2006, IV - The Muslim Sunrise

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Perspectives: Can We Contact The Dearly Departed?As a non-Muslim, I experienced “deja vu” many times, true dreams, acomforting presence and heard voices of people when no one was there.As a Muslim, however, I received greater clarity. I understood theunderlying purpose of the Creator so the dreams changed from blackand white to full color with the best reception. What my mind could notcomprehend was Allah’s knowledge of the unseen.By Allison-Ayesha KhanThese days we havethe convenience ofmobile phones,telephones, e-mail,snail-mail, and faxesto aid us in communicating with oneanother. How difficult it is then tobelieve that once one dies one is trulybeyond reach!The answer to the question “Can wecontact our dear, departed loved ones?” liesin Chapter 23, verses 100-101 of the HolyQur’an.“Until when death comes to one of them,he says entreatingly, ‘My Lord, send meback, that I may do righteous deeds in thelife that I have left behind.’ Never it is but aword that he utters. And behind them is abarrier until the day when they shall beraised again.”Allah reminds us that we areprocrastinators by nature. When theexamination time arrives, some people stillhope to go back to their rooms for a secondchance to study for the exam. But, alas, thetime has already passed to get ready for themost important exam.Allah does not present us with a list ofour shortcomings to remind us what vainpursuits we wasted our time and attentionon. The list would surely exceed the lengthof the Holy Qur’an itself. Allah does noteven reproach us. It is just presented to usas a fait accompli that some people willimmediately be filled with remorse, regretand vain desires when they are confrontedwith the reality of the next world and theirCreator, the perfect Judge. Allah isreminding us that after death, we cannot runand we cannot hide from our accounting.Consequently, reading this verse of the HolyQur’an should encourage each of us toaccumulate as many righteous deeds in thisworld as possible, which will allow us toescape this regret on the Day of Judgment.But what does all this have to do withour dear, departed loved ones? Allah tellsus that the door closes after death.Therefore, no one can enter or leave Hiskingdom without His permission. Theromantic poets called it “the veil.” It is hardto accept. I admit that I have had to strugglewith this question myself as I have only beena Muslim for eleven years. Why is it astruggle?When we are thinking emotionally, logicof course has very little to do with anything.Let us look at a few reasons why people wantto contact their dear departed loved ones.The first reason is the most obvious. Wemight miss a family member who died.Because our emotions for that person liveon after the death, it is difficult to believethat the relationship is completely severed.Logic tells us the loved one is gone, but theemotional side of the brain cannot accept it.Plain and simple, we want them back. Butthis “I want it” attitude is misplacedemotion. It may be surprising when we aretalking about yearning for a loved one whois gone, but it is the ego crying out forgratification. My friend’s niece said it best“If a person wants a treat and a person needsa treat, then a person should get a treat?”Sometimes we cannot move on after thedeath of a loved one, especially if the lovedone was young or there was a tragic ending.We might cry for Hamlet after he loses hisfather, or Ophelia and his mother becauseshe was unfaithful to his father’s memory.But such tragedies are dispelled like somuch magic if we say Inna lillahey wa innaelayhay rajeeoon. (“From God he came andto God he has returned.”) It is a completeacceptance that Allah, the Creator, is alphaand omega – our starting place and endingplace.This prayer, simply put, takes the stingout of death. Repeating this prayer helps usto accept what seems emotionallyunacceptable to us. It is destiny that someonewe loved came into this world and now theyhave returned to their source, the Creator.We neither have the right to change it nor toregret it. The ego may have difficulty withthis, since the psychic hotline is there readywith reassurance – for a price.The chapter of the Holy Qur’an that dealswith this question is Al Muminun, whichmeans The Believer. There is no accidentin the organization of the Holy Qur’an. Allahis telling us what qualities He expects fromthe believers. Without these qualities, wecannot attain the status of a true believer.For example, Allah says: “And He it is Whohas created for you ears and eyes, and hearts;but little thanks do you give.” Beingungrateful can lead us astray. We want thestraight path, we say, but we have in us atendency to be ungrateful, so we have tokeep it in check.When someone dies who is dear to us,no matter how reluctant we are, we have tomove on. Grateful people thank theirneighbor for a borrowed cup of sugar, sothe only option for grateful people is to thankAllah for sending us this loved one in thefirst place. To think that one can only loveone person in the whole world, filled withbillions of people, is sheer romanticism. Itdoes not serve one’s life in any practicalsense. It just makes a good story.When I searched the internet for psychics,with the assumption that people want tocontact a departed loved one, I was surprisedto get 71,800 hits. That does not include thephone book or all the people who decide toput a sign on their front lawn, claiming thatthey can reach the dead.The question is who is in charge? If Allahis in charge, we must pray to Him to hearnews of our loved ones. He is the one whohas the key to the door. But if we think wecan use a psychic to get around the fact thatthe veil separates us from our loved onesfor ever, we are associating partners with20 MuslimSunrise
Submission to the Lord of all the Worlds holdsuncountable blessings. In my process, I keepreminding myself that “My person does not belong tome; I now have to abide by all injunctions of AlmightyAllah.” But then, Allah provided rewards when I hadpreviously expected only sacrifices.Allah, instead of developing sabr (patience)and gratitude to our Creator for the time wehad with that loved one. Allah wants us toget closer to Him. True dreams, visions andrevelations only have one purpose – to giveus that contact with Him which our heartscrave.In my own experience I did not have anysuch clarity about the rules Allah lays down.Before my father died, I had a cold and Iwas not permitted to see him at the hospital.I was in my bedroom in Toronto and myfather was in Sarnia when I suddenly sawmy dead relatives coming down. Thatexperience made me take my father’s illnessmore seriously. We did not expect death, butwhen he did die, I knew that my Creator hadwarned me in advance. When I finally didget to go home to visit my father, I had asudden stomach ache in the evening that wasso severe I did not go to school the next day.My father died the next morning, so Ireceived the call from the hospital. I knewwhat it was when the phone started ringing.The sweetest feeling in the midst of the painof a death is the comfort of Allah.After my father’s death, I traveled toScotland to see his country. On the Isle ofMull, I dreamed that my father came to thegate of heaven and told me that he wouldmeet each one of the family members at thedoor of heaven when we died. He told meto tell everyone in the family. I did what Iwas told. My mother died six weeks after Ihad that dream. So, Allah comforts thosewho put their trust in Him.Our real reason d’etre (reason to be) is toworship Allah. I had a belief at one timethat I could contact the dead, like dialing aphone, but Allah made it abundantly clearwho was in charge. I had a dream that anangel told my father that he could come toour house and watch us, but he was notallowed to say anything to us. I saw himfloating there and I took comfort from thatdream. Allah is the Gracious, the Merciful.Each time I have an experience, I learn adifferent lesson. Since we know that Allah’sattributes are not limited to the ninety ninenames we learn in Islam, surely the lessonswe can learn are limitless, even in this world.As a non-Muslim, I experienced “dejavu” many times, true dreams, a comfortingpresence and heard voices of people whenno one was there. As a Muslim, however, Ireceived greater clarity. I understood theunderlying purpose of the Creator so thedreams changed from black and white to fullcolor with the best reception. What my mindcould not comprehend was Allah’sknowledge of the unseen.In August, 1993, I was driving down aroad in Thedford, Ontario (Canada), whenI saw my father and my aunt flying down atme. I had to pull over to the side of the roadbecause I was blinded by tears. They toldme that my mother would die onThanksgiving weekend. But they did not saywhat year. Two years later, my sister phonedme and said: “Mom doesn’t sound right.”It was Thanksgiving weekend. She hadchildren and she could not leave them, so Iwent home by bus from Toronto to London(Canada). I waited at a donut shop all nightuntil a friend could take me home. It wasthe loneliest night of my life because I didnot know if my mother would be alive ordead when I arrived. But I kept tellingmyself she had to be alive or there wouldnot be any point in the communication.I was the last one in my family to speakto my mother. I made her breakfast anddrove her to the hospital. She had had astroke. I do not know what other people wantfrom life, but it was all-important for me tobe with my mother, especially since shelived alone. When my mother was in acoma, my school wanted to know when Iwould be returning. I was growing so certainof my ability to talk to my Creator that Ifinally told my sister I was going to do myprayers and ask how long it would be. I didmy prayers in the hospital room and with avery light tone, I heard an angel say “A weekis but a spot of time.” It felt like forever, buta week later when my mother died, itsuddenly felt very short.Can we contact our dear departed lovedones? Yes, but only by the permission ofthe one who holds us in His hands. But weshould not be narrow minded. This alsomeans that the dead can contact us, but onlyby His permission. It makes sense to addthat the more righteous the person is themore likely Allah will accept the request.Submission to the Lord of all the Worldsholds uncountable blessings. In my process,I keep reminding myself that “My persondoes not belong to me; I now have to abideby all injunctions of Almighty Allah.” Butthen, Allah provided rewards when I hadpreviously expected only sacrifices.After my mother’s death, I became verybold. I decided to pray for a present for mysister Janet, in Calgary, that I could not giveher. I told her that I was praying forsomething on her birthday and she shouldjust let me know if she received it. After welost both parents the pain seemedunbearable. I wanted her to understandthat Ahmadiyyat was true because Icould get my prayer answered. She rangme on her birthday to let me know thatshe had received her present. She saidthat before dawn, at Fajr, she heard achorus of voices singing “HappyBirthday” to her. She recognized mymother, my father and our uncle andaunt singing, who had all passed away.I enjoyed that present maybe even morethan my sister because my faith andcertainty were rewarded.Allah can comfort us. The questionis whether we are able to challenge ourimaginations to the limit to achieve thatcloseness to Him. Allison-Ayesha Khan resides in PowerSprings, Georgia.WINTER 2006 21
Page 2: The Ahmadiyya Muslim CommunityThe A
Page 5 and 6: If we were to havefull understandin
Page 7 and 8: About the Soul...The Unity of God A
Page 9 and 10: God Whose Rububiyyat and Rahmaniyya
Page 11 and 12: of man. Ahmad referred to a recents
Page 13 and 14: Furthermore, in the Quran, the term
Page 15 and 16: pronoun, as in Himself - (nafsihii)
Page 17 and 18: Defining the Soul: Perceptions in W
Page 19: or “wind” and nafs (soul) is th
Page 23 and 24: Signs of Allah“Verily, in the cre
Page 25 and 26: makes clear the drastic moral and s
Page 27 and 28: Al Wassay and the Expanding Univers
Page 29 and 30: The mass is convertible to energy a
Page 31 and 32: News, Views and Reviews: Press Publ
Page 33 and 34: Kalamazoo GazetteNovember 12, 2006
Page 35 and 36: From the Archives:“Assalam-o-Alai
Page 37 and 38: The Muslim Sunrise InterviewWhat is
Page 39 and 40: This Jiva is, as you said, insome w
Page 41 and 42: ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Page 43 and 44: Bismillah-hir-Rahman-nir-RaheemIn t

2006, IV - The Muslim Sunrise

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?