Lessons from a lift in Makkah I find it a little awkward and strange being in a lift with other people. You dont know where to stand, where to look, what to do with yourself while youre waiting eagerly for your floor number to arrive on the digital screen that your eyes are fixed on to. Youre afraid of looking elsewhere or at someone else and causing an uncomfortable situation. I was in a similar situation this morning in my hotel lift in Makkah. There was an uncomfortable silence in the lift as we were making our way to our rooms after the fajr prayer. Apparently depending on the number of people in the lift people take up different areas of the lift. So if theres five people then four would be in each corner and one poor person would be the centre of attention in the middle. I havent had the opportunity to try and observe this theory because itll probably end up causing an even stranger situation in the lift with me looking around at everyones positions in the lift like a nutter. So anyway theres about 8-9 of us in the lift (I was sort of in the middle with a couple of others if youre interested in the schematic layout of persons in said lift) and were all trying to act normal desperately hoping that our floor number will come up quickly so we can escape this strange social setting. No one is speaking. Everyone is silent. Until a brother from the middle of the lift says something thought provoking. He was a young Arab brother with a trimmed beard and wearing a night thoub and someone I had never seen or met before. Just your average person. But what he said stayed with me and caused me to post this from my hotel room in Makkah a couple of hours later. He said with a smile and almost as if he was talking to himself and reminding himself: Subhanallah, this lift is like the dunya. People leave it and people enter it! I was relieved he didnt say something useless in the company of strangers in a lift. But he was right; people enter and leave this world at different stages in their life. Some people stay on for a long time and others leave as soon as theyre brought into this world. I learnt some things from this incident in the lift. 1. Life in this world is like a race. People race to get ahead of the pack just like people rushing to get on a lift, unconcerned about how they spend their time while in it. 2. The expensive suites are always at the highest part of the hotel. They overlook the rest of the people who are below them. On the day of judgement it will be said to the one who used to recite the quran in this world: recite and rise. For every ayah that he knows he will be raised in rank in paradise. If he only memorised a few surahs hell be in the lower levels. Someone who memorised the whole quran will keep rising until he completes the whole quran and hell be in the luxury suites in paradise! Thats the best kind of lift! 3. Its amazing where inspiration and valuable life lessons can come from. I never expected to hear something so thought provoking from a stranger in a lift. 4. That brother probably said something that was on his mind in passing and maybe didnt even realise how it affected some of us on the lift. 5. Allah knows the reward he will receive for what he said even if hes unaware. If you have something beneficial to say then dont hesitate to say it. A person may benefit even if you think no one will. The prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa Salam) said: whoever believes in Allah and the last day then speak good or remain silent. 6. The prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa Salam) said: A man will speak a word that is pleasing to Allah while he is unaware of it and Allah will record His pleasure for it until the day that he meets him (Tirmidhi). Allah will never forget a good deed that you did even if you yourself forgot! 6. Dont hesitate or think twice about doing a good deed. 7. This life is temporary just like your time in a lift. Make every second of your life count. 8. Some lifts and waiting rooms in saudi have stickers on the wall saying: use this spare time making istighfar. This is like the example of people who spend this short and temporary life remembering Allah and worshipping him. While others stare idly at the screen waiting for their time to come to an end not knowing what to do with the time theyve been blessed with. May Allah accept all our deeds; big and small in this month and after this month and may he give is the strength to continue our good deeds outside of ramadhan. Ameen. By bro. Aqeel Mahmood (hafidhahullaah)
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 10:49:58 +0000
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