"On Allah the Most Merciful & Compassionate I shall rely"

On Allah the most Merciful, the Most Compassionate, the Lord of the Universe I shall rely

This is my new credo, the new perspective I have adopted for my life and have been cultivating for a while in order to be almost always deeply happy. I know many who would pay me good money to know my recipe to hapiness, well  guys, rejoice this time I won't charge you :-)

I fought the stress created by the daily challenges of modern life by shifting my whole vision of things, I have become incredibly serene and happy and it all started with Shaykh Hamza reminding us in his beautiful descriptive style of a story in the prophetic sunna where a woman embraces her child in a crow so vehemently and cries "My child! My child" with such anguish that all those who witnessed the scene were moved to tears. Allah’s Messenger (Saw) who was present throughout the scene turned to his companions and asked them : “Do you think that this woman would ever throw her child into the fire?” The companions all answered: ‘By Allah, Never!’ So the Prophet (Saw) said: “Allah is more merciful to His believing servants than that mother could ever be to her child."      

But why can a single story be the trigger to a 360° mind set shift?

Well, every morning I remind myself that Allah Al Rahman (the most merciful), Al Rahim (the most compassionate) loves me more than anyone in this world, it is then that I remember the loving faces of my father and mother may Allah grant them a long life of worship and happiness, I remember especially how my father constantly tries to lift us up and to shelter us, even now as adults! I am sure that if it were possible he would  live our lives in our places to prevent us from going through any hardships!

And so in the face of a love so pure, so disinterested and immense as fatherly and motherly love, the Sunna reminds me that Allah’s Love is infinite and not limited like their love and it is then that I have this certainty… certainty, that in a world governed by His rule nothing bad can happen to me and to my loved ones, we have nothing to fear, nothing to worry about because we are Loved by the one and Almighty…Amen.

I will never forget the day my father explained to me as a child, that the deep arabic meaning behind "El Rahman, El Rahim" "the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate" is that Allah's mercy and compassion behold all human beings whether believers or non believers.

It's this infinite and unconditional love (Allah has mercy even on people who don't believe in Him) that drives me to work hard on my soul –Nafs- to be worthy of it. I soooo pray for more patience… I want the patience of those who are resilient at the very first strike....and then I want "El Rida", the contentment of those who accept whatever Allah has decreed for them, be it bliss or tribulation!

   

I am sharing with you all this because it has helped me enormously to face my day with serenity. If I happen to face what I no longer call a "problem" but call now (with more optimism) "challenge", I know it is simply one of the many painless tests that are there to juge my character.

And it all started with Shaykh Hamza... (may Allah give him Jennah) :-)