Letter to Julia 20120211

In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.

Hi Julia! How are you feeling, my gorgeous one? I'm feeling a bit sore, because I've been doing much yard work. Yes, I finally have some time to do yard work. In particular, there is this tree at the back of my house, which happens to be the tallest tree on the compound. It grew at the side of the ditch behind my house, and it leaned over my house, For months now I was wondering how to safely chop that tree, because it was dying and rotting, and it would fall sooner or later. I have 2 giant mango trees behind my house as well, and my Mom said that the mango trees would stop the dead tree from breaking my roof. I decided to give the dead tree the axe anyway.

I was worried that the tree was bent in such a way that it would fall on top of my house, or on top of me as I chop it. Since it was growing at the side of a ditch, I could only chop it at one angle. So I stood on a chair and focused on a spot high on a tree where it bent slightly sideways. I chopped with my long machete, to keep my distance in case the thing fell on my head, and my axe is too heavy to cut it that high. Anyway, God was nice to me, and I was able to take off 6 foot portions of the very tall tree while the 2 mango trees kept it upright. Amazing, huh? I finally reached a point where I had room in my back yard to knock the tree down, so I used my axe to knock and slide the base of the tree so it fell neatly lengthwise across my back yard. Alhamdulillah!

Well, I suppose that chopping down a tree in my back yard may seem mundane, but to me it wasn't. I'm a musician, not a lumberjack. But most people couldn't care either way if that tree fell on my roof or on my head. It's not as if I were bringing some international corporation crashing down to the dirt. Oh well, story of my life. Hey, when we are together, we'll talk about what to wear and what to eat instead of chopping trees. InsyaAllah.

Qur'an 20120211

In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.

115. Did you then think that We had created you as a joke, and that you would not be brought back to Us?

116. Therefore exalted be Allah, the King, the Reality, there is no god but God, the Lord of the Throne of Honor!

117. If anyone invokes, besides Allah, any other god, he has no authority therefor, and his reckoning will be only with his Lord. And verily the unbelievers will fail to win through.

118. So say, "O my Lord! Grant Your forgiveness and mercy, for You are the Best of those who show mercy!"

The Believers 23:115-118
----------------------------------------------------------

O my Lord! Grant Your forgiveness and mercy, for You are the Best of those who show mercy!