A TRUE STORY

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    My Father and Mother migrated to Male’ (the capital of Maldives) with their children to get a better income and to seek a good education for us more than 20 years back. Our family got settled and was living in a three room apartment which my father rented for 15000 Rf. My Father and Mother have total 9 children. Our living condition was poor since most of the money my father earned was paid for the rent. But my Father made sure that we went to school. Our Father and Mother were not religious. So our Islamic foundation was weak.

      Just after few years in Male’ my brother fell victim to drugs. Because of him my Father and Mother was always very tense and worried. So whenever I came home I was troubled by seeing my brother on drugs and my family struggling. So I decided to stay away from home as much as possible. This made me fall victim to bad friends. I was studying in a government school at that time and I was young and exploring. I used to hang out with some rich guys from the neighborhood. These guys always got a lot of money and they got their own rooms in which we could get together and enjoy. It was within these moments we first used a Wood Adhesive (Dunlop) to get high. We bought small cans and we inhaled them till we got high. At that time we didn’t really knew how it felt to get really high, so we really had no clue what is happening. But this didn’t last long! My friend’s Father caught us red handed, but we managed to fled. But this was just the start! At that time gang violence in Male’ was on the rise. But we never got involved in any fights at that time. But I was hanging in a neighborhood which was very famous for gang violence. Because of this at school all the guys respected me and they looked at me like a God father.

      In school I was doing well but since I started hanging out with my new friends slowly I was drifting away from my studies. I still remember the first day I smoked my first cigarette like yesterday. It was not my new friends but my classmates who pushed me into smoking. Every day during the school break time my classmates used to go out for smoking cigarettes. One day these guys invited me to join them. At that time I wasn’t smoking but since my classmates invited me and they looked up to me I had some puffs with them. Slowly I was falling into the traps of my new friends and classmates.  My new friends were like my new family and I did everything to make them happy.

     One night I was hanging around with my friends in artificial beach. While I was hanging around with my friends another group of guys came to the area we were hanging around.They were older than us. They brought some coke bottles with them and they were drinking these bottles in the cafe. One of our friend knew some of these guys that were drinking in the cafe. This guy went to them and brought us a coke bottle. Our friend came to us and told us that these guys gave us a coke bottle mixed with alcohol. So we shared the bottle and drank it. It wasn’t enough to make us drunk, because when we shared it, it wasn’t enough to make us drunk. After this experience I started drinking alcohol. Our rich friends were our suppliers. They get us the money and we buy the alcohol and we drank it together. We use to buy the alcohol from a guy who sells a bottle for 300 Rf. This guy gets the alcohol from a Tourist Resorts. He got a huge bag full of different type of alcohol under his bed. So we buy the alcohol and we used to mix it with coke and take it with us to Music shows. So we got drunk and got wasted in these music shows. I was so much into drinking that I was now drinking at home too. Then my drinking took me into using drugs. One night I arrived at a music show bit late and I didn’t get any alcohol. So I was asking each and every one for some alcohol. While I was looking for some alcohol a friend of mine said that he got some cigarettes that can make me high. So I had a few puffs. I didn’t like the experience at all. What I felt was unexplainable. So I quickly went back to Home and got into the toilet. I was so high that I dozed down in the toilet. I was so afraid that for the first time I remembered about my death and I made a promise to Allah (swa) that if I got out of this that I will never do anything like this. After the effects of the drugs subsided I woke up and I still was in the toilet. I was pleased that my family didn’t know about the whole incident and I was glad I survived the ordeal. But soon I forgot my promise and lead the same old life. But I made sure that I didn’t touch any drugs.    

       After I completed my studies I went to job but it didn’t last long. I got involved in a fight with a work mate of mine. After the fight I got fired.  Slowly violence was yielding inside me. I was regularly drinking and sometimes I drank half of a bottle of alcohol. Few weeks later once again a friend of mine gave me some cigarettes that got drugs in them. I had forgotten my promise and I had forgotten the ordeal I went through. So I smoked the cigarettes and once again got high. Now I was into drugs big time. Also it was my friends who pushed me into committing fornication. They were making jokes about me being a virgin and pushing me into committing it. So they hooked me up with a girl who was bigger than me. I committed this unlawful act just to impress my friends. So all the sins I committed was just to prove how much guts I have and all about showing off to my friends. My teenage years were spent heedlessly in committing sins and I was totally lost in the Satan’s delusions.

    One day a dispute broke among my friends and a neighboring gang. The disputes lead to a bloody stabbing of a very close friend of mine. He was admitted in the intensive care unit for a week. This whole incident caused a series of stabbings and fighting’s. We wanted revenge for our friends and we decided to hunt for the guy who was responsible for this. But none of us had ever stabbed a guy.  So to get the strength to do something like that we stabbed an innocent guy on the road. It was totally madness and we were so drunk that it turned us into maniacs. Finally after all this crazy event we finally found the guy who stabbed my friend. We ran after the guy and stabbed him so much the guy felt unconscious right on the spot. I had a blade that I kept for this moment, but during the struggle I lost it. So I was lucky that I was not able to stab the guy. We all escaped unharmed. But this made the neighboring gang on the edge. The rumors were that I was the one who stabbed this guy. Meanwhile the Police was on the hunt too. Even that night I was so drunk that I realized what we did when the effects of alcohol was gone. Now I was hunted and I was hunted by the opposition gang and the Police. I took refuge in my house for more than a week to escape from the mess I was in. Within this time I made a promise again that if I escaped from this I will stop all this sins I am committing. Also I realized that if something happened to me, my friends will be helpless and they cannot protect me. As days went by the tense rivalry among two gangs were ended when both gangs made peace and the Police dropped the case. I got out of the house and started living my sinful life.

        One night I saw a dream in which I was laying down on the street and all my friends passed by me without helping me. I was seeing the dream like I see a footage shot from a surveillance camera. The dream stroke fears into my heart that all my sleep was gone instantly. It was near dawn and the Morning Prayer was about to call. I went to a mosque nearby my house and was reluctant to go in. While I was standing there the Morning Prayer was announced. So for the first time in my life I performed a prayer. The Prayer brought so much ease and comfort to my soul that I said to myself that I will never abandon any prayer from this day onwards. The day I first prayed had a deep impact in me and I was very sincere in my worship. So due to this deep impact and my sincerity to become a better person I was rewarded by Allah (swa) mercy. All this years I wasted without remembering my creator and apart from all the sins I committed, a sincere attempt to achieve the guidance of Allah (swa) was answered so profoundly. Just like the saying of the Prophet Muhammad (saw) " When someone walks to attain the mercy of Allah (swa), Allah (swa) will run to him, and if His servant runs to attain his mercy Allah (swa) comes to His servant in a manner that is faster than that". Look at Allah's (swa) mercy, I asked for Allah (swa) guidance once and Allah (swa) responded me even though I never remembered or thank Allah (swa) once in my life. So never give up hope from the forgiveness  of Allah (swa). So for those who follow the evil roads of your friends and Satan beautify you, will your friends or Satan respond to you even if you never remembered, thanked or cared about them. No! None of my friends were able to give ease to my soul like Allah (swa) had given me and none of them had been able to help when I needed them. So don't transgress the laws of Allah (swa) even if your  friends, husbands, boyfriends, girlfriends, parents or relatives tell you to do so. Because when you lie all alone in your grave and on the day of resurrection will they be able to avail the sins you committed because they told you to?

      The guidance from Allah (swa) shone like a bright Sun in my life. The sudden changes in me inspired my brother to leave the evil road he was leading as well. The changes to both me and my brother made my Father and Mother practice their religion too. I left all my bad friends and started a new journey, a journey which brought righteous friends and comfort to my soul. Believe me my friends! No drugs or any earthly pleasure had brought so much comfort to me than remembering and thanking Allah (swa). Beware of the friends you choose, because the friends you choose will reflect their evilness or goodness in you. "A person is upon the way of his friend. So, let one of you look to whom he keeps as a friend."
['Sahih al-Jami'' (3545) and 'as-Silsilah as-Sahihah' (927)] Choose righteous friends who will advise you to the right path. Seek strength by asking Allah (swa) as often as possible, because Allah (swa) is the only one looking upon you 24 hours through your life. Not a hair falls from your body without Allah (swa) knowledge. Allah (swa) love for us is greater than our own parents. So is there anyone who is more appropriate to love than Allah (swa)?  This life is a short journey in which you should earn your sustenance to make your Hereafter an eternal bliss. So wake up and seek the mercy and guidance of Allah (swa).
 ( Some parts of the story had been changed to hide the identity of the person in this story )