I dare you to read this and not cry

I was reading a short story on the train. I finished half of it, and put it away to continue reading later.

"serdang..please mind your step"

then i browsed through my phone. somehow i was so engrossed in that, and didn't notice that the train had stopped at my station. 

I looked up..

Shoot! How long had the train stopped?

I picked up my bags and ran.

*teeetteetteet*
*wooshh*

and the door shut in my face.

Oh well, might as well finish off the story i was reading. It's a beautiful story, and because its so beautiful i'll give you a glimpse of it.

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This is a true story, and it happened in the time of at-tabi'een. A man by the name of Abu Abdul Rahman was finally returning home after 28 years in the frontline, fighting to spread islam. Imagine the excitement he must have felt, finally returning home to his wife after 28 years. And in those days there was no skype, no whatsapp, no facebook. 

That's a huge enough sacrifice to make for the sake of islam, 

And in addition : when he left her to go out and fight, they were newly married.

Now he's finally coming home.

He opened his door..

To find that a young man was in the house.

They wrestled each other, they shoved and pushed until they were both thrown out of the house and the neighbours came to see what the commotion was all about. 'Why is this old man doing, trespassing into this house?' They grabbed the old man to stop the fighting and so he wouldn't escape.

Abu Abdul Rahman protested: "O people, let me go! This young man trespassed onto my wife! By Allah, if i had my spear with me, i would have destroyed him!"

The young man also bawled, "Let me go! By Allah, i saw with my own eyes, that man intruded into my house with his weapons!.. This is proof that he intended evil, he really intends evil!"

The people became confused. They knew that this was the house of the young man. What was the old man talking about? Is he really the man who left for jihad a quarter of a century ago? Is he 'Puruq', also known as Abu Abdul Rahman?

Then a woman came out from the house. She knew who this man was.

"Yes, that is Puruq. This is Puruq, O Rabi'ah!"

The young man in the house was none other than Abu Abdul Rahman's son. When he left for the frontier, his son was still in the womb. Now he had grown up to become a fine young man. All this while, throughout the 28 years, his wife stayed loyal to him while bringing up their son, educating him in the faith and sending him to learn with the best scholars of the time.

Who was this son?

He was Rabi'ah ar-Rayi bin Abu Abdul Rahman. He was one of the ulama' and fuqaha' of his generation and also one of the teachers of Imam Malik bin Anas, the founder of the Maliki madhhab. And what produced this great man?

A great wife and a great mother.

This story is so awesome, the word 'awesome' echoes in your mind. (AWESOME..AWEsome..Awesome..awesome..some..me..)

And their blood, sweat and tears in the path of allah still manage to touch hearts and make tears flow long after they have left the earth.

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So another 'train incident' ended up producing blessed fruits, because if i had gone out at my original stop, i wouldn't have finished the book.

There's a very powerful lesson in the story about bringing up excellent children. It doesn't begin with which kindergarten you send them to, or which milk formula you feed them with.

It begins with choosing an excellent mother for them.

And since there's not yet a Ms. Author as of today,

I'm not in a position yet to talk about that. maybe later. (I'll stop there before you ask me 'how much later?')

Fullstop.

And because i love all you readers out there,

I'm giving you a gift.

click here to receive your gift.

I want you to download it and print it out. I want you to read it, and feel the warmth and sincerity in this story, and understand its implications.

And then act upon it, and be serious in making ourselves complete muslim individuals so we can then bring up a whole generation of Rabi'ahs.