‘Whomsoever
guides towards a goodness, will get virtues equal to the one who
performs
that goodness.Â’ [Muslim]
There was once lived a normal man who like any other average muslim,
obstained from the bad things and performed his daily duties when he
had the
time.
One day when he was on the train back home from his important job, he
remebered that he had forgot to pray salat al-Asr. He was too tired
from
work so he delayed it till he reaches home.
But on his way home, he remembered his grandmother's warning about
praying
on time:
"My son, you shouldn't leave prayer to this late time". His
grandmother's age was 70 but whenever she heard the Adhan, she
got up like an arrow and performed Salah.
He, however could never win over his ego to get up and pray.
Whatever he did, his Salah was always the last to be offered and
he prayed it quickly to get it in on time. Thinking of this, when he
reached home, he realized that there were only 15 minutes left before
Salat-ul Isha. He quickly made Wudhu and performed Salat-ul
Maghrib and Asr. While making Tasbih, he again remembered his
grandmother and was embarrassed by how he had prayed. His
grandmother prayed with such tranquility and peace.
He began making Dua and went down to make Sajdah and stayed like
that for a while. He had been at school all day and was tired,
so tired. He awoke abruptly to the sound of noise and shouting.
He was sweating profusely. He looked around. It was very
crowded. Every direction he looked in was filled with people.
Some stood frozen looking around, some were running
right and some were on their knees with their heads in their
hands just waiting. Pure fear and apprehension filled him as he
realized where he was. His heart was about to burst. It was the
Day of Judgement.
When he was
alive, he had heard many things about the questioning on the Day
of Judgement, but that seemed so long ago. Could this be
something his mind made up? No, the wait and the fear were so
that he could not have imagined this. The interrogation was
still going on. He began moving frantically from people to
people to ask if his name had been called. No one could answer
him. All of a sudden his name was called and the crowd split
into two and made a passageway for him.
Two people grabbed his arms and led him forward. He walked with
unknowing eyes through the crowd. The angels brought him to the
center and left him there. His head was bent down and his whole
life was passing in front of his like a movie. He opened his
eyes but saw only another world. The people were all helping
others. He saw his father running from one lecture to the other,
spending his wealth in the way of Islam. His mother invited
guests to their house and one table was being set while the
other was being cleared. He pleaded his case, "I too was always
on this path. Ihelped others. I spread the word of Allah. I performed
my
Salah.
I fasted in the month of Ramadan. Whatever Allah ordered us to
do, I did. Whatever he ordered us not to do, I did not."
He
began to cry and think about how much he loved Allah. He knew
that whatever he had done in life would be less than what Allah
deserved and his only protector was Allah. He was sweating like
never before and was shaking all over. His eyes were fixed on
the scale, waiting for the final decision. At last, the decision
was made. The two angels with sheets of paper in their hands,
turned to the crowd.
His legs felt like they were going to collapse. He closed his
eyes as they began to read the names of those people who were to
enter Jahannam. His name was read first. He fell on his knees
and yelled that this couldn't be, "How could I go to Jahannam? I
served others all my life, I spread the word of Allah to
others". His eyes had become blurry and he was shaking with
sweat. The two angels took him by
the arms. As his feet dragged,
they went through the crowd and advanced toward the blazing
flames of Jahannam. He was yelling and wondered if there was
any person who was going to help him. He was yelling of all the
good deeds he had done, how he had helped his father, his
fasts, prayers, the Qur'an that he read, he was asking if none
of them would help him.
The Jahannam angels continued to drag him. They had gotten
closer to the Hellfire. He looked back and these were his last
pleas. Had not Rasulullah [saw] said, "How clean would a person
be who bathes in a river five times a day, so too does the
Salah performed five times cleanse someone of their sins"? He
began yelling, "My prayers?my prayers?my prayers." The two
angels did not stop, and they came to the
edge of the abyss of
Jahannam. The flames of the fire were burning his face. He
looked back one last time, but his eyes were dry of hope and he
had nothing left in him. One of the angels pushed him in. He
found himself in the air and falling towards the flames. He had
just fallen five or six feet when a hand grabbed him by the arm
and pulled him back.
He lifted his head and saw an old man with a long
white beard. He wiped some dust off himself and asked him, "Who
are you?" The old man replied,"I am your prayers". "Why are you
so late! I was almost in the Fire! You rescued me at the last
minute before I fell in". The old man smiled and shook his head,
You always performed me at the last minute, did you forget?"
At that instant, he blinked and lifted his head from Sajdah. He
was in a sweat. He listened to the voices coming from outside.
He heard the adhan for Salat-ul Isha. He got up quickly and went
to perform Wudhu.
Pass this to peoaple that you care about , and maybe u can help
someone open their eyes........ and who knows??
Maybe this is a good deed that can help you during the day of
judgement....right???
CSW