coolness of the eyes

The arabs would use the term coolness of the eyes in two ways,

i. When the arabs travel in the desert, sometimes there would be a storm; When there is storm, the Arab has to cover his face but there is one part of the face, he cannot afford to cover and that is the eyes... If he covers his eyes, he can not see... The sand is pounding his eyes until he finds a cave or some kind of refuge... When he finds a place to hide, his eyes are relaxed... The moment he found some refuge, He would say : My eyes just became cool... He finally found some peace for his eyes...

The expression was used when you find refuge from a storm.. eyes to be cool to the arab was the ame thing as finding refuge from a storm....


ii. The arabs had two figures of speech, they would say: Your eyes are becoming cool or your eyes are becoming warm...

'May Allah make his eyes warm ' was a curse in Arabic

They would say that because eyes becoming warm is the same thing as tears of sadness.

Eyes becoming cool are tears of joy...

Imagine at the airport, a mother is welcoming her son , another is seeing her son off... One mother's eyes are cool, the other one's eyes are warm... One is shedding tears of joy and the other is shedding tears of sadness.


The two meanings are

i. Finding refuge from a storm

ii. Being so happy that it moves you to tears; tears of joy

So how was this used in the Quran?

In surah Taha, Musa (peace be upon him) was told his story by Allah, the part of his childhood, he couldn't possibly remember... So Allah is telling Musa, his life story and part of that was that his mother put him in the water...

At that moment, his mother eyes must have been warm... She has two options, either let the baby get killed or take her chances by putting the baby in the water..

So Allah tells Musa (Surah Taha :40) (rough translation):

......then We returned you to your mother so that her eyes can become cool again...

So what does this tell us?

i. It was like when the moment she left the baby, her life was a storm, no calm left and the only time she got refuge was when she saw her baby again...

ii. And the only kinds of tears, she has been shedding were tears of sorrow, and when she finally sees her baby, she starts crying again... but these are tears of joy...

SubhanAllah, so beautiful

If you understand the background, the expression just takes on a new flavour....

In surah Furqaan, there is a famous dua (rough translation):

those who pray, ‘Our Master, Grant unto us spouse and offspring who will be the coolness of our eyes" (Surah 25:74)

So what are we saying in this dua?

i. Ya Allah, Give me a wife, that i look at her and i am so happy, It makes me cry... Give me a husband that i am so happy, it makes me cry.... Tears of joy...

Children that make me so proud, i am so happy to see them , i am moved to tears even when i watch them sleeping... The offspring (thurriyyatina) also includes grandchildren, great grand children etc.... So when i see my grand child, i get teary...

ii. Also, We are saying, Ya Allah the world out there is a storm, let me find refuge in my spouse and my children.... They should provide the one place where i find peace

SubhanaAllah, such a beautiful du'a... It teaches to find joy in our family...

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