yes she did - smacked him. 

Well, Z had to clean it up, and cry, and use $5.49 from his wallet to buy more snapdragon seeds. He had to plant them, water them, put them in the sun, and care for the snapdragons until they grew as big as the ones before. Life was, most of the time, terrible for Z and he almost wished he had not told the truth about spinning.

Two weeks later, Z and his brother and sisters entered a draw to win a laptop. The day after, a package was dropped at the front door, addressed to Z. He'd won the draw!

Z cheered, and as he did, he thought about the time he'd knocked the vase down and the aftermath. Since that day everything had been terrible for him, but today something wonderful happened.

This is the doing of Allah, Z thought. He made everything better for me, just because I told the truth.

And he knew it.

~♦~

If you tell the truth and endure all the consequences, most of which are not pleasant, everything will be better in the end, because remember, the dunya is only temporary. Sure, the smacking and yelling will only be for a short moment of time. It can easily be forgotten over the years. People grow up and die. Their dunya life is over once they die. But the Akhirah is endless. Would you rather lie and be safe now, and get a heavy bad deed scale in the Hereafter, or would you prefer to tell the truth, endure the bad consequences, but get a heavy good deed scale in the Hereafter?

Your Choice.

 

-ReflectorN-