Saturday, November 14, 2009

I remembered my last Eid al-Adha..

On my way to the mosque, something caught my eye. An non-native Muslim mother and her 2 little sons, crossing the road, making their way to the mosque. It simply warms my heart. Her children could easily be around 4 to 6 years old. In the mosque, I got the opportunity to sit behind them. Maybe Allah swt meant for me to be there; fate. After the prayers, while listening to the khutbah, I observed the mother and her 2 children. The mother was dressed very simply, her clothes almost shabby by normal standards, but her sons look charming in their new clothes.

As I continue observing them, what humbled me most was the mother’s patience. The younger son kept tugging at her clothes and at one point, pull out her headscarf. But she just smiled at her son, and straighten her headscarf, never even uttering a word of annoyance. She only chided her son, gently, when he repeatedly put his foot on his brother’s head while lying down. And her other son did not even mind that his brother was doing that to him. Subhanallah.

A normal reaction from a typical mother would be to raise her voice, and a typical reaction from a brother his age would be to hit back, or at least whine. At that moment, I hoped that I would be a mother just like that; patient and never have to raise my voice, and shower them with my utmost love – not with worldly gifts, but with the guidance of Islam.. InsyaAllah, ya Allah, do guide me along.

It’s a sacrifice. It’s another thing that came to my mind about the mother and her 2 sons. And it reminded me of Siti Hajar, when she was looking for food and water for her son, Nabi Ismail a.s. Hmm, I doubt that the mother could understand the khutbah, but with her 2 sons in tow, she managed to fulfil an obligation to Allah swt to attend the Eid prayer. Subhanallah.

Today again I witnessed another act of patience demonstrated by a mother. I saw a little girl running around in the mosque whilst her mother was performing her prayers. Then that little girl decided to lie down in front of her mum, thus hindering her movements in prayer. But everytime the mother prostrates (sujud), she shifted herself slightly to avoid her little girl. The girl's brother, slightly older than her, kept trying to persuade her to move but that made her even more persistent on staying at her position.

When the mother finally finished her prayers, the little girl ran off to play elsewhere and her brother called out to her, asking her to come back. But the mother just said, "It's okay, let your sister play."

The sacrifices that my own mother has made for me and my siblings are simply beyond measure. Everyday, she would the first to arise from slumber, just to prepare for breakfast. And although she is juggling her time in between home and work, she is always be there for us. She is happy when we are happy, and when we are down, she gets worried and do all sorts to make us better.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminds us that our mothers comes first, after Him and His messenger (peace be upon him), and before anything else. The patience of a mother is never to be tested. And I pray that one day, I will possess the patience and gentleness that a mother should possess, like the stories of the two mothers whom I have witnessed, insyaAllah. Though I know that I might never achieve the level of patience as portrayed by Hajar, mother of Ismail alaihi salam.

Thus, I would like to conclude with this video:


ps. Part of this post is taken from my own blog http://ummudhiya.wordpress.com