By Ustadh Dr Adekunle Mikail
Modernity, despite its alluringly flashing modes, is not its own inventor! Like the proverbial Yoruba black pot that which produced white pap, the ancient had been the harbinger of the modernity!
Whether in the fields of science, technology, arts and cultures, its the past that births the present! The manual machines of yesteryears had gone from their rudimentary stages to mechanical levels and now to their sophisticated states!
Coming down to the cultural and religious levels, its the rites, rituals and practices of the days of halcyon ,when human labours were much more than the results which went into them, that are the cornerstones of the most religions till now.
And despite the hard toiling and the slim results, the achievements of the past years have been enduring, persistence and last longer!
For examples, it was the prayer and the rewards of the father of faith, Ibrahim, known as Abraham in biblical nuance, through his direct Son, Isma’il that reverberated in the life of the last of the prophets of Allah, Muhammad (Salawatu-llah Alehi)
The prayer of Prophet Ibrahim ( Alehi -Salam) in Qur’an 2: 129 had been answered in Prophet Muhammad salla-llahu alehi wasalam. The prayer reads as follows:
” Our Lord! And raise up in them an Apostle from among them who shall recite to them your words and teach them the Book and the wisdom and purify them ; you are the mighty , the wise”.
The Prophet himself used to publicly express delight in the prayer of Prophet Ibrahim (alehi salam) as follows:
”I’m the prayer of my father Ibrahim” meaning that, he was the apostle being prayed for in the request made by his great grandfather, Ibrahim above!
For this, it is instructive to inform the esteemed readers that you should start praying for the type of future you desire for yourselves, children and your children’s children, for there is nothing greater in the eyes of the Creator than a sincere prayer of a believing soul!
The prophet )salla-llahu alehi wasalam) said : ” Nothing is beloved to God than a sincere prayer”
Not only that, whatever you want your children to be, start envisaging and calling them by it now! It is even the practice of the people of knowledge of the past eras to give their children beautiful ,meaningful and impacting alias at their birth or when growing up with the hope that the names would rub off well on them in the future!
Abdul-Rahman Al-Sayutiy, an Arabic philologist, a Qur’anic scientist, an Islamic jurisprudent of a note and writer of more than a thousand book was named Abdul-Rahman at birth while he was also given Jalaaludin as an Alias by his father! Jalaaludin means the exalter of religion; somebody who would lift high his religion to the zenith
Not only that, his first teacher ,the chief justice Izzu-Dinni Ahmad Bn Ibrahim Al-Kinany, when meeting Al-Sayutiy for the first time asked him what was his nickname ?
Sayutiy having no nickname answered that he had none and his teacher nicknamed him Abu-l-Fadli and wrote it for him with his own handwriting! Abu-l-Fadli means among many others; he who is favoured, father of excellence, grace, wisdom and abundance!
In addition, it is also reported that he was still called ” the son of book ” This was as a result of an incidence prior to his birth! It was said that his father being a scholar of a note too needed to reference a book and for being busier, he sent Abdurahman’s mother who was pregnant to go and pick the book for him in his library instead!
While looking for the book in the library, she started having the signs as if she would put to labour and finally ,she bore her son inside the library in the midst of the book and he was given the alias ” son of book!”
Alas! All the good names, aliases and nicknames given to Sayutiy at birth and when growing up later have positive impacts on his life, religion and career! He was said to be righteous in deeds, full of beneficial knowledge, most impacting when compared with his contemporaries, kind in words and cash and author of uncountable beneficial books which every student of knowledge is benefiting from the time immemorial till this time!
The exploits of As-Sayutiy’s parents in visualizing the future they wanted for their son and in properly naming him with monickers in line with their vision hitherto, in time ancient devoid of the ease of this modern time, had paid off and everyone now is benefiting from their exertions!
Now think of those that are not fortunate with visionary parents, or those who are ignorant in the benefits inherent in properly naming or nicknaming a child!
What had happened to the grand father of a great successor of the prophet’s companion in person of Sayyid ibn Musayyab will be the lots of those that do not have the vision of the good they desire for their children.
The grandfather of Sayyid Ibn Musayyab, Az-Zinu, when meeting the prophet one day was asked by the prophet salla-llahu alehi wasalam, his name to which he answered Az-Zinu!
The prophet having sensed the negativity in the name the grandfather of Sayyid was bearing retorted :
” you are not Az-Zinu but Sahlu” !
Instead of Az-Zinu to give a nod to the name he has just be christened with by the prophet who knew the implications of being called negative names, said to the prophet:
” I cannot change the name my father had given me at birth!”
Az-Zinu as a name connotes being in mourning, trouble, desolated, brokenhearted, dispirited and dolorous!
Consequent upon his insistence on bearing Az-Zinnu, Sayyid ibn Musayyab said that “one affliction after another did befall him”.
As-Sahlu, on the other hands, means ease, being pleasant, smooth and uncomplicated!
Perhaps, it was the vision of prophet Ibrahim (alehi salam) for his son Isma’il whose name is translated from the Hebrew language to mean ” the son of prayer or the product of prayer, that had made him to turn out as he had done in life!
For when looking for a son after many years of no issue, prophet ( alehi salam). did not just ask for a child any how but for a righteous patient child! And when Isma’il was about to be sacrificed to God based on his father’s covenant with God, he was found patient and ready to obey Allah’s command until he was replaced with a chubby Paradise ram!
And perhaps too, if Isma’il had been recalcitrant and dodgy ; if he had not acquiesced to his father’s request, no Eidul-Adha may have been possible today .
This is the reason a righteous parent will need to pray and work to have a righteous child that will make righteousness continue in their lines!
It is also as a result of that ,that every soul will make better use of today so that tomorrow will be pleasant for him as he had been for prophet Ibrahim, the father of faith, in Isma’il , the child and in Prophet Muhammad, the great grand child, who had spread righteousness beyond his great grand father and grandfather’s cocoons to the entire world!