بِسْم الله الرحمن الرحيم
لا حول ولا قوة الا بالله
Allah is Al Lateef (The Most Gentle). When we sit to reflect and appreciate our journey of guidance, we see how gently and subtly He takes us from one stage to another throughout our lives. Yet just as some stars shine brighter than others in the sky, some moments of guidance shine brighter to show us more from His Beauty and Perfection.
Alhamdulillah, Allah gave me a good life. After getting older, I appreciate more what our parents and grandparents did for us. More than the matters of livelihood and day to day essential matters, they made sure that our prayer and religion was not neglected.
Everything Allah takes us through is ultimately to lead us to Him. Though the foundation of religion was there in my life, how I truly began living with Him was through a series of incidents that may not seem ‘good’ on the outside, but now I know that there was so much good in everything that happened.
After living a very happy, stable life with my family came a temporary stage of darkness. Though now I see it as temporary, at that time all I felt was despair to the extent that I had even tried to end my life. I had loved someone so much for me to say - ‘don’t take me away from you, I will die’. The reality is that my real life started when he was not in my life anymore.
Just as laa ilaaha illa Allah is to first negate any other ilaah before affirming Allah as the Only One, some parts of our lives are to extract and remove anything or anyone who we unknowingly give a position in our hearts that they are not worthy of. Now I know there is no pain in true love. Allah taught me this, through His knowledge and by giving me companions who love each other for Him.
Allah took me out from a life of pain and sadness to contentment and happiness. This journey does not stop till we meet Him and He is constantly taking us out from darkness to light. It is not random that we ask Him for guidance in every prayer. As everyday and every moment we are in need of Him in both big matters and small.
Even today I wasn’t sure of what to write or how to write my story of guidance, but still wanted to write something to appreciate Him. Then Allah took me through a very simple incident to show me how valuable His guidance is.
I was dropping my daughter to school in the morning. We reached a few minutes early and were sitting and talking when she told me that the kid in the car next to us was new and had joined in the second term. I saw both of her kids enter the school but then the younger one came back to hug the mother. She was standing there and looked concerned and it reminded me of the first day when my daughter had joined school. I’m not someone to go up to strangers but when the mother came next to my car to get into her car, instinctively I pulled the window down and started to speak to her. I gave her the parents WhatsApp groups and she was so happy.
After she left I felt like the whole incident was only the guidance of Allah. How He made their car be parked next to ours, how my daughter told me about the kid and how Allah made me see the worry on her face as her children left.
Truly there is no one like Allah.
Laa ilaaha illa Allah,
Muhammad Rasool Allah.