UmmSalama was surprised to see her husband in bitter tears. “Goodness, Prophet, what could cause you such sorrow?”
And into her view, he revealed a handful of dirt that he had been crying into. “They’ve brought this for me from Karbala,” said he, placing it in her hands. “Let it be in your safekeeping. For when the grains turn red, is when my grandchildren’s blood is shed.”
* * *
One day, Fatima walked in on her father, who burst crying at the sight of her. He told her that his time of death was soon to come. That it was not his own death that made him cry, but the thought of his darling child’s heartbreak with his passing.
A while later, the father began laughing again. This time he consoled her, that of all the loved ones, it was revealed to him that she’d be the first to join him. And that’s when an omen as ill as death was (for once) a cause of rejoice.
* * *
Sometimes, we deliberately ignore the signs when they hint on futures that are furthest from our expectations. Even though, sometimes, the clearest and easiest signs to read are those of foreboding.
“Your child will not survive the year,
Your business will go bankrupt,
The cause to your confusion is your marriage…”
So the question, for sensitive people who receive terrible omens like that is this: “Do we pass it on, or do we hold our tongues?”
Maybe bad news are there to be told, in one way to another. If not the the person in question, then to those who love him. Because, I believe that, what’s worse than going through a hard patch, is getting caught at it by surprise.
As much as it breaks their hearts to be the first to know.
