Lighting Up (Inspired By a Smoker)

Hurriedly tapped into my phone while the memory and feeling was fresh, riding on a coach in the early hours of the morning...

Source: Freedom Works

I am currently on a coach and it parked for a while mid-route. The driver got up and put his jacket on. A woman jokingly asked, "Are we there yet?" to which he smiled and explained he was swapping with another driver. There was no movement in the next few minutes so a man sat in front of me asked, "Are you waiting for the next driver?" He replied and said that he was so the man took the chance to ask if he could go out 'for a quick smoke'. 

I was shocked. We'd set off at 4am and it was only 6am. But what shocked me wasn't the short period of time that had passed, I understand that his body is addicted to the stuff; it was that this man could even be thinking about smoking right now! Most of the people on the coach were asleep or tired and not alert enough to be thinking much about anything. This man was the same not long before our sudden stop. Despite that, even in the early hours of the morning, he had one need on his mind and would take any opportunity to satisfy it. Strangely, I was kind of impressed by his determination and focus.

It made me think about how persistent the mind can be when it values something, when it wants something, when it feels it needs something. When it does, it will focus on that thing consistently until everything is related to it. I was forced to ask myself, "Where's your head at?" ...and I didn't like the answer.

How often do I wake up feeling the withdrawal symptoms of not having worshipped Allāh for the past few hours? How often do I happily see a delay as an opportunity to pray a 'quick' two rak'ahs of nafl ṣalāh or read a few pages of Qur'ān? How often am I grateful for a 'Please wait' sign so I can get in a few extra moments to remember Allāh, in the same way this man was grateful for a few extra moments to drag some more smoke into his lungs? Don't I need Allāh more than this man needs his cigarettes? Shouldn't I be more addicted to pleasing my Creator than this man was to his nicotine?

May every late bus, train, person, may every few seconds the computer pointer shows the timer, may every red traffic light and every traffic jam... bring us closer to Him, the One who just remembering brings the light of emān into our bodies (and keeps the icky smoke out!)

Source: Futurity