Assalamu Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu everyone!
Finally, I decided to end the impossibly long blog hiatus. I'm so sorry for not updating the blog since July last year. I've been procrastinating for such a long time and just when I wanted to start blogging again, I had to go through one of the most personally trying times of my life.
2016 started off as a tough year for me. My parents are MashaAllah, very healthy and particularly my father. He rarely ever sees the doctor and when he got hospitalized, it was so difficult for my family. My mother got hospitalized and released from the hospital just days before my father got hospitalized and with both of them at the hospital, I was so emotionally drained. Personally, I've been having some anxiety issues and I've had to take medication. It actually comes a strange thing because I used to not be the type of person who gets anxious easily... Anyway, through all this, you wouldn't believe how miraculous Dhikr has been. One of my favourite verses from the Quran has been:
"Unquestionably, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest"
And honestly, I didn't know how true it has been until my heart actually did find rest in the Quran. Alhamdulillah, I have been listening to the Tafseer of the Quran online and it has been a wonderful journey which I'm sure is only going to be greater as I keep learning. As a born Muslim, I did know the Quran is the word of Allah and I'm sure a lot of us just accept that without actually trying to find out why it's the Word of Allah and what makes it so miraculous. After studying the Tafseer, it's amazing to understand just how profound a single letter in the Quran is and trust me when I say this: the translation of the Quran can never do justice to the beauty of the language in the Quran. Please start studying the Tafseer of the Quran and I promise, it will add so much of value to your life.
Coming back to personal issues, one verse that has now become one of my favourite verses is:
And to Allah belongs the east and the west. So wherever you [might] turn, there is the Face of Allah. Indeed, Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing. Al Quran 2;115
The reason why this is one of the most precious verses in the Quran for me is because when you ponder over it, you come to realize that if the east and the west belongs to Allah and if He can take care of it all, then surely, nothing that we want can be too much for Allah to answer. And surely, our problems cannot be greater than the East and the West and Allah, being the All-Encompassing and the All-Knowing, knows me, knows what I want and knows how to answer my Duaas. Alhamdulillah!
We search for so much of inspiration from so many other sources but the inspiration you are looking for is in the Quran. Study it and that will be enough for you to get through with you life.
Through all the problems that we face in life, just remember that Allah will never test us with more than what we can bear.
"Allah does not burden a soul beyond that it can bear" Al Quran
If Allah has put you through some difficulty, know that He can also bring you out of that difficulty and it's not difficult for Him to do so. Call upon Allah by His grandest names Al-Hayy (The Ever-Living) and Al-Qayyum (The One who establishes everything) and He will never disappoint you. Learn the Ayatul Kursi as well and the inspiration we can find it in is absolutely mind-blowing!
Even in the darkest of nights, when there is no one to listen to your worries, Al-Hayy is always there to listen to you. If you feel like everything is collapsing right beneath your feet, know that Al-Qayyum, the one who has established, establishes and will establish everything there is, can certainly make your situation good as well. To Allah belongs everything that is in the heavens and everything in the earth, and we cannot even imagine the scope of that, and if He does not tire in looking after all of it, what makes you think Allah will tire of your Duaas? If nothing escapes the knowledge of Allah, if He hears the black ant crawling under a black rock in the blackest of nights, what make you think He is not aware of your situation? People may not understand you, but Allah does so don't ever feel shy to talk to Him, pour your heart out to Him and ask Him.
This year has been difficult for me, but Alhamdulillah, Allah got me through the problems and now, I'm eagerly waiting for the ease after the difficulty. This is something He has promised in the Quran and I know it is around the corner, In sha Allah :)
You may be going through something difficult in your life as well and it's ok to break down. In fact, do break down in front of Allah, ask Him for help and it will comes in ways that you can never expect. Know your Allah and know that He is a Lord that never fails to respond. And be at peace and wait for that relief that Allah has promised. It might not come immediately, but it will definitely come. Allah knows the best way, best time and best place to grant that relief to you.
Do remember me in your Duaas and Jazakallah khair for the emails and Duaas. If it wasn't for those, I probably would never have come out of my hiatus!
