السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ
It’s Sunday 3rd May 2020. Today I wanted to touch upon ‘Ramaḍān and the Value of Time‘.
A few weeks ago, I had a very sad experience; something that happened to me, the first time in my life. During 2019, when Mufti Taqī Us̱mānī visited Batley, I got to know quite a few committee members of Jāme Masjid, which is on Henry Street.
One of them was Hāji Ashraf Dādibhai, whom I’d never met before. مَا شَآءَ الله, he was so impressed with our charity work in Albania and other countries that he kept in touch with me on a regular basis. As Ramaḍān was approaching, he allocated a full day to the charity I work for, the Muslim Welfare Institute, to perform collections at Jāme Masjid and JumuꜤah Masjid (Bradford Rd). Then lockdown started.
One day, I saw a missed call from Hāji Ashraf Bhai on my mobile and returned his call the same evening. He was in hospital and had tested Covid positive. We spoke for a little while, during which I assured him that we will all pray for him.
The next morning, I was informed by his brother, Hāji Afzal Bhai, that Hāji Ashraf Bhai has passed away. إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ. I do not ever recall such an incident in my life when I spoke with someone and, approx 12 hours later, I am informed that the person has passed away.
This incident once again brought home the reality and value of time. How much time have we got left in this world? A question no one can answer. Yet it was fixed before we were born. Brothers and sisters, one of the lessons to learn from this coronavirus is the value of time. Each and every second we have is so precious. Please don’t waste it. Especially during this holy month.
We are already on the 10th roza (fast) today. I make a very humble request to those, who with the best of intentions, are intending to spend their time volunteering to distribute food to houses, not to get carried away. ,مَا شَآءَ الله all of us here in Blackburn have plenty of food.
Utilise that time in the recitation of The Holy QurꜤān. Posting a flyer through the letterboxes with contact information is sufficient. Those in need will make contact. Definitely help them. But please, no need at all to go house to house distributing food.
If a sister opens the door, your gaze will fall upon a non-Maḥram, that too in Ramaḍān! Then, there is the issue of social distancing. Our Nafs entices us to do such activities deceiving us that it’s a very noble act; don’t fall for it.
One final point, right at the start of the lockdown, we circulated a WhatsApp poster on behalf of our charity offering help to those in need. We put 2 numbers on for brothers and 2 numbers on for sisters. This was approx 6 weeks ago. Now here comes the million dollar question.
How many calls have we received in 6 weeks? The Bounties of Almighty Allāh upon us in the UK are countless. To date, just one call! سُبْحَانَ الله ,مَا شَآءَ الله. Even that one call was not because of Covid, but caused by benefits being stopped due to some issues. Value your time before your time is up.
Almighty Allāh guide us all, Āmeen.
جَزَاكَ اللَّهُ خَيْرًا
Request for DuꜤās
وَالسَّلَامُ Hanif Dudhwala