Worshipping through Gardening
By C. Naseer Ahmad
Washington, DC
Believers worship the Almighty through the ritual prayers every day throughout the world. And, then there is “zikr” – the Arabic word for the devotional act remembering the Almighty -that preoccupies the minds of believers.
Researchers have found many practical benefits of worship and having a belief system. They have determined significant level of happiness and mental health compared to a state lacking a belief system. In fact, a US News article on July 28, 2016, described how people in eight other countries stay healthy. Pakistan – “where prayers promote health” was listed sixth among those countries. The article noted that Muslims pray five times a day. This practice – “an intense form of meditation combined with yoga postures” – may do as much for their health as it does for their spirits, said Dr Farha Abbasi, assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Michigan State University for this article.
Gardening has a number of health benefits, according to the American Association of Retired People (AARP). It increases exposure Vitamin D, decreases dementia risk and gets one involved in enjoyable aerobic exercise. Additionally, working in the garden provides another dimension of worship through action.
Each morning or sometimes at sunset while watering the mint plant, the vegetables or the roses, some verses of the Holy Qur’an come to the mind as effortlessly as the rain drops from the sky above. One verse that repeats in the mind so often is - Chapter 59 verse 24 which says: “He is Allah, the Creator, the Inventor, the Fashioner; to Him belong the best names. Whatever is in the heavens and earth is exalting Him.”
Through gardening, a lot of which is simply just watering the plants, one begins to appreciate botany. By taking a few moments to ponder and meditate a bit, the chain of thought progresses to other branches of science. All these thoughts lead to the source of Creation.
Curious observations of insects buzzing around the plants leads the mind to think about their purpose. In modern life, the mere sight of an insect often provokes an instinct to grab the nearest can of insecticide. But when their “purpose” crosses the trigger-happy mind, the rush to kill the insects becomes less urgent.
There are only a few steps from the door to the rose or mint plants, but the daily routine is like a journey across the universe. While observing the beauty in nature, one appreciates its Designer. The beauty is not just in the color of the roses but also in the patterns in the mint leaves right in front of one’s eyes. The magnificence is in the clouds, their formation and the movement when one glances at the sky above. In these moments, the mind is awestruck by the fluidity of the design.
As the eye notices a newly blooming roses, which were just little buds a few days before, the mind becomes aware of rose petals falling off, some that were so enchanting recently. In time, the sadness of not seeing those enchanting roses which brightened one’s day is made up by the blooming of the rose buds.
From a distance, they are all roses in a bush, but a close view enables the eye to appreciate their unique characteristics as well as the similarities with those that are still on the bush and those that have fallen off.
Somehow one becomes attached to these flowers and plants. Maybe it is just being a human because in some ways they enable one to connect with fellow human beings.
While admiring the colors and how the patterns unfold, one admires the Creator who creates them and makes them bloom however short that period might be. The blossoming of the flowers reminds one of the people who radiate beauty throughout their lives. Just like there is sadness in seeing the leaves fall off, sorrow follows the passing of loved ones who like everything in life pass away but leave wonderful memories of being the roses in our lives.
During reflections while gardening, I am visited by the spirits of a loved one like beloved father and my late sisters who were so fond of having flowers planting in the house I grew up in. Physically they are not present, but I see them in the garden every day while caring for the roses near the front steps.
“To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose in heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1)” Perhaps, there was a purpose in my arriving a bit early, around this time last year, for my meeting with my late friend Irfan ul-Haque. Because I had about forty-five minutes before going to his house, I went into a public library and the first book I picked was on “gardening” – something I knew nothing about and with very little interest due to my asthma and allergies.
Looking back on our forty years of friendship which began with our work in the World Bank’s Economic Research Department, I remember our lunch outings after the Friday prayers in Washington’s Dupont Circle area. Interestingly, both of us as well as our spouses offered Friday prayers along with fellow community members in Geneva, Switzerland during a visit a few years ago. Though now we can’t physically go for lunch outings in Dupont Circle, the Creator enables these outings in spirit while watering the roses every day.
Like the little rose buds who blossom into beautiful flowers, I see the growth in my grandson Raheem from a helpless creature into an amazing human being in the garden of life in his ancestors were resplendent.
Seasons change, as almost everything in life, except the Creator and:
Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed that with the sun's love
In the spring becomes the rose
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