Hope in God, then Yourself




In the Quran, God says “O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah . Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful.” (39:53)

This verse explains that we simply can’t cut ourselves off and lose hope from the love, care, and mercy of Allah. And that we need to believe that Allah didn’t stop loving us, caring about us or depriving of us His mercy – that’s simply not the case. We need to believe with all our heart that Allah has the Power to change our state, our matters, and our life for the better, even after prolonged difficulty, in a matter of hours, minutes, or even seconds.

If we look back, sometimes we can come to the realization that everything we have been through was always part of a Divine Plan to purify us and teach us and elevate us to a higher level – one that could have not been reached without the struggles and the challenges and the disappointments. They were all stepping stones to triumphs, joy, and absolute awe over Allah’s mercy with us. Alhamdullilah….truly we are engulfed with Allah’s mercy…

Moreover, we have to believe that no matter how difficult things seem, Allah reminds us that with hardship, there is ease. So we need to look for the ease amidst the hardships, the joy amidst the sadness, the strength amidst the weakness, and the healing amidst the hurt. Allah is taking care of us every step of the way. Just pray, believe, listen and wonder in amazement at the gifts Allah showers us with.

Yes we will hope, we will dream, we will strive, we will build and yes indeed we can fail, fall, and feel hurt, betrayal, and just simply a lack of empathy and compassion from others. However, we can get back up, try again, hope again, dream again, strive again and build again. We can succeed again. We can be happy and fulfilled again.

It helps to remember that tests and tribulations are part of a plan that are meant to empower us, and ultimately keep us going back to The One.

The One Who can Heal – The Healer.

The One Who can Provide – The Provider.

The One Who can Love – The All- Loving.

The One Who can take every worry and every fear and every difficulty and every failure and transform them into serenity, courage, ease and triumph. So just as we hurt and fall, we can also, with the grace of Allah, heal and rise again.

So remember, every time you’ve experienced some sort of loss or challenge that’s broken your heart, instead of losing hope, take it as an opportunity to revive your love for the one whose love was meant to fill your heart – to love God, to turn to Him, to expect nothing but from Him and to ultimately give and do everything for Him.

Every time the world fails you and others disappoint you, instead of losing hope, it’s an opportunity to strive for ultimate success both now and in an after-life where in sha Allah you enjoy eternal bliss in heaven which only holds happiness.
Every time you thought you “failed”, instead of losing hope, remember it was in fact an opportunity to rebuild yourself for more success later in sha Allah.

Every time you thought the world would fill that void in your heart, instead of losing hope, remember it was a reminder that nothing could fill that void except the closeness to and love of Allah.

So every time you start losing hope, remember that you have the best gift of all. The gift of guidance – the gift to know where we came from and where we’re going – the gift to know that regardless of all the tribulations, losses, sadness and pain in this world, there is an after life – a heaven that spans the skies and the earth – a place of eternal bliss – for those whose hearts have been guided.

And think – just think:

What is some hardship in comparison to an eternity of ease?

What is some sickness in comparison to an eternity of perfect health?

What is some sadness in comparison to an eternity of happiness?

What is some loss in comparison to an eternity of gaining everything beautiful?

And for now…what is some difficulty when now…

We have prayer – an opportunity to connect with The Creator of the Universe to pour out all of our worries to?

We have the Quran – a source of guidance and healing for our hearts – a comforter, a way to find answers for life’s most troubling questions…

We have dua – an opportunity to call onto the One in Whose Hands all matters lie – The One Who can change anything in a matter of seconds – the One Who Just says, “Be” and it is…

And ultimately, we have Allah – The One Who loved us before anyone loved us, and The One Who raised us from the depths of darkness and protected us and gave us life – gave us an opportunity to be deserving of a heaven that spans the skies the earth and make a positive difference in the world.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Suffering in Silence...No More...

I had a sister recently email me with a situation that I hear and have seen often yet don’t see very much done about.  She’s a sister who moved to a new city after being married,  became pregnant soon thereafter and was blessed to become a mother, yet she is struggling in her marriage, she feels lonely and she wants to get her life back in order. I feel many sisters will suffer in silence and subhana’Allah, although to some it may seem like there is really nothing to complain about when a sister these days has even had the opportunity of being married and was blessed again with the gift of children.  Yes, we should be thankful in times of goodness and patient in times of tribulation and always turn to Allah (SwT) first and foremost, yet we know Allah (swt) says: ““And the human being was created weak” (Surat al-Nisa, 4:28).  Although our faith in Allah (swt) should give us tremendous strength and perseverance, at the end of the day we are human beings and we will...
Read more

Living on Purpose and with Purpose

Alhamdullilah, as Muslims, we are given the gift of understanding our purpose on earth, which people will spend a lifetime searching for, in the Quran in the following verses: “I have not created mankind and jinn except to worship Me” (51:56) “When your Lord said to the angels: ‘I am placing on the earth a caliph” (2:30) These two verses would need pages and chapters written to reveal their full depth and meaning.  Very briefly though, ‘worship’ in the first verse is not limited to our prayers and fasting for example but can truly encompass everything we do in our lives when we do it with the intention of drawing nearer to Allah.  So it can include our eating, sleeping, spending time with our loved ones, studying, working, etc. As for the meaning of ‘caliph’ – this term is used to define the one who will take care of this earth, help build it, make a positive difference and fulfill the role of leadership that Allah (Swt) has placed them in – whatever that role may be – from a Hea...
Read more

The Story of "Mrs. Normal"

Many people will spend years or even an entire lifetime not living the life they really want – one that is filled with  success, happiness, and fulfillment .  They will settle for mediocrity and live a ‘normal’ life. Have you heard the story of  “Mrs. Normal”?   Mrs. Normal grew up in a ‘normal’ family, received a ‘normal’ education, married a ‘normal’ man, had ‘normal’ children, and then, died. The story of “Mrs. Normal” is probably the story of 95% of people and some may ask,  but what is the problem with being ‘normal’ ? Normal is fine alhamdullilah and growing up with a family, receiving an education, being married and blessed with children are all in deed good things in theory. But is solely achieving these series of steps considered  amazing or outstanding ? Is it living our life with true   ihsan  (excellence) as Allah (Swt) asked of us? Is it fulfilling the role Allah (Swt) assigned as in the Quran as caretakers ( khulufa’a)  of this earth whose responsibility is to make a posi...
Read more