Who we are at the point of our needs…

Nur sat on her toilet seat waiting for her test result and then… “Not pregnant”. She hissed and threw the stick into the bin. Made dinner for her husband and picked up her students’ examination scripts to continue marking. When her husband came in, he asked, “why are you gloomy?” she replied, “we are not going to be parents”. Then he said to her, “we are going to start doing Tahajjud (standing up to pray in the night while the world sleeps) like Imam Shafi’i said, “Tahajjud is like an arrow that doesn’t miss its mark”….Fast forward six weeks later, she was in the waiting room at her gynecologist’s with her stick in her purse this time, it says “pregnant”.

Abu Hurairah reports that the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: “Our Lord Descends to the lowest heaven during the last third of the night, inquiring: `Who will call on Me so that I may respond to him? Who is asking something of Me so I may give it to him? Who is asking for My forgiveness so I may forgive him?”[ Bukhari and Muslim.]

“To Allaah belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth. He creates what He wills. He bestows female (offspring) upon whom He wills, and bestows male (offspring) upon whom He wills. Or He bestows both males and females and He renders barren whomever He wills. Verily, He is the all-Knower and is Able to do all things.” [Quran 42:49-50].

Zakiyyah sat on the stool in the kitchen, cheeks in hand, eyes staring into space when her mother came in yelling “when you cannot cook rice without burning it, how do you expect to get a husband”. She turned 38yers old last Monday and has never been married. Her sisters tried waiting for her but it was taking too long. Her youngest sister Maryam now has three kids and one on the way. She was listening to a lecture on television and the Sheikh made reference to the verse of the Qur’an that says….

“I said to them: Invoke your Creator’s forgiveness; He has always been Forgiving and has always relented, and quit those who solemnly repented, all His debt.He shall pour down upon you rain and blessings that may bring you into people of Condition.And bestow on you wealth, progeny and manpower, and gardens and orchards abounding in streams and rivers, and make all grace abound in you.Why are you people notably deficient in real reverence for Allah’s Authority and you do not entertain the profound reverence dutiful to Him. (71:10-13)”

She started to do a lot of dhikr (saying words of remembrance of the Lord), became more serious with her Hijab and salat. One day she came home from volunteering at the Orphanage when her father told her, a respectable young man – Amir came to ask for her hand in marriage.

Aliyah walked out of the office on the 16^th floor of Nicon Luxury towers. This was the 13^th interview she was having and none has been successful. She took the elevator down, walked out the door and into the taxi waiting. She gave him her address and he drove to the Watergate park. He charged her $6. She checked her wallet she had only $4. She checked her coin purse and found it empty. Then she remembered she used her last $2 to buy a cup of coffee just before the interview. The cab-man gave her a bit of a had time then let her go. She walked up to her apartment, her mum wasn’t home yet. She went to her high school musical themed room, sat on her white bed and cried herself to sleep. When her mum got home, she asked how the interview went to which she replied, “I do not know what I have done to God, I am the most unlucky person I know”. Her mother said to her, “Indeed, He loves you, but do you love Him, when was the last time you prayed, you stopped wearing your hijab because you felt weird at the first interview you went for, the problem my dear is you”. She thought hard and decided to change and two months later, there was an opening at her dream job – Head sales for a departmental store.

The Prophet, Sallallahu `Alayhi Wa Sallam, said: “Surely I know a verse (from the Quran) which, if people would have followed it, would have sufficed for them concerning everything (in life): `For those who fear Allaah, He provides a way out for them (for everything, and) He also provides them provisions from (sources) that they could never have imagined.” [(65:2-3); Ahmad and Ibn Maajah].

All these stories though fictitious have been one of us at one point in our life or the other. They also have one thing in common. In the search for something dear to them, they found the Lord. The problem is for how long do they keep their relationship with Allah after they get what they want. Allah tests us with poverty, ill health, knowledge, ignorance, wealth so as to bring us close to Him. We need to remember as much as the lack of something or its deficiency is a test, its availability is a test too. So after we get what we want, do we now stop the Tajhajjus, drop the hijab and dhikr, turn our backs on the beggars and the poor.

Mankind is tested in many ways. The believers are those who are steadfast during times of trial and adversity. The Prophet, Sallallahu `Alayhi Wa Sallam, said: “Wonderful is the case of a believer – there is good for him in everything, and this is only for the believer. If he experiences a blessing, he is grateful to Allaah – which is good for him; and if he experiences an adversity, he is patient – which is also good for him.” [Muslim]

“So remember Me; I will remember you. And be grateful to Me and do not deny me.” [Quran 2:152]

Let us try to always be grateful to our Lord and remember Him always. Wonderful indeed! is the case of the believer.