5. Would you like to meet him outside the institution? (cont.)

Glory be to the One who gave him patience and made him strong! Guests would come to his house and bring coffee along with them, as he didn’t have anyone to help him prepare anything for them. What is amazing is that if you were to see the man receiving condolences, you would think that he was the one giving condolences, and that the one enduring this tragedy was someone else! He would repeatedly say, “To Allah we belong and to Him we return. It belongs to Allah, whatever He takes or gives. Everything has an appointed time with Allah.” This is the peak of intelligence, for if he did not behave in this manner, he would have died of grief. I know someone who whenever I see him he is happy. Yet, if you were to consider his situation, you would find that he has a very humble occupation, he lives in very small rented accom47 Do not kill yourself by grief modation, his car is very old and he has many children. Despite this, he is always smiling and loving. He loves his life. That’s right! Do not kill yourself with grief and do not complain frequently until people become tired of you, like a person whose son is disabled, so whenever he sees you he keeps you busy with his complaints, “My son is ill… I feel for him… poor son of mine…” You will soon find yourself fed up of him and feel like screaming, “Enough, dear brother! Enough! I get your point!” Or imagine a woman frequently saying to her husband, “Our house is old… the car is about to break down… my clothes are out of fashion…” What is the benefit in complaining? It only increases the suffering. You spend your entire life, O poor man, moaning and grieving You remain with your hands tied, complaining, “Time is against me” If you do not carry the burdens yourself, who will? Enlightenment… Live your life with what you have available, and you will always be happy Do not kill yourself by grief (48) Be content with what Allah has apportioned for you I once went on a trip to a country to deliver some lectures. The country was well known for having a huge mental hospital, or as the people would refer to it, “the mad people’s hospital.” I delivered two lectures one morning and there remained an hour until Dhuhr. With me was ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, one of the most prominent preachers in that country. As we sat in the car, I turned to him and said, “Abd al-‘Aziz, there is a place I wish to visit, as we have some time.” He said, “Where would you like to go? Your friend, Shaykh ‘Abdullah, has travelled and as for Doctor Ahmad, I phoned him but he didn’t respond. Would you like to go to the heritage museum, or…?” “No. In fact, I would like to visit the mental hospital,” I said. “The mad people?” he asked in surprise. “Yes, the mad people”, I said in response. He laughed and said jokingly, “Why? Perhaps you want to be reassured of your own sanity?” I said, “No. Only to benefit, take lessons and realise Allah’s blessings on us.” ‘Abd al-‘Aziz remained silent, thinking about their condition. I realised that he was a little upset, because he was quite an emotional person. He took me to the hospital in his car. We arrived at a site that looked like a cave. It was surrounded by trees from all sides. It was noticeably a very depressing environment. We met one of the doctors who welcomed us and took us for a tour of the hospital. The doctor then began to relate to us the suffering of the patients and said, “Hearing about something is not the same as witnessing it yourself.” We went passed a passageway where I heard voices coming from different directions. The patient wards were on either sides of the lobby. We went past a room to the right. I looked therein to notice more than ten empty beds, and one on which there was a man lying down, shaking his hands and feet. I turned to the doctor and said, “What is this?” He said, “He is crazy. He gets epilepsy attacks every five to six hours.” I said, ‘There is no power nor might except with Allah! How long has he been like this for?” He said, “For more than ten years.” I took it as a lesson for myself and walked on silently. After walking a few steps further, we passed by another room with the door closed. The door had an opening through which a man inside was looking out and making signs to us which we couldn’t understand. I attempted to have a glance inside the room only to find that the walls and the floor were all brown.