Mothers

Bismillah hir Rahman nir Raheem
As-salaamu 'alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu : )

So many ponderings I want to write about. I hope this doesn't get too long...

I just finished vacuuming the upstairs plus the staircase and my arms are, like, throbbing. I also started sweating up a storm, especially on the staircase coz the vacuum cleaner itself was generating a lot of heat on top of the already warm/humid weather.

Anyway, I was thinking about it.... we always talk about how *amazing* mothers are, masha'Allah, because of the fundamental/crucial/pivotal role they play in bringing up children. I had attended a talk by Shaykh Husain Abdul Sattar (db) on raising children, and he was saying that every child born is an uncut diamond and the responsibility of the parents is to cut, carve, shape and smooth that rough diamond into a beautiful gem, so that Allah subhaanahu wa ta 'aala will purchase that child for Jannah. Before he mentioned this point, he started off his talk by saying that the first step in bringing up righteous children is to marry a righteous wife, because the mother will essentially be the child's companion for his/her entire childhood and then some, and will play the largest role (out of creation) in nurturing that child into a mu'min, or a muhsin.

So we have this person, the mother, who has the responsibility of raising pure, untainted babies into devoted servants of Allah. That is no easy task, let alone the endless nights awake feeding the baby, rocking her back and forth to put her to sleep, the hectic days running around the house after the baby, keeping an eye on her at all times, never able to enjoy a single meal because the mother's attention and focus is always on her child, where she is and what she's doing. I mean, subhaanAllah, the things a mother does to maintain and raise a child is immense. (Alhamdulillah, the father certainly has his critical role as well, but I want to focus on the mother for a moment...)

So, anyway, what I'm discovering is that *aside* from the immense and unimaginable responsibility and duty of a mother in raising a child, let alone children, she has a house to maintain! She has to vacuum here, dust there, tidy this, clean that, wash clothes, cook food... subhaanAllah!! The CEO of a billion dollar corporation can't multi task as beautifully as a mother can! And the key thing about her mutli tasking: it's completely selfless. It's purely out of the rahm Allah subhaanahu wa ta 'aala placed in her that she does these things. SubhaanAllah... I keep discovering over and over why Rasul Allah salAllahu 'alayhi wasallim loved women, and why he said that Jannah is under the feet of the mother. If you begin to think of the number of things (weighty things) a mother does everyday without tire or complaint and really, truly refect upon it... you'll want nothing more than to serve you mother, give her anything her heart desires and take care of her every need. SubhaanAllah, you may well earn Jannah as a result of just that.

So that was my first pondering for this post... inspired by my aching muscles and beating heart. Now, having spoken about something as profound and beautiful as motherhood, I've kinda lost desire to write about my other ponderings... So maybe I'll come back in a couple days and ponder out loud again. Until then, please keep me in your du'as : )

Was-salaam ma'al ikraam,
Zareen