Anyone with a personality that is sufficiently developed aesthetically to appreciate beauty would agree that nothing in the heavens above can compare in beauty with the sight of the new crescent moon and star joined together in an enchanting embrace. The passage of a new lunar month in the sky above symbolizes the passage of life itself. Thus it is that when a baby-girl was born it was as though a new moon had appeared in the sky and that a new world had come into being. Everyone adored her. Everyone took her in their loving arms. She crawled - she walked - she played - she laughed - she sang – she danced. She had narry a care in the world as she playfully traversed the springtime of her childhood and youth. She was a miracle to behold. Then she blushed with shyness as she welcomed her summertime when she bloomed and blossomed into a woman more beautiful than a raindrop on a rainbow that falls gently upon a rose petal. The world gazed in wonder at her beauty and from their lips came the words: Subhan Allah! The singers sang of her, the poets composed verses about her. And this, also, was a miracle to behold. And then autumn overtook her as the green leaves of her life began to turn to brown. Wrinkles appeared around her eyes and here and there a strand of her hair turned to grey. Finally her winter arrived when the moon returned like an old dry withered branch of a date palm (Qur’ān, Yāsīn, 36:39) and she made ready to gracefully fold her tent, to say goodbye, and to disappear into the darkness of the night. But she was so full of gratitude to Allah Most High all through the journey of life through time. When she had her season of spring she thanked Him for it, and so too her summer and then her autumn and finally her winter. She had no sorrow over the arrival of autumn or winter. She was proud of her grey hairs when they began to mingle with the natural color of her hair. Not for anything that the world could offer did she ever wish to return to her spring or summer for she loved her autumn and her winter just as much. And so she aged gracefully. The older she grew the more beauty she radiated – an external expression of inner beauty. And when the time came for the angel of death to take her away, when it was time for the moon to disappear into the darkness of the sky and for the dark night to envelop the world, there were no regrets in parting from the only world she had ever known. She wanted to leave this world with gratitude to Allah in her heart because He had promised those who so thanked him that He would bestow on them an increase of bounty and favors (Qur’ān, Ibrāhīm, 14:7). SÚRAH ALL--KAHF AND THE MODERN AGE Imran N. Hosein
Posted on: Mon, 22 Jul 2013 15:38:42 +0000
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