Living on a prayer?
Praying Mantis. Leaf-ing on a prayer… Get it?
I’m a killer. The other day, I accidentally stepped on a praying mantis, crushing it to death. May Allah forgive me. But certainly, even in the most murderous moment, there are lessons. I was reminded of two things in particular…
1. That all of the creatures in the animal kingdom are fully subservient to their Creator, worshipping Him in ways unknown to us.
| أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَسْجÙد٠لَه٠مَن ÙÙÙŠ السَّمَاوَات٠وَمَن ÙÙÙŠ الْأَرْض٠وَالشَّمْس٠وَالْقَمَر٠وَالنّÙجÙوم٠وَالْجÙبَال٠وَالشَّجَر٠وَالدَّوَابّ٠وَكَثÙيرٌ مّÙÙ†ÙŽ النَّاس٠وَكَثÙيرٌ Øَقَّ عَلَيْه٠الْعَذَاب٠وَمَن ÙŠÙÙ‡Ùن٠اللَّه٠Ùَمَا Ù„ÙŽÙ‡Ù Ù…ÙÙ† مّÙكْرÙم٠إÙنَّ اللَّهَ ÙŠÙŽÙْعَل٠مَا يَشَاء٠|
Surah al-Hajj: 18 (and this is an ayah of sajdah)
2. Somehow, the ant in the story of Nabi Sulayman ‘alayhis salam.
Øَتَّى Ø¥Ùذَا أَتَوْا عَلَى وَادÙÙŠ النَّمْل٠قَالَتْ نَمْلَةٌ يَا أَيّÙهَا النَّمْل٠ادْخÙÙ„Ùوا مَسَاكÙÙ†ÙŽÙƒÙمْ لَا ÙŠÙŽØْطÙمَنَّكÙمْ سÙلَيْمَان٠وَجÙÙ†ÙودÙÙ‡Ù ÙˆÙŽÙ‡Ùمْ لَا يَشْعÙرÙونَ
At length, when they came to a (lowly) valley of ants, one of the ants said: “O ye ants, get into your habitations, lest Solomon and his hosts crush you (under foot) without knowing it.”
Surah al-Naml: 18
When I thought further about the incident though, I made ‘parables’. I likened it to the situation of our nation. How we’re continuously (almost blindly) praying, while we’re being stepped on, trampled upon… crushed. Almost like we’re oblivious to it. You see, it’s a matter of us adhering only spiritually, as if Islam were mere rituals. It’s not about us not praying enough… it’s us not letting the prayer benefit us enough.
Then as I looked to the nature of the praying mantis, how the female may bite off the head of and eat the male (during mating)…. I found it somewhat similar to the disunity of the Muslims. How we bite the hand that feeds us. Once we’ve used each other for our own benefit, we discard each other. It makes us wonder if we’re worse off than these creatures of Allah… As a sister just earlier pointed out to me how Ibn Hazm said that one who indulges in wordly desires is like the animals, or less than them. Subhan Allah.
Well-known problem? I just happened to see it clearly in a deadly episode with a praying mantis. And sigh, I had to share.
Solution, then? It’s hard to pinpoint any one solution amongst the endless possibilities, especially for such a general problem… but the one that applies with wisdom to your particular situation and context, no matter how small it may seem should you start on it… That’s definitely one to go for. May Allah help you and grant you success.
And please, stick to the prayer*. Always, always make du’a. But realise that real action MUST accompany the worship to truly achieve a solution at any given level. That’s real revolving your life around the prayer, and letting it revolve around your life. That’s real living on the prayer.
In any case, if this second part proves less than beneficial (I hear you, not more rhetoric! :S), then at least the first two ayat posted suffice! Alhamdulillah ‘ala kulli hal.
* I clarify this just in case my words get taken out of context like, “Well, EDITOR said we should do away with all these rituals!” God forbid :-/ May He guide us!
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Additional interesting facts about the praying mantis:
- Praying mantids get their name from the appearance of their front legs, which they hold in a “prayerlike” manner.
- “Mantid” derives from a Greek word meaning “prophet” or “seer.”
- It protects itself, not only by issuing an offensive brown liquid, but also by mimicking leaves or twigs, hoping to be overlooked. (looks can be deceiving!)
SOURCE
Asalaam alaikum,
Alhumdullilah another good post, keep them coming. So if I understand you correctly, its not good to discard a person after they have benefitted you in knowledge? If the person can’t benefit you any more isn’t it ok to discard the individual? Others may benefit you more? Should one stick around those that drag you down?
wasalaam,
Arshad
wa ‘alaykum as-salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh
Alhamdulillah.
Yes, I was thinking about knowledge when I wrote that part. And I use the specific word “discard” because of its negative connotation. I find some people would literally leave and completely strike someone off their list once they’re done with him.
Whereas in the past, you’d see how the greatest scholars would acknowledge some of their lesser-known teachers even if they benefitted from them for only a short period.
And it’s really… seeing how where we are sometimes, we’re small in number so to break ties with someone in our community just goes against us.
On the point of them dragging us down though… Can anyone really usurp someone’s beneficial knowledge? Just the other day, our teacher made us reflect upon how the people of knowledge are able to go on end, teaching others. Why? Because as true callers to Islam, they receive the inspiration from Allah. It might be far from being as great as the ilham received by the sahabah, radiyallahu ‘anhum. But certainly it exists to a degree within these people.
So can you really exhaust their knowledge in that sense?
Asalaam alaikum,
Even though these scholars acknowledged their teachers in the past, did they still continue to go to them for knowledge? I mean at some point I would imagine they benefitted all they could from an individual and moved on. Hmmm, I forget if it was AbuHanifa (ra) or Imaam Malik (ra) who left one of his main teachers (I’m going to have to verify this) after they disagreed on some matter(s).
I’m not sure I agree with the example of your teacher, or perhaps I have misunderstood it. Let me give an example. There were some people I benefitted greatly from by their knowledge when my own knowledge of Islam was very weak and limited. But as I continued to improve myself and associate with other individuals I came to realize that the first group (though they benefitted me initially) no longer could benefit me and wasted their time in frivolous matters.
I guess ideally a person of knowledge should be someone that is continually trying to increase their knowledge and should not be satisfied with what they know. But then maybe they don’t know where to go for this knowledge.
wasalaam,
Arshad
I stood on a frog on a very wet night once, long before I was Muslim and the guilt plagued me for weeks. Even after I became Muslim I was reluctant to set traps for mice lest I be held responsible and so I used to run around my kitchen catching them with an inverted Tupperware box (I caught three) and then release them into the wild. However, Yasir Qadhi set me straight on the mice thing and now I’m much more pro-mouse-death.
Another way to think of it would be that maybe the praying mantis was a female and rather than having killed one you actually saved the lives of numerous male praying mantid (thanks for enlightening me about the plural, I would have wrote mantises).
Arshad, that’s true actually. I guess I was just thinking in the sense of abandonment in other aspects too. I’m sure when the scholars left their teachers, it’d be a good parting, yes? Even when it comes to differing views? I know very little about their biographies to say.
And I brought up that example from my teacher because well, it was current in my mind, heh.
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Abu Ilyas, jazakallahu khair for the story. I almost stepped on a small frog before but it was a nano second of a reaction where I nearly tripped just to avoid it :-/.
I did actually look at the praying mantis for a while but had no idea if it were male or female. I wasn’t even thinking to check it… Just went awwww :-(. But yea, going back to the quote by Ibn Hazm… At least the animals do whatever they do for a purpose - Even biting off the male’s head. So if I were to think of it that way, it might be more depressing knowing I made a dent in the natural cycle of killing off male mantids. Did you know the male ants die soon after mating in the “marriage flight”? Fascinating.
Btw, mantid is another name for it, not the plural. Mantises would’ve been fine. Or mantes as dictionary.com puts it.
This is a really good book:
http://store.yahoo.com/talkislam/fourimtheirl.html
It talks about the 4 great imaams and the principles they used within their school of thought. I highly recommend it.
Wow. Jazakallahu khair! That looks excellent. Gotta add it to my list though…
Thanks again.
wa iyyakum. You’re welcome. What books do you have on your list (in case there maybe something good I may have missed out on).