Overreacting?

We hear it all the time that while one person is leaving this world another one somewhere is entering… I’ve never experienced both at once, but today in the wee hours of the morning that’s exactly what happened…

My best-friends older sister gave birth to a healthy baby boy Allhamdulillah but around that very same time an incredibly patient, amazing and well loved sister from my community passed away (innalillahi wainna ilayhi rajioon)

I didn’t know her personally, but her reputation as a patient and kind woman was well known all over the community. Her Janazah (Arabic for funeral) today was a testimonial to the love everyone had for her, subhanAllah I’ve never seen this many people at a funeral in my life… my local masjid is quite big and we have two reasonably large sized rooms in the basement for the sisters and today they were PACKED to such an extent that many sisters had to remain standing. It made me so happy that so many sisters came to pay their respects and say ‘Ameen’ to the prayer of forgiveness for our beloved sister, but a small incident spoiled this feeling of pride that I felt over seeing the love and support that our sisters showed by attending...

While the Janazah Slaah (Funeral Prayers) was going on, two sisters were TALKING about someone who was going back home to get MARRIED… I’m happy for whoever this person is but speaking in such loud voices that although there were quite a few people between us I could hear what they were saying clearly as though I was right beside them upset me. I totally understand that marriage is a joyous occasion but in my humble opinion it’s not so important that you speak about it while we’re praying and seeking forgiveness for a sister that was living and breathing alongside us just yesterday.

I’m not so sure if I’m overreacting (I tend to do that at times) but after the prayers I felt like finding this sister and just asking why she did what she did. Did she not realize that one day people would be praying for her? That one day she will be in this very same place and the prayers will be taking place for her? I’m sure at that point she would rather have people praying for her than discussing a potential marriage! So why did she not do what she would have wanted done for herself in this situation, for a sister who’s already in it?

I’m no perfect person, far from it. I seem to make mistakes every second of my life but to show such blatant disrespect for such an amazing sister hurt me in an indescribable way and every time I think about the funeral and our deceased sister I seem to hear this other sisters words echoing in my head and it makes my blood boil once again :$

I just can’t seem to understand why people act in a manner that they would surely not like in someone else. But then I remember a hadith of our dear Prophet (peace be upon him) narrated by Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him) which has been transmitted in Abu Dawud:

“A believer is a mirror for another believer”

So I remind myself that before I go and look at the faults of others, I should change myself first...

***A Request*** Please do remember this lovely sister in your prayers and those she’s left behind; her husband, her one and only son, her mother, her sisters, her brother, her nieces and nephews, her friends, her neighbors subhanAllah she’s left behind so many people who are truly going to miss her... People who love her and who I’m sure will remember her with every step they take… for she was a rare individual who forgot her own problems to help out another human in need. May Allah (swt) grant her and all the rest of us the highest abode in Jannah (Paradise) - Ameen