If you are the kind of parent that I am, you\u2019ll understand what it means to watch your child as she sleeps and wonder \u2013 What will happen to you if I die?
\nIt might sound extreme (and it is), but we are the worriers; the ones who think of every possible outcome for every possible scenario. The ones who sit up at night thinking of all the things we should do to prepare for the \u201cinevitable.\u201d However, this tendency can be emotionally draining and harmful to our own mental health. And so Allah (swt), the All-Knowing Creator that He is, knows our fears and addresses them straight on.
\nWhether you are a terminally ill parent struggling with the idea of your child losing you, a single-parent with no \u201cback up\u201d parent to speak of, or just a parent who worries about the well-being of your child, Allah (swt) comforts you through His words and the words of His messenger\u2026
\nIn a hadith reported by Abdullah ibn Abbas (ra), who was just a boy at the time, the Prophet Muhammad (saw) said: \u201cO young man, I shall teach you some words [of advice]: be mindful of Allah and Allah will protect you. Be mindful of Allah and you will find Him in front of you. If you ask, then ask Allah; and if you seek help, then seek help from Allah\u2026\u201d
\nThe Prophet is advising this young companion to be mindful of Allah. In the original Arabic of this hadith, he uses the phrase \u201cihfadh-Allah, yahfadhak,\u201d which literally translates as: \u201ctake care of Allah, and Allah will take care of you.\u201d What is meant by this phrase is that we should take care of the commandments Allah (swt) has ordered upon us (i.e. our prayer, fasting, charity, character, dress-code, etc.). We should constantly be mindful of God and make the hereafter a priority in our lives.
\nAnd we get something beautiful in return: a promise from God that He will take care of us in a beautifully holistic way: He will care for matters of our worldly needs, our faith and our hereafter.
\nEven our children are included in this. Umar ibn AbdulAziz once said, \u201cThere is not a single righteous believer who dies except that Allah (swt) will protect his children and his children\u2019s children.\u201d
\nThe story of Musa and Al-Khidr in Surat-Al-Kahf is a prime example of this concept. When these two men were journeying together, they came to a town where the people were not at all hospitable. Then, Al-Khidr saw a wall that was crumbling, and he fixed it. When Musa questioned Al-Khidr about this and asserted that he should have asked the townspeople for payment to do this work, Al-Khidr rebuked Musa for his lack of patience and explained his reasoning for fixing the wall:
\n\u201cAnd as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the town; and there was under it a treasure belonging to them; and their father was a righteous man, and your Lord intended that they should attain their age of full strength and take out their treasure as a mercy from your Lord. And I did it not of my own accord. That is the interpretation of those (things) over which you could not have patience\u201d (18:82).
\nAllah (swt) sent Al-Khidr to protect the wealth of these orphans without anyone else\u2019s knowledge or invitation for one reason only: their father was a righteous man. Had he not come along and fixed the crumbling wall, the orphans\u2019 wealth would have been found by the townspeople and unlawfully seized.
\nTheir father took care of the commandments of Allah, worshiping none but Him and leading a life of righteousness. So Allah (swt), in turn, not only took care of this man, but also took care of his children even after he was no longer present.
\nYou have no control over when you will die or become unable to care for your children due to illness or other circumstances. None of this is in your control. Some parents may even use their worrying as an excuse to do something against the faith, like opening interest-based savings accounts for their children. They mistakenly believe that this wealth will be the saving grace of the children if anything happens to the parents.
\nThis isn\u2019t to say that you shouldn\u2019t prepare good resources for your children in the case that you can no longer provide for them. The orphans\u2019 treasure was buried underneath that wall, wasn\u2019t it? Someone clearly planned and buried it there. But plan and save and care for your children\u2019s future in a lawful way, and Allah (swt) will bless and protect them.
\nAs parents, we sometimes focus on our children to the point where we almost lose our sense of self and our drive to do what is best for our own salvation. We need to refocus. We need to pry our eyes away from the goal of being \u201cgreat parents,\u201d and set our sights on becoming \u201cgreat believers.\u201d (And a great believer will also inherently become a great parent.)
\nThe energy you use for excessive worrying about your children should be redirected and re-framed into an anxiousness to fulfill the commandments of Allah. And if the day comes sooner than you expect when Allah (swt) decides that your life in this world must end, rest assured that He has promised to take care of you and your children.
\nAnd Allah (swt) never breaks His promises.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you are the kind of parent that I am, you\u2019ll understand what it means to watch your child as she sleeps and wonder \u2013 What will happen to you if I die?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c71-introduction-to-islam-muslims"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n