Both Ahmad’s parents sat around his hospital bed as he lay there unconscious.
Suddenly Ahmad’s eyes began to flutter, and then after a minute his eyes slightly opened.
“AllahuAkbar! My son! How are you feeling?!” Ahmad’s mother asked as she bent over holding her son’s hands with hers. Tears began to roll down her cheeks.
“…When I saw that car coming towards me…I thought that was it…I was going to die…” Ahmad quietly said.
“How long were you waiting here?” Ahmad asked.
“About 11 hours. We made Salat in this room.” Ahmad’s father calmly said.
“…My parents stayed up for me all those hours and continued their worship too Allah. I can’t even sit down with my parents for a minute without having to do something that Allah hates…” Ahmad thought to himself.
Suddenly tears pored from his eyes. Ahmad’s father cuddled him and asked, “What makes you cry Ahmad?”
“Em…Not sure…Just happy to be alive?” Ahmad answered rather confused embarrassed to tell his parents how he was feeling.
After two days in the hospital, Ahmad was released. His left arm was supported in a sling so the shoulder could recover after the dislocation it suffered. That night while Ahmad lay in bed resting, his friend mo called him up.
“Ah Ahmad! I heard that you are safe back at home, that’s why I decided to call you up.” Mo said on the phone.
“That’s nice.” Ahmad answered.
“Listen Ahmad. Since that night was messed up and you could not go to the nightclub, do you want to come down tonight? I was so angry
when you had that accident! You should have seen the girls I chatted up at the club when you were brought to hospital!”
“Mo. To be honest, I really don’t want to go. Say if this is a warning from Allah?”
“Warning?! Are you mad?! Don’t tell me you are becoming an extremist! You know they have the most boring of lives!”
“They may have a boring life now, but they sure have everything when they die!” Ahmad answered.
“Come on Ahmad! We are Muslims! We will go to Heaven. Ok, we might be punished in Hell for a little while, but we will all eventually go to Paradise, so what is there to worry about? Besides, Allah is merciful! He said if you believe, He will forgive you!” Poor Mo spoke without knowledge.
“Hmm. I don’t know. Let me think about it. Surely not tonight as my arm is still in a lot of pain, but tomorrow I will give you the answer.”
“Ok. Don’t forget to call me tomorrow! I have to now sit down in this boring house and listen to my father reading Qur’an. Man! They have such a boring life; I don’t even know how they can smile!”
After the phone call Ahmad sat down on his bed in shock. This is the first time for Ahmad to let down an offer out of fear of what Allah can do to him! Ahmad tried holding back his tears.
“…How can Allah ever love me? Look what I have done. I have never committed a minute of my patience and time for Allah. I have physically hurt my mother and yet she still loves me. How can Allah ever forgive me…?” Ahmad thought to himself.
Another night has passed, and only 4 days until the appointed time of his death.
The next day Ahmad’s arm was still in a lot of pain. Ahmad rejected Mo’s offer in going to the local nightclub that night. Ahmad spent the whole day thinking about life…
Days pass and now we enter the final day of Ahmad’s life…
Nobody knows, not even the angels of death.
The day is Thursday. Ahmad wakes up early after having a bad dream. Fortunately his arm is out of the sling.
Ahmad slowly goes down the stairs and sits at the kitchen table. No-body seems to be at home. He finds his fathers work on the table. He
picks up his work to move it to the desk. As he is carrying his fathers work a small diary accidentally falls on the floor. After his father’s papers had been put back carefully, Ahmad curiously opens up his father’s small diary, and there written on the front page are the words of Allah from Qur’an:
“”Oh my servants who have transgressed against themselves (by committing evil deeds and sins)! Despair not of the mercy of Allah. Truly, He is the Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (39:53)”
Ahmad suddenly burst into tears. His hands begin to shake and his vision becomes blurred. He flicks through a few pages and reads the following:
“…I was away from Allah. I sinned against my soul. Far away was I from Allah. I turned to Allah and then fell into sin again when my two sons were born…” Ahmad flicks through more pages and what he reads shocks him even more…
“…My little Ahmad, my third son. He is five years old now. It is him who turned me back to Allah. He saw me once watching tv and asked, “If a Sheik came into the room and saw you, what would you do?” I answered, “I would quickly turn off the tv”. My son answered me back, “But baba! Allah is watching you all the time and He is more pure than all the Sheiks in the World!” My mouth dropped. I felt disgraced with myself. I turned back to Allah, vowing to keep my duty to Allah. My wife ‘Aliya also made the vow…” Ahmad continued to read on…
“…My Ahmad has mixed in with the wrong crowd. I see him moving away from his religion. I have failed. My son changed me by the will of Allah. How can I change him? What of my actions will make my son turn back to Allah?…”
Ahmad closed the diary, tears rolling down his face. Ahmad got hold of a pen and paper and wrote down the following:
“My Father. I have read your diary. I changed you when I was a child through my questioning by the will of Allah. Your words of your diary have turned me back to Allah by His will and Command.”
Ahmad slipped the page into his father’s diary on the last page he had read.
Ahmad got up and for the first time on his own he performed Wudu. Ahmad put his clothes and shoes on and walked towards the masjid.
Unfortunately little did Ahmad know that Mo, his friend, was going to take the same road as him!
Will Mo influence him back to the road to Hell? Can Ahmad influence Mo to the road towards Paradise? Will Ahmad continue on the road he is on?
To be continued Insha'Allah...
