Rosina-Fawzia Al-Rawi - The call of ALLAH

“[But] it may well be that God will bring about [mutual] affection between you [O believers] and some of those whom you [now] face as enemies: […].” (60:7)

It is not easy for the ego, nafs, to know that everything which comes is bound to go, to experience transience and the absence of permanence. Indeed, the nafs longs for stability and security, constancy, it loves planning and anticipating and believes that this will secure it protection and a better future.

Yet the soul knows: “All that lives on earth or in the heavens is bound to pass away.” (55:26), and it also knows: “But forever will abide thy Sustainer’s Self, full of majesty and glory.” (55:27)

Our beloved Prophet always advised us to base our inner attitude on a balanced, middle path.

To have patience in God is faithfulness. He gives us patience and helps us remain true to ourselves through the mountains and the valleys of life, in the deep wells of loneliness and in the changing winds of doubts and fears.

“[…] And unto everyone who is conscious of God, He [always] grants a way out [of unhappiness], and provides for him in a manner beyond all expectation; and for everyone who places his trust in God, He [alone] is enough. Verily, God always attains to His purpose: [and] indeed, unto everything has God appointed its [term and] measure.” (65:2-3).”

Once we begin to understand and to feel that Allah only ever wants the best for us, we can muster a confident, hopeful patience which leads us to gratefulness.

Then the bitter and the sweet, the heavy and the light, separation and union all turn into states that I can hold out lovingly to Him, in the knowledge that He loves me.

Patience is the daughter of gentleness. The gentler the heart, the greater the patience. God’s patience manifests through the guidance He offers us time and time again despite our constant disobedience.

Al-Amin said, “He who remains patient, Allah will bestow patience upon him. Nobody is ever granted a better or more far-reaching gift than patience.” 17

Patiently and creatively, help bring the energy of love to this earth! Then we can restore the harmony which has been disrupted by our materialism and our greed.

O ALLAH, OFTENTIMES HAVE I BEEN VERY ANGRY AND IMPATIENT, PLEASE GRANT

ME PATIENCE AND HELP ME MASTER MY ANGER

FOR YOUR SAKE.

Fasting forces us to face our weaknesses, to fight the seductive voices of temptation and our addiction to this world. The Ramadan asceticism helps us weaken the hold of our ego, thus strengthening our willpower, as well as the aim of our existence and the path of our soul.

Have patience, ṣabr!

“And seek aid in steadfast patience and prayer: and this, indeed, is a

hard thing for all but the humble in spirit ,” (2:45)

PRACTICE SUGGESTED FOR TODAY

Yā Ṣabūr

Stay today with the Divine Name Aṣ-Ṣabūr.

Whenever you tense up, become impatient or irritated, whenever things do not go the way you would like them to, repeat Yā Ṣabūr.

Clad yourself with the mantle of beauty, woven from patience and confidence.

May this Name take you out of the exile of the nafs and lead you to the home of your soul.

DID YOU KNOW…

Yā ṣabr Ayyub!

O (grant me) Ayyub’s patience!

In the Qur’an, the Prophet Ayyub (Job), peace be with him, embodies the highest virtue of patience in the face of adversity. He lived in Syria with his wife and was a very prosperous man who treated his fellow human beings kindly and generously. His wife too was a good-hearted, grateful woman.

Then his destiny took a heavy turn. All his children, indeed his entire family, with the exception of his wife, perished, he lost all his possessions and became seriously ill. The disease struck all parts of his body, except his heart and his tongue with which he went on praising and patiently worshipping Allah. People withdrew from him so that only his wife remained by his side. She fed them both by serving in different households. The more trials and trouble Allah sent him, the more he remained in praising and thanking: “ […] verily, We found him full of patience in adversity: how excellent a servant [of Ours], who, behold, would always turn to Us! ” (38:44). This difficult period lasted 18 years, during which his wife faithfully supported him and stood by his side.

After all this suffering, Ayyub turned to Allah and asked Him to free him from this heavy load: “Affliction has befallen me: but Thou art the most merciful of the merciful!” (21:83).

Allah yielded to his supplication and spoke: “[…] “Strike [the ground] with thy foot: here is cool water to wash with and to drink! ” (38:42)

Ayyub drank of the water, he was healed and Allah granted him children and possessions again, in even greater measure than he had previously had.

6 thday of Ramadan

DU‘ Ā`

SUPPLICATIONS

“ And if My servants ask thee about Me – behold, I am near; I respond to the call of him who calls, whenever he calls unto Me: let them, then, respond unto Me, and believe in Me, so that they might follow the right way.” (2:186)

Allah is Al-Mujīb, the One who responds, the One who answers, the One who reciprocates. The great master Al-Ghazālī (1055-1111) explains this Name as “the One who hurries to hear the requests of His creatures ere they have formed.”

Know in your heart that your pleas are heard and that this happens at the right moment and in the way which is right for you. Have trust, patience and perseverance, for nothing can happen until the right moment has come for you.

We sometimes pray and supplicate for something passionately, and something else happens. God always answers, but the answer may not be the one we expect and still it will contain the message we sent in our prayer.

God knows no limits and we are creatures of limitation. This is precisely our role and our most precious gift: we can hold out to God our neediness, our dependence and our need for support. We can present Him with our deepest needs, in full trust and devotion, knowing that the answer they contain will always be the best and most valuable one.

Some believers say that they should never entreat God for anything. Others say, “Why should I force a seemingly insignificant matter on God?” And then there are those who say that God is omniscient and omnipotent: “He already knows what I want, so if He does not fulfil my wish, there must be a reason for that which I do not know.”

To turn pleadingly to Allah means to invite the Divine light into the dark, confused spheres of our ego, so that we may be surrounded by light and come to know what we are actually asking for. This is how we begin to see the answers which have always been there.

Our supplicating and praying makes us into that which we are meant to become and opens us to the Divine. When we cross the space between the isolated I and the Divine – and this we human beings can only do by opening our heart – answer and plea come to meet.