بِسْمِ ٱللّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيم
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Hello, Lieblings!
I hope you guys are doing well throughout this (still) time of uncertainty and for those who are observing the holy month of Ramadan, despite the current situation we are facing, may Allah shower us with peace, calamity, and of course, strength.
How are you guys? No, I mean, really. How are you? What do you feel? Are you feeling warm and joyful? Or are you feeling numb and blue?
In my case, I'm actually feeling hazy and cloudy a few days ago. Not only because the weather is literally cloudy, windy, and gloomy, but I feel like... empty inside. It feels like there is a big hole inside me that is longing and aching for something.
For those who don't know yet, I'm actually taking a gap semester right now as my major begins in Winter Semester which is actually in around September/October. This may also change due to the Coronavirus, but, who knows. Long story short, I miss the time when I was positively busy and productive.
There are also times when I have unintentionally busy myself with things that don't really beneficial for me. I could actually be scrolling through Kekeyi's Instagram account to get some good laugh for a couple hours (and I actually feel bad about it right now? Haha, Astaghfirullah).
Sometimes I even spend way too much time watching cooking Youtube videos, David Chang's Netflix shows or simply stalking recipes in Cookpad and Tasty, without actually cooking them. I'm actually tired of being tired of not doing anything useful. I don't know if that sentence even makes any sense, but I hope you guys can somehow understand.
Then, I came to realize that I feel like I've had enough of being too caught up in a web of useless things. I longed to be productive and actually miss studying, working hard, and actually going to classes offline.
WhoA.
Never in my life have I ever think about saying those things.
I'm in awe myself.
And today, with a handful of motivation and consideration I have piled up since last night, I was planning of going to study to prepare for the upcoming semester. But then I was intrigued to go to Youtube. Procrastination alert. (Procrastinators, gimme your bump fists!! 👊👊)
However, I came across videos of gentle reminders from a Sheikh I currently love to hear, and his name is Omar Suleiman. He founded a platform that I found very useful and made Islamic studies really accessible for people through Yaqeen Insitute and Yaqeen Institue Youtube channel. I don't know, I feel like I could listen to his virtual halaqah for hours. His voice is so soothing and calming, and I think I wouldn't mind if a person like him scolds me. Lol.
I was really intrigued by a video titled Find Clarity in Your Cave. Sheikh Omar spoke about the story of Ashabul Kahf, meaning the 'people of the cave'. These people were actually being mentioned in the Qur'an in Surah Al Kahf (verse 9 -26) and the Biblical version of the people is actually called The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus. Though the Qur'an doesn't really mention the number of them.
The story is about a number of young men who secluded themselves from the 'chaos' of the society at around 250 CE. They, as believers of Tawheed or the oneness of Allah SWT and the teachings of Prophet Isa AS, rebelled against the practices of their current Roman king called Daqyanoos (Decius) and his people. The tyrannical king would annually hold pagan sacrifices dedicated to worship idols, which wasn't aligned with what they held tight into. The king was absolutely really angry with their rebellion, hence wanted them to be killed. The Ashabul Kahf then fled and went into hiding. It reached a certain point when they need to rest for a while in a cave and decided to sleep while leaving their dog Qitmir as a guard at the entrance of the cave. On the contrary to what they feel about sleeping for just a few hours when they wake up, Allah SWT had miraculously made them + Qitmir sleep for 300 solar years (equivalent to 309 lunar years).
Sheikh Omar Suleiman compared this story of our current situation -- The Quarantine. Due to the widespread of the pandemic, we too, need to seclude ourselves from the outside world. When we think about it, aren't we actually the cavemen of the 21st century?
Rather than complaining about things we don't actually have in control, shouldn't we better use this unique opportunity of solitude in our 'cave'? Avoiding the dusty chaos of the worldly life, that we used to face in our normal days? Reflect. Ponder. Count our blessings. Enjoy the silence.
Maybe... God knows that we are too caught up and baffled with our daily errands not noticing the Earth slowly weakens. Maybe, this pandemic is actually a blessing in disguise. When our ego is forced to mute, when kindness and bravery started to grow, nourishing more and more across the globe, when at last human beings looked surprisingly more 'humanly'. People started to spread not only love but also free educative classes (as an act of love, right?) throughout Youtube, Live-Instagrams, and Webinars. I was actually stunned.
Now that we know that being at home itself could be a blessing for those who are having the privilege to, the question now is, how to maximize this one-of-a-lifetime (hopefully) opportunity?
Reflecting at what I did few days ago, I think, some people may feel the same way as I do. Busy myself doing 'unbeneficial' things. Unintentionally. Then miraculously I found that the takeaways from Imam Omar Suleiman in his another virtual halaqah, "Avoiding of which that doesn't concern you", really slaps me on the face.
He referred to the flipside of a hadith reported by Ibn Umar: The Prophet Muhammad PBUH said, "The most beloved people to Allah are those who are most beneficial to people." If that is the case, then the flip side is that the people who are the most abandoned by Allah are those who are the most unbeneficial to people.
Aside from Islam itself and the hadiths that I'm quoting in this post, I think we can actually still learn something. I think this hadith is trying to tell us that, don't. waste. the. frikin. oxygen. by doing stuff that is useless. Everyone is currently facing this kind of trial, I believe. Borderless. Every race, every nation, every language's speaker, every age.
People are having too much time in their hands that they are so easy to get lost. Just by consuming the latest news, you could suddenly be caught up in a drama. Juicy gossips and affairs with people that are exposing other brothers' and sisters' flaws might suddenly fill our Instagram explore page -- which aren't actually our concern, plus, it doesn't really have any benefit.
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Sometimes we are too busy scrolling our virtual timeline not realizing our analog timeline does not stop. Dude, it's mercilessly still freaking ticking. It doesn't care about whether we are facing a pandemic or not, whether we are watching a halaqah from great scholars, Bill Gates' interviews or even Happy Tree Friends on Youtube. I too, am still learning and struggling in this concern. Honestly.
HOWEVER scrolling through the timeline had made brave stories of heroes without capes during the pandemic also accessible. I could never imagine being put in the shoes of people that are in deep sorrow and confusion of how they could actually bury their loved ones that couldn't fight the virus back, and people that are still fighting the odds outside to fulfill their obligations of serving some food on the dinner table. 😔
Though I'm none of those brave heroes and 'front liners' during this pandemic, maybe I could try not to waste the holy grail privilege to just breathe normally at home. Without any pain. Without suffering. Without the help of any machines and ventilators. Now, don't you feel privileged enough?
Sometimes it's not social media. It's not the news. It's neither Netflix nor Youtube. It's not about other people that intrigued us. It's about ourselves and how we make use of all things that are being served before our eyes. Considering everything has two sides of a story, it's up to us whether to make it a positive thing or a bad one.
Maybe, this is the time to actually reflect and think not only of the mishaps we have done before but how we could go out a better person at the end of this pandemic. It could be a better daughter, sister, student, writer, reader, learner. Be a better someone. Seeking for what actually meant for us and busy ourselves with things that are actually worthy of our time and being. Though I'm a lazy slacker myself sometimes, I don't want to die in vain being no one and leaving no useful legacy.
Trying is the keyword here folks and starting small is a great start. Forcing ourselves to do enormous things that we can't handle (though they are good) may overwhelm us, hence lose the perfect momentum.
May the seeds of kindness and love that are being planted today still nourish until an undefined time and the remembrance of the bravery of our people always have a place in our hearts. In the meantime, let's work hard and together become a wiser 'time-waster' in our caves! Are you with me? 💪
"The world is three days: As for yesterday, it has vanished. As for tomorrow, you may never see it. As for today, it is yours, so work on it." (Hasan al Basri)
Sintya✌
References:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Seven-Sleepers-of-Ephesus
https://www.islamiclandmarks.com/jordan/cave-of-ashabe-kahf-exterior
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