I come from Indonesia and the truth is, I hadn’t fully appreciated the beauty of greenery until I relocated to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The barren view of the desert and the surrounding city was a wake up call that caused me to value trees and plant life more than I had before. For instance, not many people know that in Saudi Arabia, if you damage a tree, causing it to be cut down, you will be fined about $10,000 USD from the municipality. It makes you re-think the value of a tree is, doesn’t it?
A tree not only has high material value, but also high intrinsic functionality. It’s the source of fresh oxygen and lots of other properties that we use daily, not to mention how on a hot day, you can just sit down and relax under a big shady tree. Trees that have such important value in the duniya must surely bear even more value in the hereafter. Would you like to have a tree with your name in the heaven? Well, according to the hadith, you can actually plant a tree in heaven without spending any money at all in this world.
All you have to do is offer dzikr “Subhanallaahi wabihamdi” which means Glory to Allah and praise be to Him. It’s very light on the lips and tongue, but very powerful in gaining Allaah’s love. This is based on the hadith narrated by at-Tirmidhi; 5:511, al-Hakim, which states:
“A palm tree is planted in heaven for the reciter of Subhanallaahi wabihamdi.” (wallahu a’lam bishowwab)
For someone like me who has just begun to re-embrace the knowledge of Islam, it’s kind of difficult to do it every day, but a thousand mile journey begins with a single step. If we try at least to say it just once a day, at least we have begun to build our tree in heaven with the blessing of Allaah ta’allaa.
So, do you want to have something worth much in both the duniya and akhirah without lots of effort? Then start with dzikr “Subhanallaahi wabihamdi” for at least a minute a day.
