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In the Name of God, the Most Merciful and Most Compassionate.
We were asked to incorporate additional prayers to the ritual ones for the moment this humanity was living in 2020. Many of us had already started doing it, perhaps because of a inherent empathy human beings have. When I started doing the specific wasifa suggested by two of our sisters, for healing, I was trying to visualize a specific image, and as it was not possible to do so, I put aside the images and my intention was directed to a certain group of people, hospitals, schools, neighbours, family, brothers and sisters in the path, leaders, animals, the whole planet. Wishing that my prayers could reach the one in most need, I asked Allah Almighty to guide me.
An image of a huge basket collecting prayers from everybody in the world came, and I thought that this collected energy would reach someone in need, like petals of flowers falling on their pain. As days and months passed, the news of the need for healing from people close to me started to come and it has increased as days go by. So now I had an image and a connection, a warm feeling started to grow in this heart, alhamdulillah!
As it is said in the Holy Qur’an:
He who spends in wealth for increase in self-purification,
And who has no favour from anyone to be paid back
Except to seek the Countenance of his lord, the Most High.
[Surah al-Layl 92:18–20, trans. by Dr Muhammad Taqui-Ud-Din Al-Hilali]
One of those in need was my oldest sister, who has been living challenging days regarding her health for a year. We started having conversations by phone more often, and one day I suggested we change the subject of our conversations, which were turning into an endless circle of complaints. Then I invited her to do zhikr. Next we were doing maghrib prayer (we do this by phone, as she has some limitations to hear and to see well). I received a call from my niece, her daughter, saying that she was improving her attitude, alhamdulillah.
It seems that if one gives a hand to someone in need the consequent movement is to receive a hand back, almost immediately. As for this heart, doing prayer or zhikr along with someone has been a blessing; there is a different feeling now while performing the prayer—one of gratitude. And some ayats from the Quran made more sense to me:
And when it is said to them: “Spend of that which Allah has provided you…”
[Surah Ya Sin 36:47, trans. by Dr Muhammad Taqui-Ud-Din Al-Hilali]
This support a person can receive from someone, our beloved Prophet tells us, is easy to be seen in different groups of “believers” in common areas of our human lives. For example, one group of people has found one way to live in ecological houses with the option of living in groups or individually, trying to respect nature. In one of their presentations, they quote the following words from anthropologist Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
If we surrender to the belief that everything happens because the Divine wants it that way, and He allows us to open our hearts, we are able to see this principle our dear Prophet is talking about: “Two believers that lend support to each other are like a pair of hands that wash other clean.”
We could see this truth reflected in different ways…
There was this group of embroidering ladies from different parts of the world, joining their stitches to make trees, a forest of hope for this humanity to change for the better. That was their proposal which they brought to Glasgow. Embroidery itself shows us how things are interconnected and dependant, one on the other, in a harmonious movement of the needle, to create a whole, in concordance, each one in its colour and style. Like trees that are connected by their roots and give each other support.
If we were to go on watching carefully, we would find more of these beautiful manifestations. Recently a dear sister asked for this one’s support to accomplish a certain task. I accepted, but in reality she was the one giving me a hand, as I had the chance to discover and use those latent talents Allah the Almighty, al-Khaliq, al-Bari, al-Musawwir, has given us. God bless her for asking me, because in fact she was helping me. May my contribution to her reach success.
May Allah inspire us to give support to one another and join our stitches for a common task, to serve and to love, and may this become a sincere community. May peace be with all of you. Let’s bring together our hands in prayer.
Wa alhadulillahi rabbil alamin.
~ Amina Hadi lives in one corner of the world named Canada, toddler, as the toddlers she works with, in the path of loving Allah. |
