Abû Hurayrah relates that Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said: “Islam began strange, and it will become strange again just like it was at the beginning, so blessed are the strangers.” [Sahîh Muslim (1/130)]

Sunday, January 31, 2016

Fatherhood

I was recently blessed by the Almighty with a daughter who I am looking at as I type these words. I recall the the voices of some who said they would think twice of having children with the world in such a miserable state, and the future looking so bleak. I think otherwise. To me, our children represent our investment in a future for humanity. With life, and the Mercy of God, there is hope.

Fatherhood has yet to sit as I have spent much of my time running. I do take some moments to look at her big wandering eyes. With her reduced field of vision at this point, I can only wonder what her developing mind is making of all these shapes and sounds that assault her senses. When the soul is taken from our bodies at the point of death for its journey to the next world, it is described as a difficult and warping process. I can imagine the entry into this world from the purely spiritual through the birth canal into this haphazard mania must be similarly jarring though perhaps to a much lesser extent.

As parents, we no doubt share pure joy at the new arrival. It is this radiance that makes all the little tasks such as cleaning and feeding seem rather minuscule. But there is a point at which the father's love and attachment take a back seat to the bond the mother instantly develops with the newborn. Newborns for many men can be a bit one-dimensional in how they are almost purely driven by physical needs and responses. Once the child has the ability to be on stand their own two legs and forms a proto-personality, the man's interest increases exponentially. Not so much for the mother, who finds every little wrinkle and curl on the baby's body a source of endless fascination.

I came out of the birthing experience with a new-found respect for the inner strength and endurance the Divine has put in women to allow them to go through the surges of increasing discomfort and the final release. I wonder how some women who seem so petite and fragile can deliver several children without much fuss. It boggles the mind. Then again, this perhaps isn't the best time for such pontification, rather a better time to throw up my hands, thank the Lord, and get busy with the messy acts of fatherhood.