A few days ago I had a pretty deep conversation with one of my fellow sisters about something that had been bothering me for quite a while. In the midst of all that is going on, I've been feeling sort of like I've been doing nothing with my life: the first decade(s) of my life I spent entirely engrossed in school, finally graduating high school, only to start the same cycle again with undergrad. Is it really worth it? All the studying leaves me sleepless and without free time to do things I enjoy and would make a positive impact on the world. (Of course, education leads to greater things in the future, but for now it feels like I'm stuck in place.) While I'm here, a busy, broke student, what significant good could I possibly do?
Recently, I also came across this Hadith of the prophet (SAW): "Whoever starts a good sunnah (think "tradition" or action that others imitate or follow), he will have a reward like the reward of whoever follows him, without decreasing anything from their reward. And whoever starts an evil sunnah, he will have upon him sin like the sin of whoever follows him, without decreasing anything from their reward." (Bukhari and Muslim)
For some reason, I tied this Hadith to what I've been thinking about. For me, this was the answer. I could start small good deeds that other people would repeat and gain lots and lots of good out of it. It could be as small as teaching a friend a new dua' or hadith. It could be as simple as starting to send out texts to your friends’ circle to remind them of prayers (Fajr!) It could be the thought of starting a Sunnah in Action blog (may Allah SWT reward the person(s) who did). It could be as big as being the first girl in your friends group to start praying, the first one to start wearing the hijaab, the first one to stop listening to music, the first one to remind them to lower their gaze -- giving everyone strength to change. It's that simple…yet that hard. For some reason, doing good isn't in our priorities; eating out is, partying is, doing all sorts of haraam is. But to counterbalance all the sin we are exposed to in college (intentionally or unintentionally) we need to start consciously building up our stores of positive actions. Let's think to ourselves: what good have we started since we came to Loyola? For me, I can count these positives on one hand (maybe just one finger).
It's scary to think of the Hadith sometimes since it also mentions negative traditions that we start. Sinning in private is one thing, but encouraging our friends to become worse is scary.
We can really learn a lot from positive role models around us. Over the past few years, we've heard of so many young people passing away. I remember when one of my brother's close friends passed away: he was remembered as an extremely charitable person, someone who could be trusted with anything, and a Hifdh teacher for young children. He was only 21. And now with Yusor, Deah, and Razaan: they are remembered with so many positives -- their charity projects have become Sadaqah Jaariyah for them Insha' Allah. And its amazing that they were all around are age. Let's be more like them instead of worrying about having the most fun we can have in college (and unfortunately not even caring if Allah SWT approves of our versions of fun). Let's not be people whom Allah describes in the Qur'an saying:
فَمَا بَكَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ السَّمَاء وَالْأَرْضُ وَمَا كَانُوا مُنظَرِينَ
44:29 So neither the heaven nor earth shed a tear over them: nor were they given a respite (again).
The world was happy without their presence. This Ayah gave me chills the first time I payed attention to its meaning. May Allah (SWT) save us from being amongst them. May He help us lead productive college years for the betterment of ourselves and those around us.
Recently, I also came across this Hadith of the prophet (SAW): "Whoever starts a good sunnah (think "tradition" or action that others imitate or follow), he will have a reward like the reward of whoever follows him, without decreasing anything from their reward. And whoever starts an evil sunnah, he will have upon him sin like the sin of whoever follows him, without decreasing anything from their reward." (Bukhari and Muslim)
For some reason, I tied this Hadith to what I've been thinking about. For me, this was the answer. I could start small good deeds that other people would repeat and gain lots and lots of good out of it. It could be as small as teaching a friend a new dua' or hadith. It could be as simple as starting to send out texts to your friends’ circle to remind them of prayers (Fajr!) It could be the thought of starting a Sunnah in Action blog (may Allah SWT reward the person(s) who did). It could be as big as being the first girl in your friends group to start praying, the first one to start wearing the hijaab, the first one to stop listening to music, the first one to remind them to lower their gaze -- giving everyone strength to change. It's that simple…yet that hard. For some reason, doing good isn't in our priorities; eating out is, partying is, doing all sorts of haraam is. But to counterbalance all the sin we are exposed to in college (intentionally or unintentionally) we need to start consciously building up our stores of positive actions. Let's think to ourselves: what good have we started since we came to Loyola? For me, I can count these positives on one hand (maybe just one finger).
It's scary to think of the Hadith sometimes since it also mentions negative traditions that we start. Sinning in private is one thing, but encouraging our friends to become worse is scary.
We can really learn a lot from positive role models around us. Over the past few years, we've heard of so many young people passing away. I remember when one of my brother's close friends passed away: he was remembered as an extremely charitable person, someone who could be trusted with anything, and a Hifdh teacher for young children. He was only 21. And now with Yusor, Deah, and Razaan: they are remembered with so many positives -- their charity projects have become Sadaqah Jaariyah for them Insha' Allah. And its amazing that they were all around are age. Let's be more like them instead of worrying about having the most fun we can have in college (and unfortunately not even caring if Allah SWT approves of our versions of fun). Let's not be people whom Allah describes in the Qur'an saying:
فَمَا بَكَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ السَّمَاء وَالْأَرْضُ وَمَا كَانُوا مُنظَرِينَ
44:29 So neither the heaven nor earth shed a tear over them: nor were they given a respite (again).
The world was happy without their presence. This Ayah gave me chills the first time I payed attention to its meaning. May Allah (SWT) save us from being amongst them. May He help us lead productive college years for the betterment of ourselves and those around us.