3a Shou Sheyif 7alak?

 By Anonymous           

               I have to admit. I’m much like a little kid, because every time I learn something new, I just HAVE to tell everyone about it!

Today I went to a daris deen with my little brother, and I thought it would make an epic topic for an alloy article. So the sheikh started off with the following quote for Emamu Ali(3alayhil salam) : “This life is nothing but six things  : Food, drink, clothes, things you ride, things you smell, and marriage.”

There are a lot of things we fight for in this earthly life. But if you trace them back to what they are, you’ll find that you’re really fighting for nothing!

Food and Drink.

Did you ever stop to think why you went to school as a kid? Or why you even bother to get up early and go to that disturbing 8oclock class given by that boring “3ayesha” professor who hates you? Well, we all want to make a living, and I guess that’s what Dr.3ayesha is worth. And why, may I ask, do you want to make a living? Well… To live, you need to EAT! And you can’t do that without a smelly green piece of paper known as the Lebanese lira!

That’s it?! Just for a piece of paper?!

Well, no. That Lebanese lira is what you trade for FOOD. Just imagine, you study for 25 years, you work for hours a day, just for 5 minutes a day with a spoon of…say…honey? A sticky substance that comes out of a bee’s behind?

So if you have so much of that…be it money or honey ...tell me my dear insen : 3a shou sheyif 7alak?

Clothes.

Clothes are another part of that “living” we work so hard for.  You’re not going to walk around without them because you’ll shiver…plus it’s embarrassing. But you can’t argue with clothes! A lot of people make shows and spend millions of dollars on events just to show off the clothes they have. Some spend hours in shopping malls just to pick up the perfect dress. And all that just to walk around wrapped up in a piece of silk…something a little worm spat out. So tell me again my dear insen : 3a shou sheyif 7alak?

Riding.

So you have a hot red Ferrari! Or an epic black Porsche! And you ride the streets of Lebanon with that roaring chunk of momentum, taking pride in those musical squeaky noises you make lamma tshafit, boasting about how quick you got to class because of how fast your car is, attracting all the friends you can with that expensive…chunk of metal? And just for one moment, you think everything is going fine, and you were texting your friend while on the highway…then BAM! You’re dead. And again the shekh said “ 3a shou sheyif 7alo”?

Things we smell.

Perfume is everywhere. And don’t tell me it’s not a part of your “living”! Me and my little brother can’t set foot out of the house without showering with the stuff. Do you smell people? I’m kidding of course you don’t. They enforce their smell upon you. We want to look our best…and smell our best too! Good scent is very attractive and that makes perfume more special to you. Do you know how much a gram of Musk costs? Very very much . And  all that just for a fluid that was extracted from inside a deer. 

So you smell like a deer, and 3a shou sheyif 7alak?

Marriage. (for both guys and girls)

I want to get married. Yeah yeah I know you do too. It’s simply awesome to get united with that special person you like so much, and live together until the other grows older and uglier and then turns into a dead corpse that smells so bad that even the priciest musk won’t cover for it.

                 

                 And the cycle goes on and on until you realize that we’re doing the same thing over and over again. A wise man once said : “ You’re born, you go to school in order to go to college so that you can grow up to work and make a living so that your kids can go to school, and then grow up to make a living so that their kids can go to school and so on and so on”.

I think I’m getting tired for nothing here!  Am I doing my homework just so I can wear something a worm spat out?! Why am I even writing this article?! Why are YOU reading it?!

Hold that thought!  Let’s click pause and rewind to the beginning.

What were your first words? Nonsense.  

Have you ever tried removing meaning from words? They’d sound pretty funny. If you knew nothing about Arabic, and heard someone saying “Wij!” wouldn’t it sound funny? But it doesn’t, because humans have been blessed with the gift of meaning. We can make sense out of complete nonsense! The words I’m writing are nothing but lines and shapes. But YOU, as a human, can make out the ideas and thoughts I’m trying to convey.

Life may seem like complete nonsense when you go back to the origin of things, but we still kill each other over pieces of paper and shiny rocks because they mean something to us.

Honey may come from an insect, but its sweetness and healing powers are good for you. Clothes may be just silk, but they keep you warm.  Cars explode, but they save you time. Perfume hides your animal scent. And most importantly , marriage is living with someone who deeply means something to you.

However, there is still something missing here…

WHAT’S THE POINT?!

Life and death are part of an everlasting cycle that seems to go nowhere. And YOU are part of it…so 3a shou sheyif 7alak? But only YOU can make good sense out of it. If you go back far enough, you’ll remember that the cycle began somewhere, it began with the creation of Adam(3alayhil Salam). You’re not just a collection of flesh and blood, because you mean something to someone else. You mean something to God; he created you for a reason. He, the meaning of all meanings, gave meaning to you…so what meaning are you going to give life?