Bismillaah

As Salaamu ‘alaykum and peace to all,

19th September 2008- Day 19 – Want to Live for 54,000 Years? Here’s How! – Motivational Story on Reaping Enormous Rewards of Fridays

That day, I was meeting a friend. And it was already 2pm but there was no sign of her. Minutes later, I received a text message on my cellphone, indicating that she would be slightly delayed. I told her no worries, as I could always amuse myself with my surroundings.

Anyway, when she arrived, naturally, I asked what happened, right?

‘Sorry darling, I was at the Ladies’ Gym and had to take a shower after the workout. I was too smelly to meet you without doing so!’ she chuckled.

‘Ahh… and I am glad you did!’ I answered, giggling away…

Then, as I was reading one day, I found this hadith that made me remembered my friend,

Rasulullah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: “The person who has a bath on Friday and goes early to the musjid on foot, and not by a vehicle, listens to the khutbah and does not do any foolish act while it is being delivered, will get the reward of one year’s ibaadah, one year’s fasting, and one year’s salaat; for every step that he takes. ” (Tirmidhi)

SubhanAllaah, I was truly amazed with the ‘carrot and cake’ that Allah has provided us with in this hadith for doing such simple thing.

It began making me ponder.

Firstly, I asked myself this question- if my dearest friend, became so conscious when meeting me that she made sure she didn’t have any foul odor, what more would be the case if we are actually meeting and have ‘appointment’ with our Lord, you agree?

And I couldn’t believe the incentives and encouragements that Allaah, our Al Mighty Lord has given us if we decided to

a)    Take bath
b)    Go early to the masjid on foot
c)    Listen and focus to the Khutbah delivered attentively

What would we get for doing these three steps? Reaping the reward of…

one year’s ibaadah, one year’s fasting, and one year’s salaat; for every step that he takes!

EVERY single step that we take?

Yup, my brothers and sisters…each and every single step that we take!

How amazing is that, you agree?

And let us asked ourselves this important question too- how many steps does it take from our place to the masjid, my brothers and sisters?

Hmmm…. One step? Two step? Three steps? I don’t think so, right?

Even if our home is next to the masjid, it would take us maybe 20 steps from the door of our house to the door of the masjid, you agree?

Why not we do just a little bit of calculation today based on that assumption, shall we?

Say we only take 20 steps to get to the masjid.

20 steps x 1 Friday = 20 steps; which can easily be translated as getting the reward of 20 years of Ibadaah, fasting and prayers.

Now, say we have been doing that for 10 years;

20 steps x 54 Fridays in a year x 10 years = 10,800 steps; which means that we have been rewarded as if we had been doing ibadaah, fasting and praying for 10,800 years?

Oh my God! Ya Allaah, Ya Rabbi…

Just imagine, reaping the rewards of 10 YEARS of ibaadah, fasting and prayers?

Gasp!

I felt so baffled when I think about it.

Now, imagine if we have to take 100 steps to walk to the masjid and we have been doing it for 10 years? Isn’t that 54,000 steps which means 54,000 years of ibaadah, fasting and prayers?

And what if I have been doing this for 10 years, every single week, every single Friday? What if 15 years? 20 years?

Allaahu Akbar! SubhanAllaah!

No wonder our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) has once told us that,

“Friday is the “mother” of all days and the most virtuous in the sight of Allah Ta’ala. In the sight of Allah Ta’ala it has more greatness than Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Ad’haa. ” (Ibn Majah)

The reward that He, our Lord is giving away every single week on Friday is so enormous!

And what does He, our Lord want us to do to enable to receive such reward?

Let us recap shall we?

He, our Lord just want us to be clean (bath), exercise (walk) and listen (focus) during the Khutbah session!

See? How easy is that, right? Don’t you feel that He, our Lord just want to ‘giveaway’ those rewards?

Maybe just like when we have to answer the Motto of the Company (which was written on the contest paper anyway) to win a car!

But what Allaah is offering us is a gazillion times better, and the best part is everybody is a winner!

SubhanAllaah… indeed He is Most Loving…

Ralph Ransom once said,

Before the reward there must be labor. You plant before you harvest. You sow in tears before you reap joy.

So, let us all start laboring, planting and sowing my friends, because the reward, harvest and joy that are promised to us – is just simply too magnificent to pass!

Come on my brothers and sisters, let’s do it!

Yes we can!

Sis Zabrina also known as Zabrina A. Bakar, is a Life Storyteller, motivational writer and speaker; and author of motivational book Life is an Open Secret http://www.lifeopensecret.com which contains 18 inspirational stories from ordinary life experiences. She passionately writes about life daily happenings aiming to inspire her readers to live a life that is grounded with spirituality. Her works are published in various countries across the Muslim world. She maintains an active blog at http://www.wisdomthruwords.blogspot.com.