I was reading an article in one of the newspapers about a man who spent 23 years of his life saving drowning people - most of whom life seemed unkind and worthless and suicide appeared as the best form of cure to all the tortures of life; the man was indeed a real hero.I began wondering how much rewards will He be bestowed for his feat of saving so many lives when God says in the Holy Qur'an, "On that account We ordained for the Children of Isra`il that if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole humanity: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the whole humanity. (5:32) The remembrance of these verses evoked a lot of feelings that led to the realization of God's supreme qualities of love, mercy, compassion and forbearance for His most erring creation called 'man'! The feeling that my Creator cannot stand even an iota of injustice being perpetuated to us made my very existence appear thankless and selfish. The reason being that we human beings, regardless of our Faith, lack the perseverance (in moments of crisis) to abide by His Will. What is it that we begin to question His approach towards "our" life even when the fact lies that it is Allah who created us even though we didn't deserve it.
What favor had we done to Him that we were brought to existence as His most supreme creation unlike beasts who gorge on decomposed matter! It is sheer love, the kind of love that is 72 times more than that of a mother for her children..He wants to see us grow, have a family, friends, enjoy the bounties and return well pleased and well pleasing to Him. Just as a mother who sends her children to school expecting them to return home happy and with good grades. We getting good grades at school might make our parents boast before their friends about how hard they worked with us but that isn't the case with God..I mean, you can't think Gods of different religions will be presenting their respective worshippers' report card and showing off on the Final Day, right??
He has the power to make a being perish into nothing and our disobedience towards Him must invoke a furious reaction from him because think of it, that is what we usually do:- supposing you solve somebody's difficult problem and she goes without thanking or even if she thanks at that time, she doesn't say "Salam" and ignores you the next time you both meet - what would you do? You straight away judge her as shameless and intend to severe off your ties with her. But that's you, a human..and unconditional mercy is what God is all about!
When a blessing reaches us we revel in its joy and bathe ourselves with the pride that God chose us for His favor and you don't ever say ,"XYZ should've gotten it, he was more needy than me," but when a calamity strikes, you have the audacity to question His Decisions. This is the time you try to act more logical than the one who endowed you with logic!
For example, during the time of Prophet Moses, a man came up to him and said," O Prophet, you say God talks to you on the mountain of Tur and that he solves your queries as well?" Prophet Moses replied, "Yes, is there anything you want to know?" And the man said, "Yes, I want you to ask your God if He created death to pair with life, why doesn't he kill the old ones alone (because they're of no use), what makes Him order the death of young kids, infants...How can He be so cruel?" The Prophet heard him and went to the mountain of Tur, supplicated for His Master and when it was time to engage in conversation, he popped up the question of that man; albeit scared because he was going to repeat that man's harsh words before the Lord of the Worlds! When he was done, God asked Him to go and tell that man that God will answer your questions in a few days' time so meanwhile he can create a garden as an activity. When the message reached the man, he shrugged off saying, " All right, let's see I'll do that if you say so!"
Days passed by and the man got engrossed in cultivating a beautiful garden. One day, the man was strolling in his garden when he cast his glance over a beautiful bud that would bloom in some days. He liked it so much that he couldn't resist and plucked the bud for himself. Now when Prophet Moses went to meet God on the mountain of Tur, he was ordered to go meet the man and ask how is his gardening going and what does he do with the flowers? When the duo met again, he was asked about the lovely flowers he had cultivated in his garden and he said, " Well, they are all so beautiful in my eyes but there are some I love a lot and feel like carrying them with myself to my place!" The Prophet said, "But don't you feel bad plucking buds out of the stem, how could you?" And the man shot back, "What's wrong with that? I am the creator of that garden, I shall do anything with them! " Therefore, Prophet Musa smiled and said, "O man, when it is so easy to command your will upon the garden you just cultivated, why can't the Benevolent God exercise His will upon His creation and call the ones He loves the most back with Him?"
Having said that, what I mean is that when you're faced with hardships, do not think that God is displeased with you or it's a form of retribution for your misdeeds. He puts us through test so that we reach His nearness just like a mother who has a toddler who is just learning to walk. She makes the baby stand at a distance from her and keep clapping to call ,encourage the kid to walk and reach his mother. The baby takes a step and stumbles..the mother keeps cheering, "come on, good boy...come to mamma" and has her arms open for embrace. The child looks up at his mother's divine face and again stands up, takes a step or two, again falls down but the mother doesn't lose her faith and encourages the child to walk up to her...After repeated attempts, the child, despite all obstacles, reaches his beloved mother who hugs him and becomes the guardian!
This is what God does to us as well. We're made to suffer sometimes so that we can seek His help, renew our covenant with Him, seek His love and mercy and never get disheartened that our Lord is too far from us. In a Hadith e Qudsi God tells us ," When a believer takes one steps towards Me, I take 10 step towards him ; when he comes walking towards Me, I come running towards him!" He has utmost faith in us for our capability to endure testing times and likes to hear our voice so we plead before Him like we'd do to our momma to let us play some extra cricket for the day..!!!
We must keep striving, despite a hundred odds, believing that He is waiting to embrace us with open arms; and once we reach God, we attain salvation and that' s when we become immune to the adversaries of life!
Moral of the story:- Next time you become hopeless with some worldly affair, bow your head in prostration and say," Glory be to Allah, and Praise be to Allah, and there is no God but Allah and Allah is Great!!!" And witness the sea of hope that will gush forth in your heart!!!
