A Car Ride..
assalamualaikum wa rahmatullah,Last night I was driving home from my sisters place at around 2 AM back to my (parents') house. The car ride is just over an hour long, and this ride home was unique because a) it was so late, b) it was raining, and c) it was my first car ride after my friend's accident.
Let me back track a little...
Earlier this week one of my best friends called me and told me she got into a car accident earlier that morning. My first response was naturally to ask how she was, though I figured it seriously couldn't be that bad since she herself is talking to me on the phone. She told me she was okay, yet I was still a little nervous and wanted to see her so I jumped on the next train to her house. After getting there I realized the severity of the accident. She had been driving to get a dent in her car fixed (ironic) on a major 2 lane highway and was driving at about 70 mph in the left lane. She described the driving conditions and stated that the car in front of her was quite close, leaving virtually no space for another car to merge in. A car on her right signaled to come into the left lane, since there was no space, she assumed the car wouldn't turn, however he did. At this point in time she knew that if she braked she would most definitely hit him, and she couldn't swerve to the right since there were cars there, so she swerved to the left. There was no shoulder, and no barrier between the southbound side and the northbound side, however there was a grassy median in which her car spun out of control in, since she was going so fast one of her tires ripped off and the car spun out of control. At this point she described that she had no idea what she was doing so she continued to hit the accelerator, which caused her car to drive into oncoming traffic on the opposite side of the highway. She had no idea what to do, so she closed her eyes, assuming that she was going to die. She accounts that she started screaming "mummy", at the same time, while her eyes are closed still hitting the accelerator. The car came to a stop when she crashed into a van on the exit ramp. She then got out of the car, and saw dozens of individuals(men) who had stopped their cars and were rushing to her aid. Upon seeing that she was fine, they rushed to the van, where alhamdulilah the other passengers seemed to be doing well as well. The officer later told her that witnesses said that her car was air bound for a while, and that she was very very very lucky that she walked out of that accident with virtually nothing wrong with her minus a couple of bruises from the seat belt and airbag. The car was completely totaled and the body shop guy was also shocked that she walked off uninjured alhamdulilah.
Car accidents are a really scary reality. So many individuals i know have gotten in car accidents that have either lead to their death, or major injury. So many times people are blasting music and die with the words to some song on their lips. SubhanAllah this is one of the major reasons I have given up listening to music. Lets forget the permissibility issue for just a moment and think about how much time we spend in our cars. Statistics also show that accidents are the number one cause of death in young adults, so why have the angel of death greet you with eminem blasting in the background...
Back to my car ride...
I was listening to a CD i had in my car by Imaam Anwar al Awlaki on stories from Hadith. In the CD he was narrating a hadith the dealt with a man who passed away (I believe from bani israel...not sure) and when the angel of death greeted him he asked him(completely paraphrased), "have you ever done good in your life" and the man thought and thought, and could not think of a single good thing he did, however he stated, "I remember just one thing that I used to do, when I had a shop I would lend out goods to individuals, and I would allow the wealthy more time to absolve their debt, and I would forgive the debt of the poor". At this point Imaam anwar started to talk about the concept of justice, and how this man went far above and beyond the calls of justice. To be just would be to ask for the payment back in due time, however this man went and absolved the debt. He then began commenting on various forms of debt that we accumulate and began on the topic of backbiting. Subhan'Allah we all hear about backbiting and know that we shouldn't talk ill about people. However subhanAllah shaytan whispers in our ear at our most vulnerable of moments. I thought back to myself and the times that I have backbitten, and they were not times when I just sat around and had nothing better to do so I began talking about people. Rather I remember talking about individuals who angered me up until the point where i felt i had to say something to someone or else I'd explode. They were individuals who I felt had wronged me in some shape or form and I felt i needed some retribution...however what i ended up doing was sharing simple "accounts" of events with my family and friends that spoke negatively of certain individuals..in my head i justified this form of 'backbiting'. Sitting in the car all of these events came rushing back to me. At this point Imaam Anwar was discussing how Imaam Shafai (may Allah be pleased with him) sent fruits to a group of individuals who were backbiting about him and attached a note thanking them for their good deeds. Imaam Anwar narrated that when you backbite not only are you hoarding these messed up thoughts against individuals but you are giving them your good deeds, and if on the day of judgment you run out of these good deeds than you will accumulate this individuals bad deeds...
SubhanAllah...
anyway point being...i was kinda a bit shaken up knowing well that if i too were to get into an accident at this point in time i would have this burden lying upon me. At this point in the tape Imaam Anwar began to speak about tawbah, and how we can ask Allah subhana wa ta ala forgiveness for virtually anything and how Allah subhana wa ta ala will gladly and happily forgive us. However certain situations dealing with wrongdoing others have to be dealt directly. In the case of backbiting you have to ask the individual you backbit about for forgiveness directly, however if you believe that confronting them will lead to further animosity you may ask Allah to forgive this individual and make dua for them.
So at about 2:45 am driving down the LIE i thought about every person I could have possibly ever talked bad about and made some massive dua for them...
the door to tawbah is open up until the point the angel of death comes to greet you, or until the sun rises from the west and sets in the east..as imaam anwar narrates...so lets get on it kids :)
May Allah subhana wa ta ala forgive us for our shortcomings may He make us amongst those that He loves, and may He teach us to love one another for His sake...
Ameeen..
wassalamualaikum wa rahmatullah.
posted by Iqra Bismi Rabbika @ 1:40 PM
Comments: 11
