Silver Crowns

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

رَبِّ أَوۡزِعۡنِىٓ أَنۡ أَشۡكُرَ نِعۡمَتَكَ ٱلَّتِىٓ أَنۡعَمۡتَ عَلَىَّ وَعَلَىٰ وَٲلِدَىَّ وَأَنۡ أَعۡمَلَ صَـٰلِحًا تَرۡضَٮٰهُ وَأَدۡخِلۡنِى بِرَحۡمَتِكَ فِى عِبَادِكَ ٱلصَّـٰلِحِينَ

 My Lord, arouse me to be thankful for Thy favour wherewith Thou hast favoured me and my parents, and to do good that shall be pleasing unto Thee, and include me in (the number of) Thy righteous slaves. 

(Surah An Naml - 27, Ayah 19)

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It's my mother's birthday today and incidentally my father's birthday in a week inshaAllah. May Allah continue to bless them and grant them His good pleasure. May He have mercy on their parents filling their graves with His nur, and grant them and all their loved ones a good ending, ameen.

We long stopped acknowledging birthdays with gifts or anything more than a few words - if that. I suppose none in the family care for it as a celebration, but I do believe it is an important day to some extent. It is a reminder of life and an opportunity to reflect on where we have been and towards that which we're heading.

Celebrating our own lives seems to feed a culture of "me, myself, and I." Instead, I consider birthdays as a day of gratitude. It is a day when we must make a point of turning to our Lord and thanking Him for His continuous graces. It is only by His command and will that we continue to breathe and that life remains in us. How absurd it is that we exalt ourselves on a day when humility should be at its peak.

Secondary to gratitude to our Lord is at least a word of thanks to our parents. Raising a child is a 24-hour-a-day labour of love. It is rifled with challenges and heartache and adorned with patience and selflessness. And it ends only at death. 

It is at the hands of our parents that many of us build foundations that steady us throughout our lives.  Let us not neglect and undermine a great service because it seems all too common. I suspect a lifetime of gratitude would not recompense our parents for even their preparations for our births. In the least, it would do us well to acknowledge their sacrifices and service if not to return their efforts by serving them well in their lives too.

February 2, 2015

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Must Read: A Supplication of Courtesy to Parents

وَٱخۡفِضۡ لَهُمَا جَنَاحَ ٱلذُّلِّ مِنَ ٱلرَّحۡمَةِ وَقُل رَّبِّ ٱرۡحَمۡهُمَا كَمَا رَبَّيَانِى صَغِيرً۬ا 

And lower unto them the wing of submission through mercy, and say: My Lord! Have mercy on them both as they did care for me when I was little. 

(Surah Al Isra -17, Ayah 24)

رَبَّنَا ٱغۡفِرۡ لِى وَلِوَٲلِدَىَّ وَلِلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ يَوۡمَ يَقُومُ ٱلۡحِسَابُ

Our Lord! Forgive me and my parents and believers on the day when the account is cast.

(Surah Ibrahim - 14 - Ayah 41)