Have you ever noticed how, when life becomes difficult, we suddenly find ourselves running towards Allah? When our hearts are broken, when we lose someone we love, when things don't go the way we planned, or when we feel like we have nowhere else to turn, we raise our hands and call upon Him with all our hearts.
We make promises to become better Muslims. We promise to pray more sincerely, to leave our sins behind, and to strengthen our relationship with Him. In those moments, we realise just how much we need Allah.
But what happens when the hardship passes? When the tears stop, when our hearts begin to heal, and when life slowly returns to normal?
Do we still turn to Him with the same urgency? Do we still make those heartfelt duas? Do we remember the One who listened to us when we thought no one else could understand our pain?
Allah reminds us of this very human tendency in the Quran:
“And when adversity touches man, he calls upon Us, whether lying on his side or sitting or standing; but when We remove from him his adversity, he continues [in disobedience] as if he had never called upon Us to [remove] an adversity that touched him.”
Surah Yunus (10:12)
SubhanAllah. How deeply this verse makes us reflect on ourselves.
Sometimes, we become so consumed by our hardships that we forget the blessings surrounding us. Then, when Allah removes a difficulty from our lives, we become occupied with the world again, and the closeness we felt towards Him begins to fade.
But Allah was there when we were crying. He was there when we were making dua in the middle of the night. He was there when our hearts felt too heavy to explain what we were going through.
And He is still there when we are happy, when life is peaceful, and when we have everything we once prayed for.
Perhaps one of the greatest lessons we can learn is that Allah is not only the One we run to when we are broken, but also the One we should remember when our hearts are at peace.
May Allah not make us among those who remember Him only in hardship and forget Him in ease. May He make us grateful in our blessings, patient in our trials, and sincere in our relationship with Him, in every season of our lives.
Ameen.