While on my Twitter account the other day, I saw a tweet from Sh. Abdul Nasir Jangda (instructor for Bayyinah Institute) which read, “Hafidh Salis Jibran, 18, has passed away.” After reading this, I thought to myself, “A Hafidh just passed away? An eighteen-year-old American kid, Hafidh, just passed away?!” Death can come to anyone at anytime, but as someone who studied in the American Madrasa system, I had never heard of any of the Huffadh passing away in any of the schools throughout the country. It was a shock to see someone of this caliber passing away, pure shock.
After speaking to Shaykh Abdul Nasir, I was told that Salis was an active member of the Dallas Muslim community. He was one of those kids that people loved, cherished, and enjoyed the company of. At his Janazah, there were thousands upon thousands of people who came to pray for him. In my opinion, this was a blessing the Qur’an had brought him.
The point of this article is not to grieve over Salis’s passing. In fact, we should be more worried about ourselves then him. As Muslim youth living in the west, we are the flag-bearers of Islam. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned that it was the youth that were the ones who never disappointed him when there was a task to be done (paraphrased Hadith). Don’t finish reading this post and still tell yourself “I’m 18, 19, 20, and that I have my whole life to live.” Don’t tell yourself that you’ll make Hajj or repent later. Don’t say you’ll become “religiously committed” to Allah when you get older. Don’t think about then, think about NOW! Hafidh Salis didn’t have his whole life ahead of him to memorize the Qur’an. He took the time he had, properly invested it, and memorized 600 some pages, 6,236 verses of the Qur’an.
Now the question for us is what are we doing to get closer to Allah? Are we still stuck in the same mode of procrastination with the Qur’an? How often do we review our memorized Surahs? How often do we open this letter from our King and read what it is telling us? How often do we make the Qur’an the center of attention in our conversations? Have we embraced its essence and message? Or are we still in the phase of opening the Qur’an in Ramadan or when someone dies, and then putting it back onto the shelf? Let us rather open the Qur’an, read it, memorize it, and become closer to Allah through this book. Let it become a means of intercession for us and guide us towards the right way.
W need to know that we can leave this world at anytime. Instead of throwing our time and effort away into excessively playing Call of Duty, scrutinizing the lives of the NBA All-Star players, and constantly not putting our time into efficient things, let’s remember that life is too short not to open the Qur’an and see what it has to offer us.
9 Comments
Jazak’Allahu khayr for the reminder.
Just the other day, I locked my self in the basement and memorized the Qur’an for a couple of hours. It had been a while since I last did that, so I felt a missing connection. Alhamdulilah, after reading, I felt great for the rest of the day.
Also, going to a steakhouse afterwards made the day even better! ;)
Jazak'Allahu khayr for the reminder.
Just the other day, I locked my self in the basement and memorized the Qur'an for a couple of hours. It had been a while since I last did that, so I felt a missing connection. Alhamdulilah, after reading, I felt great for the rest of the day.
Also, going to a steakhouse afterwards made the day even better! ;)
Subhanallah.
I remember that my uncle had actually observed this, that hufadh and those with knowledge of the Qur’an would sometimes die younger than usual…in his opinion, he saw that it was a sort of protection of the Qur’an from the people forgetting it or other things that wouldn’t preserve it. Just an observation.
@Saad
I actually just did almost the same thing, reading for a long time last night…that was after I looked back at some footage from a Bayyinah seminar I took with Wisam Sharieff (made me think so much about the Qur’an and its majesty).
Subhanallah.I remember that my uncle had actually observed this, that hufadh and those with knowledge of the Qur'an would sometimes die younger than usual…in his opinion, he saw that it was a sort of protection of the Qur'an from the people forgetting it or other things that wouldn't preserve it. Just an observation.@SaadI actually just did almost the same thing, reading for a long time last night…that was after I looked back at some footage from a Bayyinah seminar I took with Wisam Sharieff (made me think so much about the Qur'an and its majesty).
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’oon
May Allah forgive his sins and grant him Jannatul Firdous, ameen
Shocking, it was a big shock for us as late Hafidh Salis Jibran was the son of my wife’s brother. May Allah forgive his sins and grant him Jannatul Firdous, ameen.
wow, you caught me on the spot. Call of Duty, how did you know? Anyways brother and sister, we need to understand that we are the future of Islam and what we will do will effect the next generation. If we don’t memorize the Quran, then how can we expect our future generations to do the same since we can’t teach them because we, ourselves, don’t know. Islam will become weak and we wouldn’t want that to happen…right? Think about yourself, you being Jannah. Going up the ranks of Jannah to the your destined level while reciting the Qur’an and elevating at the same time. How happy will you be seeing yourself rise to the highest. Jazak’Allahu Khayr for the reminder brother.
I’m reading this article almost after 3 years of his death. I don’t know him as I never have met him in my life but he’s in my relation – my mami’s brother son.
Before reading this article I was in a FB group everyone there was praying for you and its good that people love you so much that they pray for you in their every prayers. All coz the Quran you had memorized bought these people to you, thousands in the janaza, and hundred thousands praying for your place in jannah.
You will always remain in our memories. We are happy that you are now have departed to a better place than this Inshallah. May Allah grant you a higher place in jannah and forgive all your sins.
SubhanAllah. I’m coming back to this because just 2 nights ago, 18 year old Hafidh Ibrahim Malik passed away in the Dallas area. Life is short. Needed to read this. Jazaakum Allaahu khayran