Pleasing Allah through Cars and Coffee.

My son and I enjoy cars.

He might be a bit more obsessed than I am. Probably because he doesn’t have to worry about costs and maintenance like his dad does.

It is a great way for us to bond together in our shared hobby, and we went to our first cars and coffee yesterday. We had a great time, and we saw some cars we were not expecting to see in our small town:

1. Nissan R34 GTR

2. MK4 Toyota Supra

3. Lotus Esprit

These were probably the highlights of what we saw, but there were tons of Porsches, some GTIs, and some really old classic cars.

There was even a Civic with his exhaust coming out of his engine bay, and he had to skurry on home since it started raining and he had no engine cover for his car 😆.

We had to get up early at 8AM, and it was not something I was initially looking forward to do. I had just come off working 8 straight days of the graveyard shift (1am-9am), and I needed this Saturday to re-calibrate my body back to normal.

Of course that did not happen, but the second part of this event made things much more bearable.

Coffee!

I don’t normally drink coffee (maybe once a week), but when I do, it really kicks in and does it’s job. It is a medicine for me, and not just a social, “Look at me, I’m cool and important and spend $8 on coffee,” type of experience.

I use my car for those types of experiences😁.

All jokes aside, I mainly did it for bonding with my son. To create memories that he will have later on in life. To make him one day also want to make similar memories with his own kids.

To fulfill the ties of kinship.

Initially we were going to go to Tuner Evo in Philly next weekend, but I had some work issues that came up and couldn’t go. Plus we decided that Tuner Evo was not as family friendly because of the excessive “car girls” that events like that are known for having and showing off their "engine bay."

That would have been a whole weekend since Philly is about 8 hours away, but we were able to stay local and have just as much fun. Not only did I save money, but we were able to follow the Cars and Coffee with some high-revving mountain driving that was quite satisfying.

Most importantly, we found a way to have fun and to also please Allah subhana wata'aalah by avoiding the questionable Tuner Evo spectacle.

And fun doesn’t always have to be a spectacle. 

Sometimes fun can just be peace in your heart.

Too many medical diagnoses in children?

Too many kids get a medical diagnosis for something that isn’t worthy of a medical diagnosis: ADHD, depression, anxiety, etc.

Too many kids then believe that something is wrong with them when in reality, we all go through anxious moments and depressive times. 

Too many kids are then constantly reminded in the schooling system about their diagnosis, and they are coddled through the years. 

How will this child grow up to deal with the realities of life? They never experienced the fact that tough times and how we handle them are what makes us stronger.

What will you tell your kids on your deathbed?

This verse gets me every time.

It’s a stark reminder that we will eventually leave this world, and our children will be left without us.

The question that goes through every Muslim parent’s mind, who worries for their children, should be this question that is in Surah Baqara, Verse 133:

Or did you witness when death came to Jacob? He asked his children, “Who will you worship after my passing?” They replied, “We will ˹continue to˺ worship your God, the God of your forefathers—Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac—the One God. And to Him we ˹all˺ submit.” (2:133)

Jacob or Yaqub (AS) didn’t talk about the worldly worries:

“Do you have enough money to survive?”

“Is your job stable enough so you can support yourself?”

“Here are all my passwords to my accounts so you can calculate the inheritance.”

On his deathbed, Yaqub AS only had one worry for his children. Something much more precious than the luxuries of this world. He wanted to make sure his kids knew what their real purpose was.

“Are you going to worship Allah, or will you forget about your Lord when I am gone?”

A magnificent question from Yaqub AS, and a question we need to be asking our children before we reach our deathbeds because one day, we will be gone, and they won’t have us as a fallback for life’s concerns. Plus we have no guaranteed that they will be around when we are on our deathbeds.

If we train our kids properly and bring them up in a house of Islam, then in sha Allah they will have an answer that is just as amazing as the question. Look at how Yaqub’s children respond:

“We will ˹continue to˺ worship your God, the God of your forefathers—Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac—the One God. And to Him we ˹all˺ submit.” (2:133)

Subhan Allah, look at that beautiful answer. They didn’t just respond by saying, “We will worship Allah.” They responded by saying that we will worship your God, the one true God, the God of your forefathers, AND to Him we will all submit.

Let’s break this down for a bit.

This comprehensive answer means that Yaqub (AS) didn’t just teach his kids that Allah is one and call it a day.

He taught his children about Allah, he taught his children about the Prophets who were alive before him (who were his ancestors), and he taught his children that the main goal in life is to submit to Allah.

In essence, he would teach them the “Qur’an and Seerah” of his time. The Qur’an being the Scrolls of Abraham, and the Seerah being the lives of Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac.

He taught them the formula for success, which is to learn first and foremost who Allah is, and then to follow the teachings and examples of the Prophets in terms of how to worship Allah.

We have the same formula in Islam. We teach our kids about who Allah is, and we also have to teach our kids the Qur’an and Seerah of our Prophet salal. The Seerah is linked with the Qur’an directly. You can’t possibly study the life of the Prophet and not encounter the Qur’an in it.

Now let’s also look at it even deeper. When someone asks you a question, whether you know the answer or not, you will reply as simply as you can. When Yaqub AS asks his kids this question, they reply back in such an impressive manner that it makes you think, “Did Yaqub ask them this question even before he was dying,” because no one can answer in such an impressive manner unless you were already reminded and coached about this constantly throughout your life.

And the answer to that is YES, they were coached throughout their lives about the purpose of their life. If we look back at the verse right before this one, we will see what Yaqub tells his children:

And Abraham instructed his sons [to do the same] and [so did] Jacob, [saying], "O my sons, indeed Allāh has chosen for you this religion, so do not die except while you are Muslims." (2:132)