I hear a sound. My sense of hearing is the first one to come alive. My eyes open. Sense of vision is the second. Its pitch dark. I don’t know where am I, who am I, what time it is! It’s just like I woke up into my very first existence with no memory at all. I see two figures passing by. I’m struggling to recall any fragment of memory to make sense of this situation. I was in such a deep state of sleep I didn’t even know I existed, until I woke up to this sudden opening of the balcony door. Slowly I start to make sense of the things around. I have just woken up after what was supposed to be a short afternoon nap. Those two figures in the balcony are my Mother and Sister-in-Love, plucking coriander leaves from the pot. Soon the hard disk of my Brain (and Heart) is resorted back. Everything starts making sense. Alhamdulillah.
This got me thinking. My Lord, My Creator, ALLAH brought me back to life, again. What if I never opened my eyes in the comfort of my home? What if I didn’t get another chance and my time was up? What if my eyes opened in my grave?
“Allah takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that do not die [He takes] during their sleep. Then He keeps those for which He has decreed death and releases the others for a specified term. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought.” (Surah Az-Zumar 39:42)
He gave me another chance to wake up in this world as a Muslim, another chance to improve my self , another chance to worship Him, another chance to improve my dealings, another chance to enjoy His Blessings, another chance to purify myself, another chance to get closer to Jannah.
What do we usually do right before going to sleep? Do we really know that we will wake up? We are on our laptops even at the end of the day (night) right till the maximum time we have allotted ourselves before going to bed. We don’t want to oversleep right? Or else we’ll have to face the notorious traffic on the way to work/school and we might even reach late. Umm.. Waking up late for Fajar?? Not praying Fajar at all? Tahajjud? Nah.. that’s not something at all on our mind: to plan our routine around Salah; its the other way round. We try to fit in Salah around our routine that’s why we are rushing through it so that we quickly get back to it, the routine that is!!
At night, with great difficulty we part ways with our laptops with many tabs open which means we aren’t done yet and intend to get back to them next day. Only to go to bed to use our mobiles!! Or we are busy in the kitchen washing the last spoon, mopping the last patch of floor, using the last bit of energy and stamina in our body , eyes forcefully open, aching for the want of sleep, putting away the last container of leftover food in the fridge with the only soothing thought of finishing this chore and directly going to sleep.
We need to redesign our routine and spend the time before sleep remembering Allah Subhana O Ta’ala, pondering over the day spent, reflecting how good we were as Muslims, planning for the next day, observing the etiquettes of sleeping, reciting the Duas and Adhkar for before going to sleep, to gain maximum benefit and earning reward, Insha Allah.