The Basket

In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate.

For the past few days, I've been in the mood for short stories. A mean to widen my vocabulary, is my excuse. At the time being, I'm editing a short story jointly written with kak Deney about bananas. The theme is comedy and it's in BM (well, I rarely write stories in BM~)! InsyaAllah, it will be released to the public by this coming 29th October. :')

But, owh. While editing the abovementioned short story, I'm reading short stories here and there. For fun. And I stumbled upon this one beautiful story about reading Quran. It is a typical story but it is undoubtedly beautiful. [click here for original source]

Note: I edited the story according to my perspective. :')

*******

An old American Muslim lived on a farm in the mountains of eastern Kentucky with his young grandson. Each morning Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading his Quran. His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to imitate him in every way he could.

One day the grandson asked, "Grandpa! I try to read the Quran just like you but I don't understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Quran do?"

The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and replied, "Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water."

The boy did as he was told, but all the water leaked out before he got back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, "You'll have to move a little faster next time," and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again.

This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket instead.

The old man said, "I don't want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You're just not trying hard enough," and he went out the door to watch the boy try again.

At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got back to the house. The boy again dipped the basket into river and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket was again empty. Out of breath, he said, "See Grandpa, it's useless!"

"So you think it is useless?" The old man said, "Look at the basket."

The boy looked at the basket and for the first time realized that the basket was different. It had been transformed from a dirty old coal basket and was now clean, inside and out.

"Young man, that's what happens when you read the Quran. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, you will be changed, inside and out. That is the work of Allah in our lives."

The boy nodded, understood.

"Now, turn and look behind you. What can you see?"

The boy looked puzzled but he answered, "The path looks damped with puddles of water."

The old man smiled, "The path is like your life and the basket is you. Reading Quran habitually cleanses you inside and out, just like the river cleans the dirty basket. And as you tread upon the path of life, you nurture the people around you. Give them your seeds of kindness and you'll get beautiful flowers and plants."

As river cleans the basket, so does Quran cleanse us. :')

*******

Beautiful, isn't it?

If by only habitually reading the Quran even without understanding the secrets behind it could cleanse your heart and transform you into a better person, imagine what you can be if you put more efforts to understand the secrets of Quran. :')


"O Allah! Bless me with the knowledge of this Quran. Let it lead me to Your Light, Your Guidance and Your Rahmat. O Allah! Remind me what I have forgotten, fill me up with knowledge I am yet to learn, and enrich my recitation of Your Kalaam; for I am weak and hopeless without You."

When You Are At Your Weakest

Lately, I felt somewhat strange about myself: I became overly sensitive over small matters and sometimes I became a bit too moody, and very very lazy too. Is it the "time of the month"? Aw, c'mon . . . I'm a guy! I don't have that "time of the month".

But really, it feels so strange.

Many recent happenings seemed to tick my patience. Yes, I usually able to remain calm and composed even when I was being downtrodden. But Heaven knows why in the past few days, I wasn't that person. I sulked at people who didn't mean to yell at me, I felt bitter when I wasn't invited to a certain events wherein I'm normally invited, and I even lost my temper over slight changes in my erroneous plans, especially when things didn't go my way.

And I became somewhat very very very lazy too. I procrastinate my works, and all I wanted to do was lay down in bed and do nothing. This really disrupts my Ramdhan resolution for this year. Yes, that is very frustrating. I was struggling to get out of it and that tires me out, physically and mentally.

And last night after coming back from Kay's and had my meal for sahur, I lay down in bed and I remember an advice my favourite ustaz gave me (which I shared in Sha's blog sometimes ago). It is about the Imaan of a man. A man's Imaan is not like that of Rasulullah nor angels which always increases and do not decrease. A man's Imaan fluctuates. There are times when our Imaan increases, and there are times when it decreases. So we should multifold our deeds when our Imaan increases, and remain steadfast to the basic waajib deeds when our Imaan decreases - that is when we feel so low and lazy.

Remembering that, I was smiling as I rolled over under the cold duvet which felt somewhat warmer last night. And I felt asleep. And I had a dream.

In that dream, I was talking to a person. I couldn't see his face, or maybe, I couldn't remember his face. We talked about how I've been feeling lately, which I don't quite remember in details. But I remember clearly the last part of our conversation before I woke up. Guess what he told me? It was this (or something along the line):

The man: When you feel down, have your ever received any good news or anything like that?
Me: You mean?
The man: Something that can cheer you up when you're feeling down.
Me: Urm . . . I think I had. In fact, most of the times.
The man: Weren't you not cheered up?
Me: Not sure.
The man: That's because you were wallowing in self-pity and couldn't see His Signs.
Me: His . . . Signs?
The man: Yes, His Signs. Remember this: Whenever you feel down and there are good tidings brought to you, it is Him trying to reach out to your soul. It is as if He is saying to you, "La takhaf wala tahzan, ya 'abdi. Inna ma'al 'usri yusra" (Do not fear nor be sad, my servant. Verily, with every difficulty comes an ease). So don't be fazed and reach out your hands to Him.

I woke up refreshed, and smiling. Thank you, Allah. :')



When you are at your weakest, do not wallow in self-pity. Get yourself together and climb up to reach His Light. :')


“Allah sufficeth me: There is no god but He, on Him is my trust - He, the Lord of the Throne (of Glory) Supreme.“ (At-Taubah: 129)