Muslima Success

This article was originally published with ProductiveMuslim. Sometimes we face stubborn challenges that hold us back from our dreams. They keep us ‘stuck’ and slow down our journey to fulfilling our potential, being more productive, and living life with purpose and passion. These challenges can come in the form of some sort of loss: whether a loss of health, wealth, loved ones, or loved things. They try our emotions and mentally hold us back from fulfilling the vision we have for our life. We are told in the Qur’an: “And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient.” [Qur’an: Chapter 2, Verse 155]. So the question is, how can we overcome the losses, challenges, and disappointments that are inevitable in life? How can we carry on with our lives to fulfill our ultimate purpose and maintain a strong connection with Allah subḥānahu wa ta’āla (glorified and exalted be He)? How can we heal those...

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 stepp...

In my previous article about “Four Keys to Overcome Loss”, I spoke about how in the Quran, God tells us “By time, indeed man is in a state of loss. Except those who believe, and do good and enjoin each other on the truth, and enjoin each other to be patient” (Surat Al-Asr). And we are also told “We will certainly test you with something of fear and hunger, and loss of wealth and lives and fruits (earnings); but give glad tidings to the persevering and patient” (2:155). These verses explain to us that human beings are naturally going to experience some sort of loss throughout the course of life – some loss of heath, some loss of wealth, some loss of loved ones, some loss of loved ‘things’ – whether they be a career or a dream or in some extreme cases safety and freedom. Furthermore, getting older is a way of loss of time and loss of youth. There may be loss of a dream – something you really wanted to do for a while and for whatever reasons it didn’t work out. There may be a loss of i...