Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa Sallam) said, ”Be in this world as though you were a stranger or a traveler/wayfarer.” The companion Abdullah Ibn ‘Umar (radhiya Allahu ‘Anhu) used to say: “When evening comes, do not expect (to live till) morning, and when morning comes, do not expect (to live till) evening. Take from your health (a preparation) for your illness, and from your life foryour death.” ((Reported by Al-Bukhaari and others))
For theSaalik(a)this hadith is an ultimate reminder of purpose. How important this hadith is for our times! In an age when the boob-tube seduces our minds, an idol – or parent for our children, poisons our hearts with ingratitude, flashes scenes of luxuryand disgusting delusions of ‘I wish I lived like that’ or ‘what if I won a Million dollars’ or ‘I wish I looked like that’, promotes the evils of capitalistic pagans who want nothing more than for you to waste your money on a mattress that will cause youto sleep through Fajr so you can get your ‘magical’ 10 hours of sleep, or other ridiculous trash, this hadith screams “Wake-Up!” Stop sitting through life.Act! Travel on the path of righteousness! How delusional man has become. Yet Allah has said, “Oh Mankind! The promise of Allah is Truth! So let not the life of this world delude you, and be not deceived about Allah by the deceiver (i.e. Shaytawn).” ((Faatir 5 )) Ghaafileen- heedless, ungrateful, and under the spell of the world. It is a sad moment in time when one knows more brand names than Sahaabah. Traveler? Are you really? Or have you made your home in this world with your love for this material life? Is your love for the eternal Love or is your Love the temporal mundane? Do you look to those wealthier than you, seeking what they have – or are you content, grateful, and loving to the Giver? Allah says, “If any do wish for the transitory things (of this life), We readily grant them – such things as We will, to such person as We will: in the end have We provided Hell for them: they will burn therein, disgraced and rejected. Those who do wish for the (things of) the Hereafter, and strive therefor with all due striving, and have Faith,- they are the ones whose striving is acceptable (to Allah).” ((Israa’ 18-19 )) Ibn Hibbaan records in his Sahih a valuable statement from our Beloved Guide (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), أخبرنا الحسن بن سفيان قال حدثنا موسى بنالحسين بن بسطام قال حدثنا أبو حذيفة قال حدثنا سفيان عن يونس بن عبيد عن الحسن عن عتي عن أبي بن كعب أن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال إن مطعم بن آدم ضرب للدنيا مثلا بما خرج من بن آدم وإن قزحه وملحه فانظر مايصير إليه
From Ubayy ibn Ka’ab that the Nabi (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said, “The food of the children of Adam strikes a parable of this worldly life. From what comes out of humans, even after they had seasoned it and added salt to it [making it tasty], look at the end result!” ((Sahih Ibn Hibbaan Vol 2 Hadith Number 702. It is a Hasan Hadith. )) We attempt our best to enjoy the luxuries and carnal pleasures of the mundane, yet what is its end? Man stuffs his body with the finest foods prepared from the labor and sweat of another, yet what is its end? Man seeks the immediate gratification, forgetting that true gratification is not on earth. I happened to stumble upon a beautiful reminder I feel obliged to share with the insightful travellers. Imaam Ibn-As-Subki mentions in his masterpiece‘Tabaqaat Ash-Shaafi’iyyah Al-Kubraa’that Imaam Ash-Shaafi’i used a walking stick when he went anywhere. Someone asked the Shaykh, “Why do you walk with a stick when you are neither old norailing?” He (rahmatullah ‘alayh) said, “To remind myself that I am but a traveller in this world.” ((2: 133-134, Also quoted by Adh-Dhahabi in his Siyaar,Abu Nu’aym in Al-Hilyah as well as the Diwaan of Ash-Shaafi’i )) A traveller is only a traveller when he traverses the path. What path have you chosen to travel upon? May Allah make us His travellers, seeking only his love, mercy and kindness. May He shed his infinite mercy and blessings upon our beloved guide and Master Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam).
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