Moving

As salaamu alaikum

JazakAllahu Khair to those who commented on the previous posts. I’ve been really busy the past couple of days so I couldn’t reply, but I’ll try to soon InshaAllah :).

I was actually busy because we were moving. And boy was that hectic! We had tons and tons of boxes everywhere because we simply had so many things. This was in fact my first moving experience…and I’d like for it to stay that way for a while. It took such a long time to clean the house before we brought anything in. The place was left extremely dirty but Alhamdulillah we had amazing help cleaning it all (may Allah reward them), and it looks great now MashaAllah. After we cleaned up, it became filled with boxes, so it took even longer to sort things out…some of which is still packed and stacked in closets (mine of course).

Coming to the main point, after I had time to sit and take a breather I remembered a Hadith of Rasulullah (S)...

On the authority of Ibn 'Umar, radiyallahu 'anhuma, who said: The Messenger of Allah, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, took me by the shoulder and said:

"Be in this world as though you were a stranger or a traveler/wayfarer."
Ibn 'Umar used to say:
"When evening comes, do not expect (to live till) morning, and when morning comes, do not expect (to live till) evening. Take from your health (a preparation) for your illness, and from your life for your death."

[Al-Bukhari]

I sat and thought about what just happened: how we moved and what we brought with us. And it struck me that we were nowhere near living like how we should be, or how the best example told us live like. And honestly, how many of us really do? If you were to move somewhere right now, what would you take with you? Be honest, this is just a reminder and thought for yourself. Are we practicing what we should be? “Be in this world as though you were a traveler.” The boxes and boxes we move with may be needed by us for petty issues, but they are not necessary for survival in this Dunya. Sure we need our beds and mattresses and pillows and about a hundred other things, but what’s stopping us from living as simply as we could? Why is it so hard for us to sacrifice those little things we may never even look at again? One answer could be that we’re too attached to the Dunya…and that’s not a good thing.

This was more of a reflection for myself, but I thought I’d share it, so take it as just a little something to think about.

May Allah (swt) give us all the ability to live a simple life showered with His Mercy. And may He forgive us all for our shortcomings in the Deen.

Ameen.