Sadullah Khan – Developing a Qur’anic Personality To be and What not to be. #14

Developing

a Quranic personality,

how to be and what not to be.

A wise farmer had 3 little sons,

Amr,

Akbar, and Ahmad.

And he tried his best to teach them

how to handle

the many challenges of life.

So he took them one day to a

dark little shed on the farm,

and gave each one of them, he showed

them the shed inside,

and he gave each one of them a

few coins,

and asked them to go and buy something,

whatever they could buy, and try to fill

the shed

with whatever they could buy with a few

coins. Fill it up as much as they

could.

The 3 boys went.

They went to the market and bought what

they bought, and when they came back,

Amir brought a bag of white feathers,

and then he strew

it on the ground in the dark shed,

and it filled most of the ground.

Brought a bag of straw

or hay, and he could fill a bit

more. In fact, he filled almost the entire

ground. He could straw the straw, or the

hay,

on the ground.

Ahmed

did not bring a bag.

He went to the middle of the room.

He put his hand in his pocket. He

took out a candle and a match,

and he lit the candle,

and he filled the entire room

with light. 2 simple lessons

before we go into

the talk itself. 1,

think outside the box.

You do not have to put physical things

to fill a space.

Number 2,

the light not only filled the space, but

it dispelled and replaced the darkness.

You see,

light is one of the most universal symbols

and indicates, of course, illumination.

But also it's symbolic

of guidance,

of hope, and also of truth.

Even Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala refers to himself

in the Holy Quran,

in Suratul Noor, as

In the Surah of Light, he refers to

himself as Allah is the light

of the heavens and the earth.

And we find the Prophet

made the daily dua.

Allahummajalfilqalbinura,

wafilisani

in my speech, in my hearing, in my

sight,

in my actions.

So,

as we are here at this moment in

history,

we find ourselves in a dark phase of

human history,

experiencing

a deadly pandemic of biblical proportions.

We may feel overwhelmed

at the sheer magnitude of the challenges that

we face,

posed by this virus.

And the multitudes of

tribulations

that comes with it.

In times of such darkness

and such distress,

we need the light of faith

and the light of optimism.

The light of faith and the light of

optimism

because a small

light can displace

a lot of darkness.

You see, taking from the story, we need

to be light candles

with a little flame that can provide illumination.

Illumination to an entire room.

Because darkness

flees the space in which light enters.

Besides giving light,

the flame of the candle provides

the comfort of warmth.

Also,

the candle burns away.

Reminding us

that our time of life on earth

is fleeting. And with every moment, with every

flicker,

life grows shorter,

diminishing.

Eventually,

life will be extinguished.

Like the candle.

Finally,

candles teach us how to be selfless.

Because they burn themselves

in order to give life to those around

it. And therefore,

wise ones have said,

Say, good people are like candles. They burn

themselves

in order to provide light for other people.

Such selflessness

is the trait

of those who are truly caring, who are

truly compassionate.

Characteristics

of those who are genuinely good. And the

prophet salallahu

alayhi wasallam alhadith,

documented in the Muslim of Imam Ahmed Behambal,

said,

He said, there is light in the heart

of the believer.

So if our hearts are filled with light,

the light of faith, and the light of

compassion,

then

despite the darkness of the challenges of the

world that we are facing,

we could offer the light of hope, and

inshallah,

the light of relief.

May we be a source of light and

the reflection of light of Allah Subhanahu Wa

Ta'ala. Even the Rasul is Sirajamunira,

the reflection of light.