Reclaim Your Heart

(Nora) #1

Praise).’ [Tirmidhi]


When Allah takes something as beloved from us as a child, it may be that He has taken it in order to
give us something greater. It may be because of that loss, that we are admitted into paradise—an
eternal life with our child. And unlike our life here, it is an everlasting life where our child will have
no pain, fear, or sickness.


But in this life, even our own sicknesses may not be what they seem. Through them Allah may be in
fact purifying us of our sins. When the Prophet was suffering from a high fever, he said: “No


Muslim is afflicted with any harm, even if it were the prick of a thorn, but that Allah expiates his sins
because of that, as a tree sheds its leaves.” [Bukhari]


In another hadith the Prophet explains that this applies even to sadness and worry. He says:


“Whenever a Muslim is afflicted with a hardship, sickness, sadness, worry, harm, or depression—
even a thorn’s prick, Allah expiates his sins because of it.” [Bukhari]


Or consider the example of poverty. Most people without wealth would never consider that a
possible blessing. But for the people around Qarun, it was. Qarun was a man who lived at the time of
Prophet Musa (as) who Allah had endowed with such great wealth, which even the keys to his wealth
was itself wealth. The Qur’an says: “So he came out before his people in his adornment. Those who
desired the worldly life said, ‘Oh, would that we had like what was given to Qarun. Indeed, he is one
of great fortune.’” (Qur’an 28:79)


But Qarun’s wealth had made him arrogant, ungrateful, and rebellious against Allah. Allah says: “And
We caused the earth to swallow him and his home. And there was for him no company to aid him
other than Allah, nor was he of those who [could] defend themselves. And those who had wished for
his position the previous day began to say, ‘Oh, how Allah extends provision to whom He wills of
His servants and restricts it! If not that Allah had conferred favor on us, He would have caused it to
swallow us. Oh, how the disbelievers do not succeed!’” (Qur’an, 28:81-82) After seeing the fate of
Qarun, the same people became grateful that they had been saved from his wealth.


But perhaps there is no better example of this lesson, than in the story of Musa and Al-Khidr that we
are told about in Surat Al-Kahf. When Prophet Musa (as) was traveling with Al-Khidr (who
commentators say was an angel in the form of a man), he learned that things are often not what they
seem, and that the wisdom of Allah cannot always be understood from the surface. Al-Khidr and
Prophet Musa (as) came upon a town whereupon Al-Khidr began to damage the boats of the people.


On the surface, this action would seem to have been harmful to the poor owners of the boats.
However, Al-Khidr later explains that he was in fact protecting the people, and saving the boats for
them. Allah tells us in the Qur’an: “[Al-Khidhr] said, ‘This is parting between me and you. I will
inform you of the interpretation of that about which you could not have patience. As for the ship, it
belonged to poor people working at sea. So I intended to cause defect in it as there was after them a
king who seized every [good] ship by force.’” (Qur’an 18:78-79)


In damaging the boats, Al-Khidr was actually protecting the people by making the boats undesirable
to the king who had been seizing them by force. And sometimes in life, that’s exactly what happens. In
order to save us, something is taken away from us, or given to us in a way we don’t want. And yet to
us—as it did to a 22 month old boy—it looks only like a closed door.

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