Grief. It’s not something that goes away. But it is one of the many things in life that changes. Grief is like a butterfly, starting out from a little caterpillar and morphing into a butterfly. No matter the form, the grief is there, and it is valid, whether you are still a caterpillar or already a butterfly…
Spinning my cocoon,
Omar Mukhtar
Yesterday, I wrote about #TheLanguageOfGrief. For those who’ve been following us, you’ll know that we’ve been writing about grief to raise awareness for more than a year now. In response to yesterday’s post, there were comments saying how grieving is ungrateful or harmful & how the right thing to do is to pray & make du’a. Before you read any further, remember that this is not an attempt to lash out at these comments or start an argument with anyone. It’s to create a better understanding of grief.
Think of it this way: if you’re ill, besides praying, you go to the doctor for treatment, not wait for it to go away. The same thing applies to grief. Grief is when you acknowledge your feelings of sadness. It doesn’t mean rejecting Allah’s decree. After all, as Muslims, it’s our obligation to pray 5 times a day & make du’a to Allah, regardless of whether we’re experiencing loss or not. Plus, a single post doesn’t prove that all we’ve been doing for the past year is be miserable. Trust me, there’s not a day that goes by when we don’t pray & make du’a for our beloved Mamajee.
Take the story of the Prophet Ya’qub (PBUH) as an example. When he was separated from his son, Prophet Yusuf (PBUH), he cried until he turned blind! This story isn’t saying that we should grieve until we cause harm to ourselves, pulling our hair out, wailing until we can’t speak anymore. But what it’s saying is that grieving is ok. If Allah’s most beloved messenger wept over the loss of their loved ones, it justifies that there is nothing wrong with grieving. Hence the idea of seeing grieving as ungrateful for what Allah has planned, or a sign of a weak Iman is totally irrelevant. If anything, it’s painting a picture of Islam as merciless and cold, when actually Allah is The Most Merciful – the complete opposite!
Sharing is healthy,
Omar Mukhtar
#thepawsomelion
#GriefAwareness
People say that the language of the heart is love. But for me, the real language of the heart is grief. It’s proof of our love. Our love for the loved ones we have lost. Our love for the ones we would give anything to bring back. The tears we shed, the silence we hold, the longing we feel – all that does not come from our heads. It comes from our hearts. Grieving is a way of our hearts speaking out. The best thing to do? Don’t silence the language of grief. Learn to speak it.
Speaking from the heart,
Omar Mukhtar
#thepawsomelion
#griefawareness
Today is the 1st of Muharram, which is not only the beginning of the Islamic New Year, but also marks that fateful Hijrah our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) made from Mecca to Medina, fleeing persecution and establishing the Muslim community more than 1000 years ago. He made his Hijrah to escape evil and find a new beginning, as commanded by Allah.
This Islamic New Year, we should honour the date by following in the Prophet’s footsteps. Today is the turning of a new leaf. The opening of a new book. Yes, this Islamic New Year brings to us a set of blank pages with which we are free to do what we want. And no, not just figurative pages – these are REAL pages we have. The books that the angels have been writing about our deeds in all last year have been sent up to Allah with the arrival of the new year.
Now, we each have an empty book, waiting to be filled with our deeds. So let us do something worthwhile with our first page! This is not just a transition from one year to another. This is an opportunity to carry out our own Hijrah. In fact, this year will witness our family’s very own Hijrah – InshaAllah.
I pray that each of our Hijrah is as fruitful as the Hijrah our beloved Prophet (PBUH) carried out, the Hijrah that marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. And I pray that this Islamic year is the year that Allah gives us strength to carry out our Hijrah…Aameen!
Salaam Maal Hijrah,
Omar Mukhtar
#thepawsomelion
1 Muharram 1442 AH
The Pawsome Lion 