By Hamka Rosli
Many of us rarely have the thought of ‘why are we here’. The question that can make us think about our very own existence and the reason of us being in this planet that we called home. I still remember the sermon by the khatib in one Friday prayer where he made us ponder upon our lives by asking that question.
As we know, before a human being was created by Allah, the angel questioned why did a human need to be created and to be sent down to earth when they would just bring chaos to the planet. Then, God with all His wisdom tells the angel that He knows what the angel did not.
We know the story where Allah taught Prophet Adam (peace upon him) the names of the things on earth, and when the angel was asked to name those things, he could not answer as Adam did. This is the evidence where Allah created us, human beings, more noble than angels.
What is the most important and what distinguish human beings from angel is that, we have the freewill, whilst angel does not. But this freewill is not a privilege, it is a responsibility. Only those who use this freewill to follow the command of Allah will gain the highest degree beside Him. But if we do the opposite, we will belong with those who Allah wraths. So, why is this story so important? This is to make us realise our idiosyncrasy on this earth and to follow the order of God.
Despite human beings having the highest degree beside Allah, we were then told about the story of human’s first sin, where it was about the forbidden tree and its fruits. So now, the khatib asked what is the difference between man and the devil? The devil too has freewill after he refused to kneel down to Adam as commanded by Allah. As Adam made the first sin, he along with Eve, were sent down to earth and the first thing he did was begging for forgiveness.
That is the difference between human and satan. While satan, after going against the command of Allah and thrown away from the heaven, he was still with his pride saying that he was much better than Adam. So, that is to say the man’s superiority over other creatures, where if we make a mistake, then we immediately ask for forgiveness to Allah, and Allah will forgive our sins because Allah is Oft-forgiving and most merciful.
Towards the end, the khatib talked about patience. He told a story about one servant of Allah who was tested with the death of his family. In accepting the news of his family’s death, the first thing he said is “O Allah, you have taken the life of my love. O Allah all mighty, may you beautify it to me and make the patience inside me”. The first thing he asked from God was to make him patient over the loss. In all the problems that we face, the first thing that should cross our mind is to be patient. So that is how our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) encountered the resistance from the Quraysh, by being patient and keep on praying to Allah.
The preaching by khatib was actually an introduction for our purpose in life, and of course, we all know we are here to be the khalifah of this planet. There are so many questions that need to be answered, to be asked. As Muslims, we should think that life is more than just worshiping God. In our life, we will be tested regardless of whether it’s big or simple, be patient when we face a lot of trouble. We only have Allah in this world when we lose everything. Indeed, in patience, there will be a relief and God knows what is the best for us.***
photo taken from Yahoo !