Simple on earth, Elevation in Heaven

Some people make their time on earth so simple.

Aunty Fatima from Hanover Park was someone who lived to care for abandoned  children. For her it was as easy as taking on this great amaanah (responsibility)  and never questioning what she could have had for herself. She couldn't read. She never took a holiday. She never had a  quiet day with her husband to herself. These are luxuries most people demand. These are luxuries most people feel they have earned.  

The cycle of life is such that once your children have grown up, it is time for you to  kick your feet up- Aunt Fatima never experienced that. There were  still newborn babies being brought to her for care and she had 23 children of literally all ages living  in her tiny home. When I heard she was on life support I thought of the children and what would happen to them if she died. She was after all their mother and she worked with what she had to give them a good home.  

Some people don't get attached to worldly things in their time on earth. Aunty Fatima would (and did)  give up her bed to anyone who needed  a place to sleep.   Her and her husband would sleep on the floor in the lounge or anywhere they could find place. When questioned about her  calm attitude in the face of often dire circumstances, she replied that she simply had faith in Allah. If I did that much good  maybe I, too, would have an unshakable faith.

I believe Aunty Fatima understood so clearly  what we cover up every  day. That life is simple. You take  away all the compicated extras and draw  a  line between yourself and Allah. You become a  channel through which Allah can  do His work. Everything else is minimised. She cared for children from an early age  to the time of her death.

We think of such lives, and then we decide that it's not  for us. We say "Allah created Aunty Fatima that way and I am created differently". I disagree. Everyone has their own demons and everyone  will draw the line between themselves and  God at a different time. But for now we can start to simplify our lives and make sacrifices that will earn us Allah's eternal favour.

I believe Aunty Fatima is in heaven- where  she is NOW taking the holiday she earned on this  earth.
Let Aunty Fatima's passing be our call to duty. We ask Allah to make us simpler people who want less and do more.

Aunty Fatima died at  3pm on Tuesday, the 21st of December 2010. Her janaazah was  at 9pm on the same day.