The Robber, The Saint, Because Of Rajab

The notorious robber had passed away.

The children of Madinah knew that Prophet Muhammad sollaahu 'alaihi wasallam dislike what the man did.
The dead man used to roam the streets after midnight to run his activity.
He was elusive, and was never caught.

******

When news reached the children that the bad man had died,
they dragged his body through the streets of Madinah.
They then threw him into a dry well.

ALLAH Subhaanahu Wa Ta'aala said to the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w., 

"O My Beloved Prophet, today one of my saints has passed away. 
You must go and wash him, clean him, cover him, pray for him and bury him." 

Rasullah s.a.w. was surprised because that was the man whose character He did not like.
Now that the man had passed away,
GOD told Him that the highway robber was a saint (wali).

Rasulullah s.a.w. had even told himself, 'that is an evil person. 
He will never pray for him.  
He will not bury him in Muslims' graveyard.'

How could the robber be a saint?

But instead, GOD had told the Prophet s.a.w., 

'O Rasulullah, take him and purify him.' 

Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. immediately called Abu Bakar as-Siddiq radhiallaahu 'anhu and said,

'O Abu Bakar, we have to go and bury the highwayman who died.'

Abu Bakar r.a. said,  

'O Rasulullah, 
You said that You did not want to bury that person in a Muslim grave for he is not a Muslim!' 

But the Prophet s.a.w. said, 

"No! Let alone ordinary Muslims. 
GOD informed Me today that the person was a saint!"

****** 

Rasulullah s.a.w. went into the well, and took that person's body out.
Then with His Companions,
they carried the body to the Prophet s.a.w.'s house.
The Prophet s.a.w. himself cleaned, washed
and wrapped the dead man in a shroud.

All the Companions were surprised.
Rasulullah s.a.w. performed ablution for the dead
with his own hands on that man.
He washed and prayed for him,
before the body was brought from Masjidin Nabawi to the Baqi cemetery.

It took the Prophet s.a.w. more than two hours for that fifteen minutes walk,
to move from the mosque to the cemetery,
as he was walking on tiptoes.

And that surprised His Companions even more! 

"O Rasulullah, 'Why are you walking on tiptoes?"

He said,   

"GOD ordered all saints from East to West, 
all angels from the seven heavens 
and all spiritual beings to be present 
and follow the bier (movable frame for coffin) of that saint. 

There are so many of them filling the way, 
that I cannot find a place to put my feet. 

Never in my life was I so surprised as I am today." 

******

No one can interfere with GOD's Knowledge, not even the Prophet s.a.w.  

If GOD makes the highway robber a saint, no one can ask.  

Everyone around us and everyone that we know,
can always attain betterment, better than us. 

GOD needs no human interference, but it is we, who need HIM. 

****** 

After the man was buried, Rasulullah s.a.w., shivering and trembling,
made His way home, without speaking to those around HIM.

Later, when the Prophet s.a.w. sat with Abu Bakr as-Siddiq r.a.,
He s.a.w. asked Himself what the saint had done?
An infamous robber all his life, but to receive such a high merit from the Creator?

Abu Bakr as-Siddiq r.a. said, 

'O Rasulullah, I feel ashamed to ask about what I saw today. 
It was so astonishing.'

To which He s.a.w. answered,   

"Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, I am even more surprised than you. 
I am waiting for Gabriel to come and inform me 
of what has happened." 

When Gabriel 'alaihis salam came, the Prophet s.a.w. asked him, to which he replied, 

"O Rasulullah, do not ask me. 
I am also astonished! 
Yet do not be astonished. 
GOD can do what no one can do.
HE is telling You to ask that man's daughter what he did in his life."

******  

Prophet Muhammad s.a.w., with Abu Bakr as-Siddiq r.a. immediately went to the man's house to see the daughter and said,   

"O My daughter, please tell Me how your father lived."

She told him,   

"O Rasulullah, I am very ashamed before You. 
What am I going to tell You? 
He was a killer, a thief. 
I never saw him do anything good. 
He robbed and stole day and night, 
except for one month during the year. 

When that month came, he would say, 
'This is the month of GOD,' because he heard You said, 

'Rajab is the month of GOD, Sya'ban is the month of the Prophet  
and Ramadan is the month of the Community.' 

So he said,   

'I do not care for the month of the Prophet  
or the month of the Community, 
only for the month of my LORD. 

Therefore, I am going to sit in my room and close it 
and perform seclusion during this month."

 ******

The man was out in the street looking for someone to rob. 

He found an old man of seventy or eighty years of age. 

He beat him until he was unconscious before robbing him. 

He then found a small piece of folded paper in the old man's pocket. 

He opened it and found a prayer inside. 

In the name of ALLAH, the All-Beneficent, the All-Merciful 

O ALLAH, 

I ask Forgiveness of YOU 
for everything for which I repented to YOU then returned to.

And I ask Forgiveness of YOU  

for everything I displeased YOU with, 

and all that concerns me with which YOU are displeased. 

And I ask Gorgiveness of YOU 

for the favours which I used, 

for increasing my disobedience towards YOU. 

And I ask Forgiveness of YOU 
for the sins which no one knows except You 

and no one sees except You 
and nothing encompasses except Your Mercy 

and nothing delivers from except YOUR Forgiveness and Clemency. 

There is no GOD except YOU alone. 

YOU are the Most High, and I was one of the self oppressors!

O ALLAH, 

I ask Forgiveness of YOU 
for the injustice I committed against YOUR servants. 

Whatever of YOUR male or female servants whom I have hurt, 
physically or in their dignity 

or in their property give them of YOUR bounty which lacks nothing. 

And I ask YOU 

'to honour me with Your Mercy which encompasses all things.' 

Do not humble me with YOUR punishment 

but give me what I ask of YOU, 

for I am in great need of YOUR Mercy, O Most Merciful of the merciful. 

May ALLAH send blessings upon Muhammad 
and upon all His Companions. 

There is no power and no might except in ALLAH the High, the Exalted.

Blessings and Peace upon Sayyidina Muhammad, 
His Family, and His Companions.  

The robber liked that prayer, the Istighfar Rajab, very much.

So, every year, when the month of Rajab came around,
the man used to sit and read that prayer day and night.

Only during eating and ablution time did his tears dried.
Other than that, he was weeping all the time, reading the Istighfar Rajab.

But once Rajab was over, the man would get up and say,  

'The month of GOD is finished. 
Now, for my pleasure.'

He went back robbing and stealing for eleven more months.

******

When Rasulullah s.a.w. asked the daughter to bring Him the paper,
He s.a.w. kissed the paper, then rubbed it over His body.

ALLAH S.W.T. told Muhammad s.a.w.,

"O MY Beloved Prophet, 
that person came and repented to ME, 
in the most precious month of the year. 

For that reason, 
because he sacrificed at least one month of the year for ME, 
I have Forgiven him all his mistakes 
and I have changed all his sins into laudable deeds. 

As he had many sins, now he has many Rewards. 
He became a great saint."

Are The Corpses Not Seeing?

A man, Muhamad-Ali Mahmod, 35, unemployed, who strangled and slapped a corpse across the cheek at a funeral of his neighbour was given 14 weeks for the offence, which is punishable with up to 3 years and/or a fine, by a district court on Friday.


He is believed to be the first person to be convicted of offering indignity to a human corpse at a flat in Tampines on March 8.
The court heard that Muhamad-Ali, who at about 4pm, entered the living room of his 72-year-old neighbour who held some prayers at the funeral of his late son - strangled and slapped the corpse. The deceased's father felt insulted by the act.
A relative immediately told him to leave and he did so.


He told the court that he would seek his neighbour's forgiveness after his release, and that he did it while he was under the influence of inhalant.

******

If the article in the 21 May Straits Times shows how low the moral of a person can be, a wife, who was told of her husband's demise at the last minute, faced more than that.

I shall refer the wife as Anne, who used to recharge her energy at my previous house.
She's 24/7, forever busy - with ceaseless housework and attending to 9 children.
The only time I would go to her house was after 10pm, just a walking distance away. I had to visit her occasionally for her to release her pent-up feelings and facing with the never ending household duties. My Husband would then fetch me home in the wee hours.

Anne's husband was seldom around as he, being the sole breadwinner, has not only his family to support, but his parents too. He would grab whatever job opportunity after working hours available and able for him to do that he had no time to look after, thus neglected his health.

******

A man, who looked like Anne's husband, whom I shall call Nas, kept staring at me when I was waiting for a bus back to JB, almost 10 years ago.
Impossible it was Nas. He's a strong man to use a walking stick. If it was really him, he should approach me as we were ex-neighbours.
When the bus back to JB came, I alighted, and he's still staring blankly at me until the bus left his sight.

I told My Husband what had happened and he insisted me visiting Anne but she's very busy in the day and she would not feel comfortable talking to me with My Husband's presence since now He has to send and fetch me, no more a walking distance to her house.

Around a week after the incidence, My Husband, who happenend to meet Anne's neighbour, told Him Anne's wish to meet me.
I went to her place the day after.

We met - Nas had passed away 3 days after I saw him at the bus-stop.
Nas called up Anne, his wife, of the sad news. He was happy to chance upon me at the bus-stop. He had waited for the moment for almost a month but his weak legs failed him to approach me.

He really wanted to see me. He had wanted me to bring his wife to the CPF (Central Provident Fund) building. He had wanted his wife to tell the truth - The nominees for his CPF had been changed, by force. He has to leave his wife and 9 children, penniless. He's too weak to fight against his 3 sisters' demand. He's terminally ill from nose cancer - It started from a simple but ignored treatable sinus that cost his health.

He had to leave Anne and the 9 children, all Malaysians, at home, to stay at Ang Moh Kio, one of his sister's house.
He's a Singaporean, working in Singapore and had to make the daily visit to one of the hospital in Singapore. Nas's sister would accompany him to the hospital daily and the children would go over to visit their father during the weekends or school holiday.

It was during one of those nights that, when 2 of his children were with him at Ang Koh Kio, 9 and 11 years old then, overheard how their father was forced to change the nominees for his CPF which had more than S$100,000.
Towards the end of his days, the children, whenever around, would discreetly plugged-in the home phone, which he had no access to, to call up his wife for a few minutes treasured conversations.
His passport was being kept by his sister, until his death.

******

2 hours before he was supposed to be buried at 11am, Anne received a call from one of her brother-in-law, after a great objection from his wife, of Nas's death.
She prayed hard, despite the heavy traffic at the causeway and her 2 small children, 3 and 5 years-old then, tagged along, she would meet her husband for the last time. The pre-schoolers were too young to understand what the family went through.

When her husband had to go to the hospital everyday, she used to visit him at Ang Moh Kio until one of those visit day when her sister-in-law called up the neighbourhood police, reporting her of being a trespasser.
The policeman had to wait until she went back to JB.

******

True enough, God answered Anne's prayer. 

The person supposed to come to cleanse the body for burial was late.

The moment she arrived and lifted up the cloth that covered her husband's face, her head was repeatedly knocked by her sister-in-law, accusing her of being so stupid to cause her husband's death.

She was being accused to put him under her spell. She was being accused to charm him for so long. She was being accused with all accuses one can think of, until well-wishers stopped the sister-in-law's hit and accuses hurled on Anne.
Those stupidity, those accusation, those spell, those charm, did not stop Anne from reciting the Qur'an for her husband with heavy sob and fast flowing tears until he was buried 7 feet underground.

The very night of his last breath at around 11pm, Anne, from the corner of her eyes, saw Nas, her husband, he stood at their bedroom door, staring blankly at Anne, until Anne went with him to a very big building with many doors, as Anne recalled her dream.

She was brought around the building with green. and she remembered well which floor, which room to go to.

******

A day after Anne went back to JB, her late husband's ex-colleagues paid her a visit.

She was handed an envelope with around S$22,000 inside, collected from staff working at the bus company where Nas was working as an inspector then.

Prior to the last post he held, he was a bus driver in one of the biggest bus company in Singapore.
There, almost RM20,000 was collected although he had left the previous place more than 15 years ago but colleagues remembered him well, for putting his father first before his family - it was his father who held his ATM card.
He had to constantly remind the old man not to overdraw, reminding the father he has had family members of 10 to feed at home, and which is never enough when the father withdrew any amount the father likes it.