:salamext:
O my Lord, my grievances are unto you...
by: al-haneef
Man is created weak and forgetful. He makes mistakes and falls into error. He commits acts of disobedience and is led to the path of arrogance and rebelliousness by shaytan. However, the exalted portion of mankind always rectifies its misdeeds.
All the while man experiences different situations and events in his life. There are moments of joy and fulfillment. There are times he takes pride in his accomplishments. Still at other times he reaches the heights of elation due to something that has happened or he has done.
Naturally man also has to face failure; he has to face downfall. Moments of sorrow are inevitable, hardships are part of life; these are all unavoidable consequences of life. As Umar ibn al-khattab used to say,
whatever has come to pass over a person he couldn’t have possibly avoided it and whatever missed him couldn’t have possibly touched him.
Man experiences extremities of both joy and its opposite. The opposite of joy and fulfillment is sorrow and hopelessness which leads to grief and a sense of insecurity. In such situation man takes many different possible routes to alleviate it. He turns to counselors for advice and takes anti-depressants. He turns to destruction to forget about his already wrecked life. Yet, as we see in western society, he may turn to pseudo spirituality.
When all options have been exhausted then even the shrewdest of deniers from amongst man turn to the Higher Power in their most insecure and lost moments. Allah azza wa jall saves him and protects and helps him in situations from which man sees no way out. Alas, the arrogance of man is such and his forgetfulness is such that he forgets his Lord once he is safe and secure!
Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala makes a mention of such from amongst man in surah yunus;
“…in the ships and they sail with them with a favorable wind, and they are glad therein, then comes a stormy wind and the waves come to them from all sides, and they think that they are encircled therein, they invoke Allah, making their Faith pure for Him Alone, saying: "If You (Allah) deliver us from this, we shall truly be of the grateful. But when He delivered them, behold! They rebel (disobey Allah) in the earth wrongfully…” [surah yunus ayaat 22-23]
Nonetheless, it is from the innate and noble characteristics of a believer that he only and only turns to his Lord. He turns in humility and bows with servitude unto his Lord and pours his hearts contents out. Just as Ya’qoob, one of the noblest men and a prophet of Allah, cried to Allah;
…I only complain of my grief and sorrow to Allah… [surah yusuf ayah 86]
When, after much pain and grief and crying his eyes to blindness, he found out that his son Yusuf was alive. This was, and is, how a believing man acts in a state of despair and hopelessness. For everything is as Allah Wills and only that which Allah Wills happens and it is only through His Will and boundless Mercy and Power that one is shown rays of hope and ease.
A believing man should never despair Mercy of Allah and should always remind himself that utter hopelessness is from shaytan and is Kufr; because it represents his lack of faith in his Creator.
In moments of crisis and loss a man should direct his grievances only to Allah. He should approach Him with humility yet with thankful heart. He should turn to his Lord with a content heart and try to attain as much tawakul as possible. Allah helps those of His slaves who present their sorrows and hopeless situations in front of Him and call unto Him with sincerity.
And your Lord said:
"Invoke Me, I will respond to your (invocation)… [surah ghafir ayah 60]
Man should always remember to call upon Allah when he finds himself in a quagmire of grievous situations. If, thereafter, he were to transgress he would be one of the rebellious.
With this in mind, O fellow believers, men and women from amongst the mankind, let us turn exclusively unto Allah. In only Him, is a man to find solace in times of grief and ease.
And to Allah belongs all tawfique.
:wasalamex