I was asked: “How did you feel when you became a father?”

I paused for a moment, then replied: “I felt as though I had been elevated to a sublime rank!”

Just as I felt when I came of age and outgrew adolescence, when I obtained my driver’s license, when I graduated from university, when I completed the rites of Hajj, and when I got married.

I consider all these milestones existential promotions, real and everlasting. As for career promotions, though they are a source of pride and joy, they are transient and ephemeral, never rising to the stature of enduring truths.

What a profound question! Had it not been for it, I would not have reflected on my life, nor would I have realized these lofty truths that had eluded me all these years, and I would not have been blessed to share them with you.

I pray to God that my final destiny, and yours, will be the ultimate promotion.