Fighting Despair

When I look to the world it brutally crushes my hopes and tells me all about how 'this' isn't possible and 'that' will never happen. Then I remind myself of The Maker of all things and I shout out, ''Ya Lateef! Ya Jabbar! Ya Fattah, iftah alayy! Oh the Most Subtle One, The Compeller, The Opener of all doors and gates, and everything else, please Open up my way! I ask not of the world whose people tell me of all things impossible! I ask You, O Creator of all things, You for Whom nothing is impossible! Please send me that which my heart is too afraid to put into words to ask of You, forever seeking right words and never being able to form them; Please send to me from Your infinite bounties a beautiful patience, contentment, peace, happiness and gratefulness in all forms and things of this life; Please send upon me Your infinite Mercy and Khair; I am your heedless forgetful wanting creation begging You to never Forsake me, and to Fill me up in the places that feel empty and bereft of Your Blessings; Please Hold me close Ya Wudood, The Most Loving, Oh Alllah! Allahumma Ameen.''

I Lived Another Day

When it rained in Makkah...

I saw pictures today, of the Ka’aba in Makkah… with water pouring down all its sides, and then pictures of Makkah being flooded...

My mind filled up with thoughts of how I last saw the mosque under heavy construction and renovations, just over 2 weeks ago myself – and my imagination ran awry with a barrage of what if scenarios; of what torrential rain could do in terms of wreaking havoc upon the many pilgrims and the hundreds upon hundreds of people visiting the Holy Mosque. My mind went into fast forward, crying instantly… worrying about how all these people from afar put their hearts and savings into bringing themselves to this House of Allah, to pour their hearts out and beg for mercy and miracles – and how they would be greeted with this hardship, making it ever more so hard… so hard because they won’t be able to pray surrounded by so much water… so hard because every ritual would become tougher and more testing… and in that short moment when I came upon this news, I started searching the internet for videos.

 The first one I found showed people praying in the puddles of water surrounding the Ka’aba, as if there was nothing out of place… I saw this and it made me want to cry even more – while my younger sister, watching from beside me said – ‘‘Think about how their dua’s are being granted as they make them – because not only are they in the House of Allah, but they’re praying while it’s raining!’’ and I thought – subhaanAllah… we really focus on things from such different places… we – the people i.e.

Then later in the day, I came upon a post from one of my favourite teachers::

‘‘The first thing, the last thing, and indeed everything that my teacher taught me, can be summarized as: always be grateful to the Lord. After the shocking floods in Makkah yesterday, I called him:

Me: Shaykh, are you ok?

Shaykh: We are drowning in His Mercy, not in the flood.

Allahumma lakal hamd ya Rabb, always and forever.’’

We – the people, have so much more to learn, so far to go… May our Lord give us patience, resilience and grace through the toughest of times, and may He bless us to be forever grateful, come snow, wind, hail, rain or shine – in all aspects of our lives – Allahumma Ameen wa lakal hamd wa la hawla wala quwwata illa billa wa la illaha illAllah wa AllahoAkbar