Flickering Hope.

10. WITH Every Hardship

Allah (glorified is He) tells us in a very profound ayah (verse): “Verily with hardship comes ease.” (Qur’an, 94:5).

Growing up I think I understood this ayah wrongly.

I used to think it meant: after hardship comes ease. In other words, I thought life was made up of good times and bad times. After the bad times, come the good times. I thought this as if life was either all good or all bad. But that is not what the ayah is saying. The ayah is saying WITH hardship comes ease. The ease is at the same time as the hardship. This means that nothing in this life is ever all bad (or all good). In every bad situation we’re in, there is always something to be grateful for. With hardship, Allah also gives us the strength and patience to bear it. [Ustadha Yasmin Mogahed's Reclaim Your Heart]

We all have blessings. But the ability to recognize a blessing is in itself the biggest blessing. How can water quench you, if you can't drink? How can medicine cure you, if you never swallow? What is the benefit of a nutrient that never absorbed? Learn to see, recognize, and absorb the blessings already surrounding you, and you will become the most blessed. -Yasmin Mogahed

I

was supposed to put this piece up yesterday but I was searching for another write up of Ustadha Yasmin Mogahed on the same line, I've been searching for it on Instagram from yesterday and I couldn't find it and I did my thorough search only to not find it. I trust my memory it was the time when I started loving her write ups and it was faintly along the following lines.

Every single test is calling you towards a bigger purpose, when I say this I mean it. Whatever you're going through right now, there's a reason it is happening. Instead of focusing on the problem, try seeking the reason. Look out for it.

I've this moments always of finding up for things I'd read earlier and I ALHAMDULILLAH find it after hours and days but this is the first time I am not able to but Insha Allah I am hoping it will come to me for sure, cause this time I just don't want it for me. I want it for you.

Often, what makes us fall into despair is focusing on the wrong things...

For example, if we've sinned, we focus on the sin, rather than the Most Merciful.

If we're broken, we focus on the break, instead of Al Jabbar (the One who mends).

If we're in pain, we focus on the pain itself, instead of focusing on the One who removes all pain.

If we are wounded, we focus on the wound instead of focusing on the One who heals all wounds.

If we're scared, we focus on the fear, instead of focusing on the Protector.

And if we're facing a problem, we see the problem, but not the One who can solve it.

We see the lion, but not the lion tamer.

We see the imperfections this life, but not the perfection of Allah.

We see the immediate, but not the Tomorrow. The tree, but not the fruit. The thorn, but not the rose.

All our pain, all our despair, all our hopelessness, stems from looking at the creation, instead of the Creator.

So ask yourself: what is your heart looking at?

Yasmin Mogahed

Yes, you've hit the rock bottom. But you don't have to stay there.

"But, this dark place is not the end. Remember that the darkness of night precedes the dawn. And as long as your heart still beats, this is not the death of it. You don't have to die here. Sometimes, the ocean floor is only a stop on the journey. And it is when you are at this lowest point, that you are faced with a choice. You can stay there at the bottom, until you drown. Or you can gather pearls and rise back up stronger from the swim, and richer from the jewels." - Yasmin Mogahed, Reclaim Your Heart

Not all storms come to disrupt your life, some come to clear your path. – Anonymous

All of these write ups are the mentioned writer's works, I don't claim the copyright of any.