Bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim
Assalam alaykum warahmatullah wabarakatu
It’s
a love weekend, not the valentines type but maybe something special for the
Muslim couples. If you’re in any disagreement, really! Clear it up. And to all
the lovely couples (all of you are of course) may Allah brighten your hearts
and warming them with love for each other. And for all the Muslims searching for a partner in life, May Allah grant you the best He has written for you. And not forgetting the little ones,
we kids. So anyway this is a very beautiful story, enjoy.
You live once, you die once, and you only have
one true love… or so many people have been raised to believe. A culture of
fairy tales and happily ever afters, romcoms and romance novels has raised
generations of people to believe that out there in the world is just one person
who was meant to be with you, just one person whom you will fall in love with
so deeply that you will never truly love anyone else besides them.
Ummu Salamah (May Allah be pleased with her)
proved this theory false. She had not just one of her life, but two true loves!
Ummu Salamah was married to Abdullah ibn ‘Abdul-Asad, also known as Abu Salamah,
the father of her child. Together, they were amongst the first of those who
accepted Islam, and made the first emigration to Abyssinia. Although they were
separated on their second hijrah to Medinah, their love was strong and endured
to see them reunited, and until Abu Salamah died of a battle-wound. On his
deathbed, Ummu Salamah tearfully told her husband, “If the husband of a woman dies and he is of the people
of Paradise, and his wife dies after him without having remarried, Allah will
bring them back together in Jannah. Let us pledge that neither of us will
remarry!” Abu Salamah asked her, “Will you obey me in whatever I request of you?” Fervently, Umm
Salamah replied, “Of
course!” Abu Salamah gazed at her, his heart overflowing with love for
her, and told her, “If I
die, swear to me that you will remarry!” While Ummu Salamah looked on in
shock, he supplicated to Allah: “O
Allah! Provide for Umm Salamah a man who is better than me!”
Ummu Salamah had spent her ‘iddah grieving for her
deceased husband, her heart breaking every time she thought of his gentleness,
his kindness, his courage, and his patience. As she cradled her newborn
daughter, she wept at the thought that Abu Salamah would never see his
daughter, and that there might be no man who would be willing to raise another
man’s children as his own. She thought back often on his words and wondered, in
anguish, “Who could be
better than Abu Salamah?” Her answer was questioned almost immediately:
when her ‘iddah ended at the birth of her daughter, Zaynab, the Messenger of Allah
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) asked for her hand in marriage. In
disbelief, Ummu Salamah sent him a response: “I am an older woman, I am a jealous woman, and I have
children from my previous husband.” With his characteristic tenderness,
the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon) answered her
fears: “I am older than you;
Allah will remove your heart of jealousy; and I will raise your children
amongst my own.” The hesitation in Umm Salamah’s heart, and the remnants
of her grief for Abu Salamah, faded away, replaced with a sense of calmness and
peace. Abu Salamah’s
du’a had been answered, and once again, Ummu Salamah experienced the wonder and
beauty of true love; for the second time.
There are many men and women who fall in love and
are devastated at its loss whether that loss occurs through death, divorce, or
simply tests and trials in life that one never anticipated. The grief that one
experiences can feel overwhelming and unbearable, and often one wonders if they
will ever be able to experience such love again. Yet though our own concept and
understanding of love is limited, Allah, Al-Wadud, is not. The Messenger of Allah said: “Verily, the hearts of the children of Adam, all of them,
are between the two fingers of the Most Merciful as one heart; He directs them
wherever he wills.” [Sahih Muslim 2654]
The One who placed love in our hearts for one
person, is easily able to heal our broken hearts and grant us the deep joy and
comfort of another love in our lives – someone whom we will love not as a
replacement for the person we have lost before, but as someone who will have
captured our hearts in their own unique way.
And Allah knows best.
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