of tolls and trolls

I'm proposing, and i hope you'll say 'yes'

Musa 'alaihissalam was a prophet with a very strong character, and Rasulullah compared the character of Umar ibn al khattab to that of Musa. You had to be strong if your people turned to worshipping a golden cow after seeing obvious miracles performed in front of them. He was physically strong (he accidentally killed a Copt just by pushing him)

But more importantly, he was very strong-willed.

When Allah told Musa to go and find al-Khidr, he said to his assistant

"I will not give up until i reach the meeting point of the two seas; or i will walk for years and years". (Al kahf:60)

He was so fired up about it, that he was willing to walk for YEARS AND YEARS. But obviously,  no one could walk non-stop for years.

"When they had passed on (some distance), Musa said to his attendant: "Bring us our early meal; truly we have suffered much fatigue at this journey of ours." (Al kahf: 62)

Being humans, we have some constraints put on us. We feel hungry, we need sleep, we have to rest a little bit, we have families to take care of, we need to work to sustain a living. No one was born with wings sprouting from their backs and light shining from their fingers.

But we should learn from the example of Musa. The initial mindset should be 'i'll walk for years and years', and not 'i'll walk if the road is smooth, there are R&Rs down the road, someone takes care of my business, etc...". One brother told us have a 'no worries' attitude to D&T.

"3 circles per week? No worries mate".

"I've never spoken on this topic before..but no worries mate, consider it done."

"You're asking me to write a book???? *puffs up cheeks and exhales slowly*...no worries mate, i'll give it a try".

If any opportunity of good comes to you, say 'yes' first. And then we'll talk about the constraints. You can't think straight and can't sleep if someone proposes marriage to you. But allah is proposing paradise to you,and a lot of people don't look like they want to say 'yes'.

Remember, you'll never know your limit if you never tried to reach it.

Before you build that mosque

Reading an obituary of the late nelson mandela, i was struck by this particular passage:

"Winnie, his second wife, whom he married in 1958, came to share his political cause, but from the first realised that 'he belongs to them', the public. This was a complaint of the children too, as mr Mandela himself confessed. He was, one told him, 'a father to all our people, but you have never had time to be a father to me."

This is a real risk for people who are serving a public cause.

So to all my brothers and sisters who are still 'missing by half' (yours truly included),

Choose and prepare and plan wisely,

Think well, because building the foundation blocks of a society is not an easy thing,

And its even more of a challenge because we must be fathers and mothers to all the ummah, in addition to becoming fathers and mothers to young khalids and umars, and little aishahs and nusaybahs.