Numerous choices are looming.
حسبنا الله و نعم الوكيل
God is sufficient for us and the best to act on our behalf
There is no way my mind can encompass all the myriad factors relevant to these choices. Past, present and future are lumped together, and I know next to nothing about them all. Better to let the All-Knowing (العليم) lead me.
The other day a friend gave me a dhikr to read, and said I would see the Prophet in my sleep.
صل الله عليه و آله و سلم
blessings and peace be upon him and his family
But I did not. I cannot describe the anticipation I felt lying in bed, and the concomitant disappoint when I awoke. I tried it two nights in a row. But it does not change my reliance (توكل) on Allah. Whether I am given access to the unseen or not does not absolve me of the moral responsibility (تكليف) to do my best. I have to choose – that is what religion is (دين).
I choose that which is best for my child in this world and the next. I choose that which will bring me closer to the pleasure (رضوان) of Allah. I choose that which is most beneficial for humanity, animals, the trees, the water, and the soil. I choose that which will express my gratitude (شكر) to the Creator for the miracle of existence.
The most striking thing I have read in the last few months comes from a commentary on the last 30th of the Qur’an by Shaykh Habib al-Kadhimi.
A person does not need, in order to realize the magnitude of Allah’s generosity, to travel to faraway lands or plumb the depths of their soul. It is sufficient that they consider the contents of their body, especially those incredible signs that Allah has deposited in their heads (“two eyes”) and their wonders. Not only are they organs of perception, but they are also a medium through which we can convey feelings and emotions, or even spiritual influence; “a tongue” that serves amazing purposes, whether in chewing, speaking, or swallowing; “two lips” that are essential for speech, for they are the final instrument for forming sounds after the throat and mouth cavity. It should be obvious that the act of speaking with one’s tongue and lips is one of the most complex processes in existence, as it involves taking thought, which exists beyond the senses, and expressing it in a sensible format. It is through these two processes of thought and expression that all forms of human learning and knowledge are ultimately transmitted. (pp. 188-9)
The fact of the matter is that our own existence is a miracle. Everything else is just details. Whether I am writing something profound or stupid is not nearly as amazing as the fact that I am writing at all. That I am this thing with 10 fingers and ideas in my head and feelings in my heart that manifest as squiggly lines on the computer screen in front of my eyes. And that somewhere out there is another thing with 10 fingers and two eyes who can hear in their head what I am thinking right now as I write this and they read this!
The Qur’an further elaborates this existential truth when it states:
أ أنتم أشد خلقاً أم السماء
Are you more difficult to create or the heavens?!
Just look around you. We are on a planet floating in space around a massive ball of fire surrounded by innumerable other realms.
Work may cause you to forget it. Family life may cause you to forget it. The particularities of religion may even cause you to forget it. But it is the clear and present truth of existence.
يا حي يا قيوم
O Living! O Self-Subsisting!
And so I am grateful. I am grateful that I am. I am grateful that the Giver of Life (المحي) gave me life. I am grateful that I am surrounded by other beings who have been granted life and that we can communicate with each other. I am grateful that I exist. I am grateful that you exist.
And so I will choose. Imperfect me will choose the best I know how. I have been down this road before.
But there is something different now in this season of choosing – I have been blessed to learn some of the words of the Ahl al-Bayt, upon them peace. Words I didn’t know before when I made important choices about family and career.
لو عرفوا الناس محاسن كلامنا لآتبعونا
If humanity knew the beauty of our words, they would follow us
We are a people of words: Divine Speech, Prophetic Words, and the Wisdom of Wilayah. Without those words, how could I know myself? It is the beauty of those words that make me burn inside with yearning to see those who utter them. It is words that changed my life. And so I close with some of those words, trusting in theirs more than my own.
O God,
I ask from You the best in Your knowledge,
so bless Muhammad and his Household
and decree for me the best!
Inspire us with knowledge to chose the best
and make that a means to being pleased with what You have decreed for us
and submitting to what You have decided!
Banish from us the doubt of misgiving
and confirm us with the certainty of the sincere!
Visit us not with incapacity to know what You have chosen,
lest we despise Your measuring out,
dislike the place of Your good pleasure,
and incline toward that which is further from good outcome
and nearer to the opposite of well-being!
Make us love what we dislike in Your decree
and make easy for us what we find difficult in Your decision!
Inspire us to yield to that which You bring upon us by Your will,
lest we love the delay of what You have hastened
and the hastening of what You have delayed,
dislike what You love,
and choose what You dislike!
Seal us with that which is most praised in outcome
and most generous in issue!
Surely You give generous gain,
bestow the immense,
do what You will,
and You are powerful over everything.
A Mercy Case 