Can you hear that?

Typewriter

16:41 - “To those who leave their homes in the cause of Allah, after suffering oppression, We will assuredly give a goodly home in this world: but truly the reward of the Hereafter will be greater. If they only knew!”

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Guilty as Charged / 11:47 PM

I've read this email before and I remember at that time I felt guilty. Now, I've read it again and I feel even more guiltier because not only do I delay my prayers but also miss them at times and I do things that are against Islam. I just hope that I can repent in time.

The Email goes like this:

Bismillahirrahmanirahim..

He got up and realized that there were only 15 minutes left before
Salat-ul Isha.

He quickly made Wudhu and performed Salat-ul Maghrib. While
making Tasbih, he again remembered his grandmother and was embarrassed by how
hehad prayed. His grandmother prayed with such tranquility and peace.

He began making Dua and went down to make Sajdah and stayed like that
for a while. He had been at school all day and was tired, so tired.

He awoke abruptly to the sound of noise and shouting. He was sweating
profusely. He looked around. It was very crowded. Every direction he
looked in was filled with people. Some stood frozen looking around, some were
running left and right and some were on their knees with their head s
intheir hands just waiting.

Pure fear and apprehension filled him as he realized where he was. His
heart was about to burst. It was the Day of Judgement. When he was
alive,he had heard many things about the questioning on the Day of
Judgement, but that seemed so long ago. Could this be something his mind made up? No,
the wait and the fear were so great that he could not have imagined this.

The interrogation was still going on. He began moving frantically from
people to people to ask if his name had been called. No one could
answer him. All of a sudden his name was called and the crowd split into two
and made a passageway for him.

Two angels grabbed his arms and led him forward. He walked with
unknowing eyes through the crowd. The angels brought him to the center and left
him there. His head was bent down and his whole life was passing in front
of his eyes like a movie. He opened his eyes but saw only another world.

The people were all helping others. He saw his father running from one
lecture to the other, spending his wealth in the way of Islam. His
mother invited guests to their house and one table was being set while the
other was being cleared. He pleaded his case, "I too was always on this
path. I helped others. I spread the word of Allah. I performed my Salah. I
fasted in the month of Ramadan. Whatever Allah ordered us to do, I did.
Whatever he ordered us not to do, I did not." He began to cry and think about
how much he loved Allah.

He knew that whatever he had done in life would be less than what
Allah deserved and his only protector was Allah. He was sweating like never
before and was shaking all over. His eyes were fixed on the scale,
waiting for the final decision. At last, the decision was made. The two angels
with sheets of paper in their hands, turned to the crowd.. His legs felt
likethey were going to collapse. He closed his eyes as they began to read
the names of those people who were to enter Jahannam.

His name was read first. He fell on his knees and yelled that this
couldn't be, "How could I go to Jahannam? I served others all my life, I spread
the word of Allah to others". His eyes had become blurry and he was
shaking with sweat. The two angels took him by the arms. As his feet dragged,
they went through the crowd and advanced toward the blazing flames of
Jahannam.

He was yelling and wondered if there was any person who was going to
help him. He was yelling of all the good deeds he had done, how he had
helped his father, his fasts, prayers, the Qur'an that he read, he was asking
if none of them would help him. The Jahannam angels continued to drag
him.

They had gotten closer to the Hellfire. He looked back and these were
his last pleas. Had not Rasulullah [saw] said, "How clean would a person
be who bathes in a river five times a day, so too does the Salah performed
five times cleanse someone of their sins"?

He began yelling, "My prayers? my prayers? my prayers." The two angels
did not stop, and they came to the edge of the abyss of Jahannam. The
flames of the fire were burning his face. He looked back one last time, but his
eyes were dry of hope and he had nothing left in him.

One of the angels pushed him in. He found himself in the air and
falling towards the flames. He had just fallen five or six feet when a hand
grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back. He lifted his head and saw an old
man with a long white beard. He wiped some dust off himself and asked him,
"Who are you?" The old man replied, "I am your prayers". "Why are you so
late! I was almost in the Fire! You rescued me at the last minute before I
fell in".

The old man smiled and shook his head, "You always performed me at the
last minute, did you forget?" At that instant, he blinked and lifted his
head from Sajdah. He was in a sweat. He listened to the voices coming from
outside. He heard the adhan for Salat-ul Isha. He got up quickly and
wentto perform Wudhu.