No matter what, plant your seeds

A letter to my daughter.

Prophet Muhammad (saw) said, “If the Final Hour comes while you have a palm-cutting in your hands and it is possible to plant it before the Hour comes, you should plant it.”

The world can be a scary, dark place sometimes. You might feel like people are out to get you because of who you are, or that people willfully misunderstand you because of the tone of your skin, your features, or what you wear on your head.

You will be afraid sometimes. In these moments of fear and doubt, you’ll wonder if it’s worth it to keep going. You’ll wonder if it’s worth it to dream, to plan, to capitalize on your potential. You’ll wonder if bending yourself toward the light is a futile endeavour.

And then a day will come and you’ll find yourself holding seeds of promise in your palms and wondering – should I plant these? Is there any point?

Plant them. Gently place them on the earth, cover them with the soil they need to grow, water them, and let the sun tug at them until they crack open and shoot out of the ground to reach toward the sky.

Plant them, even if the darkness tells you “there’s no hope, they’ll never grow.”

When you’ve planted your seeds, you might become impatient. You might visit the patch of earth daily, sprinkling it with water and waiting. But try as you may, you can’t coax the little seed to crack open and grow. You are not in control.

When we plant the seeds of success in this world, we always want to see the fruit of our labour right away. But what grows is only in Allah’s control. When He says, “Be,” then it is.

You are only responsible for planting that seed: a good word, a smile, a dollar in the donation box, a helping hand to someone in need. Plant them, liberally. Make it your life’s goal to be the farmer of good deeds.

But instead of standing around and waiting for them to grow, walk forward and keep planting. When you’re leaving a trail of planted good deeds, don’t look back expecting payment in return for what you’ve done.

You will only understand what your seeds have grown into on the day when you’re standing in front of your Lord, reading your book of deeds.

I hope the little fragile seeds you scatter grow into thick forests of light, kindness, hope.

As for me, I hope you will be the tallest tree in my forest of deeds, because you are my most precious seed of all.