In his reading of the hadith, Abu
has stumbled upon some peculiar yet magnificent narration. From gurauan
by the Lord of the Worlds (he even had a good laugh at it) to the hadith of a
sinner returning back to his Lord akin to that camel returning to that
traveller (this act of giving parable warrant a separate article in itself).
In Riyadussalihin, thus far,
there’s this one hadith that kept lingering in Abu’s mind. The hadith uses the
word ‘ajaba. Which translated into ‘amazed’. The hadith is about giving
importance to ones’ guests in terms of the food. The hosts themselves didn’t
have much & thus could not join in dining but instead making sound or
inform the guests that they had ate – because it was night & thus dark, the
guests could not verify etc.
I’m sorry for not quoting the
hadith nor write this properly, I’m kinda running out of time here. My flight
to Jeddah is inshaAllah at 12. Haha.
So coming back to the narration,
in doing so, the hosts had invoke the ‘ajaba of the dweller in the sky - the malaikah, the angels. I mean, what sort
of act could even permit this?! The angels must have seen a whole lot. They’ve
lived long enough I reckon. So I figure there must be only very little act that
could surprise them. But mashaAllah, this hadith. It’s super awesome man. If
anything, just like being mentioned in the earlier part of Al-Mulk, not only
that we have to do good, but the next level would be to sacrifice to do good. That’s
what I get anyways.
Ever since that hadith, Abu kept
on noticed the word ‘ajaba popping up here & there. The most frequent one
would be during Friday. It is when during reciting Al-Kahf, one could see the
verb being used to describe the amazing (‘ajaba) story of the people (gents?)
of the cave to the behaviour of that fish which Moses kept with him (& the
boy) – the place where he should have ate/met with Khidr a.s.
These kinda paint you the picture
of how exactly the verb ‘ajaba being used, at least in the classical notion.
Now, next, Abu stumbled upon the
100th ayah of Al-Maidah. In this ayat, the context being used is
totally differs.
That ayah basically inform that ‘it
is not the same between the good & the bad (the bad here is termed as
kho-ba-ith which if you know is pretty disgusting. We take refuge by Allah’s
name from kho-ba-ith before entering the loo), even though the abundance of bad
(kho-ba-ith) amazes you. Of all the words in the world, in the beautiful Arabic
language, He uses the word ‘ajaba. I mean, wow.
This literally shows you that in
this world, tests will be given to you. And within that tests there will be
this kho-ba-ith which will literally amaze you. Astonishes you. Take your
breath away. Pleases you. Comfort you. Gives pleasure to you. Soothe you. Bring
happiness to you.
How could one really safeguard
oneself against such trial or fitnah? Without a doubt, it is very challenging
and at times very frustrating (cue that one ayah – kullu bani adam khot-tho-a).
But if we have to conclude (and
for the sake of brevity due to Abu’s timing), the secret lies within that ayat
itself. The ayat further remind the reader to have taqwa of Allah – Abu personally
prefer the translation of ‘awareness’ instead of ‘fear’ at least at times, o
people of understanding, so that you may be successful.
There are many verbs describing
different types of people whenever the Quran’s giving reminder but the most dearest
to Abu’s heart would be the people of understanding – ulul albab. In a gist,
ulul albab kinda comprises of good (young) people, people with awareness, those
who excel, high standard, good conduct, decorum & culture, great in ilm,
correct & obedient in ibadah & so much more. It is a calling & term
for those select few only. And to top it off, He even emphasis that if ulul
albab have taqwa, they can be (even more) successful. How beautiful &
awesome is that?
As you have to make sacrifice to
obtained the ‘ajaba of the dwellers of the heavens, you yourselves have to make
sacrifice to abstained from the ‘ ‘ajaba ‘ of the world – so that you may be
successful.
Say, "Not equal are the evil and the good, although the abundance of evil might impress you." So fear Allah , O you of understanding, that you may be successful.
