Saturday, September 4, 2010

Shades of Rain

India is an agricultural country. Its economy, as Allah Almighty has wished, depends significantly upon agriculture. This in turn, and as wished by Allah Almighty, depends upon the rains. Rains here are caused by the Monsoon according to the wishes of Lord Almighty. For last many years the the Monsoon has been scanty. Just like this year, last year the holy month of Ramadan fell in the middle on the Monsoon. It was not raining, in spite of special Prayers for rain. Then the Holy Month of Ramadan began. A few days into the month the rains presented themselves, by the permission of Lord Almighty, Most Merciful, Most Beneficent. Ramadan is the month in which many people pay their Charity (zakat). In the text books of Sciences there is no link between Monsoon or rains and Charity. In Islam there is. One of the benefits of obedience to Lord Almighty is that if you give Charity Allah All-Pure and Exalted sends rains. Hence, after it started raining last year, some man of heart (ahl-e-dil) said that here we started giving Charity and there Allah Almighty sent the rains. Verily All-Pure is our Lord Exalted.

This year has been a time of extraordinarily high temperatures in India, particularly the north. But ever since the Ramdan started the rains too started again. Just like last year. When favours of Lord Almighty rain on us we take them for granted. Life is supposed to be like that, we think. We forget that for each favour it is obligatory to say thanks to Lord Almighty. Allah Almighty does not destroy those favours for whom we say our thanks. Verily our Lord Almighty asked, "What will Allah get by sending calamities to you if you are thankful?"

This year it has been raining nearly on daily basis. So much so that many roads are falling apart. The rains were so regular that one could feel the promise of Allah, "If you are obedient then I'll send rains for you in the night and the sun in the day". Rains were not heavy, except for last night. Last night it rained heavily and one could feel a warning repeated by Hazrat Shaikh, may Allah provide sustenance in his favours. Hazrat Shaikh (DB) keeps reminding about the actions of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) at the time of rains and thunder or storm. He will have signs of concern on his blessed face and rush to the mosque till the storm subsided. Today we leave the Mosque and head home for celebration when rains arrive with storm. "Time to ask Missus to prepare fried items (pakodies)", we think.

Today's sitting (majlis) was held in the Mosque. Hazrat Shaikh (DB) had extra Lights (noor) on his face. Inside the house it is all deluge. The clinic room is more than a foot in water, a man was bucketing it out. Motors here and there are pumping out the rain water from various rooms. No courage to peep into the rooms with carpets.

Allah Almighty is our Lord and He is All-Wise.