(Mother of Moulana Sayyid Abul Hasan ‘Ali Nadwi [rahimahumallah] – Part Eight)

Life was full of happiness, joy and prosperity for Khairun Nisaa (rahimahallah) when suddenly, the tragedy of her husband’s demise struck in 1341 A.H. (1923). As soon as the news of her husband’s demise was broken to her, she fell into sajdah in submission before Allah Ta‘ala.

After the demise of her husband, she once again experienced numerous difficulties and constraints. Her husband had only left one rupee as cash and he had never owned estates and properties. Whatever was earned was spent that very day.

During her ‘iddat and afterwards as well, she remained engaged in mainly two occupations. One was listening to books of Deen being read to her, and the second was the occupation in which she spent most of her life – du‘aa and ‘ibaadah.

Furthermore, her family had an excellent practice which they implemented in order to keep them motivated whenever a calamity occurred. They would read the incidents of the valour, bravery, pain and sacrifice of the Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum). When reading these incidents, they would forget their own grief and sorrow and an environment of consolation, patience and submission would be created in the home.

Lessons:

1. There are many families and households that have went from prosperity to poverty overnight as a job was lost or some other calamity occurred. In such challenging times, it is easy to collapse into despondency and lose all hope. However, Khairun Nisaa (rahimahallah) immediately turned to Allah Ta‘ala, and continued to turn to Him, trusting that He would assist her and take care of her. No matter what problem we may have, we too need to turn to Allah Ta‘ala and entrust our affairs to Him, as He is sufficient for us and will never abandon or forget us.

2. When we regularly read the incidents of the Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum), it gives us an imaani strength which assists us in remaining firm on Deen and coping with the various challenges that we may face in life. It also provides us with perspective and makes us realize that although our struggles seem major, they are minor when compared to the difficulties faced by the Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum). This assists us to remain grateful to Allah Ta‘ala for all the favours we still enjoy, and also helps us to remain positive and hopeful. A simple way of achieving this is to conduct ta’leem daily in our homes.