ESCAPISM

A Revert’s Tale

I met a woman from England some years ago, and this is the retelling of her story – her Islamic coming of age:

“Before I embraced Islam, I was always worried. I feared about what would happen tomorrow. Once I embraced Islam, I understood the meaning of who I am – a slave of the Creator, and the Creator has promised to take me in His care.

One day, I was sitting alone in the park, and I looked to the sky. A big bird was flapping its wings for a while, and then it rested its wings and was gliding. I looked to the bird and wondered what made it soar in the air? It was its complete trust and reliance. It was flying without effort.

I felt ashamed. This bird has the trust and reliance, and can stay in the air, not being afraid to fall to the ground. Whereas here I am on the ground, with all the bounty of the Creator with me, and I fear and worry about falling down. I fear my tomorrow.

I started crying and said, ‘Oh Allah, make me trust you and rely on you like the bird does.’

From this moment, my life became filled with tranquillity, peace and happiness. I used to eat myself alive with worry. May Allah forgive me, how could I have feared the future when I am with Allah?”

I am where I should be

Escapism is a false solution, a waste of resources and is not a cure for our failures.

Once a situation arises, we should face it with prayers and connect our hearts to Almighty Allah. We should believe that He will take care about us and guide us. Whatever happens, no matter how ugly, sad or fearful, we need to immerse ourselves with the belief that it is the best for us.

Almighty Allah says: ” …it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you and that you like a thing that is bad for you. Allah knows but you do not know.” (Al Qur’an 2:216)

This is what He wants from us – unconditional conviction that we are safe in His hands. Allah wants our absolute trust to relinquish our life affairs to Him, and the unqualified belief that He can give us guidance wisdom, the ability to handle and rise above the calamities, and that He can even change the condition.

Escaping is not an option for a believer. Neither are the associated emotions, such as denial, doubt, stress, despair or misery. All these negative connotations are from Shaitan and lead to the poverty and weakening of the soul.

Allah is constantly checking our purity and sincerity to Him by testing us. When we are faced with a trial, we are supposed to survive it. If we are steadfast to Allah, despite the shifting sands, Allah will grant us victory. On the flipside, when we run away from a trial, Allah will place us under a heavier trial than the one we were escaping from.

If we understand the nature of our Lord, all our problems are immaterial. There is no problem! All these calamities, examination and trials are only for our own good. Faith in our Lord is what gives us the steadfastness to weather the storm. This is what gives us the strength to stay and confront the issues instead of denying and running away from them.

If we forget the essence and the meaning of our relationship with the Creator, we will feel lost and need to find the escape route. If we establish a firm relationship with Allah, escape is not necessary, because we know that we were meant to undergo this situation and that we are exactly where we were meant to be.

Allah the Almighty will never take from us except to give us. Our problem today is that we only perceive things from a dunia perspective. Values are calculated on absolute terms – material for material. Whereas from a Muslim viewpoint, while Allah can take away possessions or loved ones and place us under difficult conditions, He can also swap those losses with guidance, forgiveness, light, wisdom and elevation in this life and the hereafter – gifts which are infinitely more precious.

The ultimate success is to leave this life and migrate to our final resting place in Paradise. None of us have permanent residence on this earth. The wild card we possess is life itself, with its unpredictability, twists and turns and random ending. Even death is one of the transitions – the beginning of another cycle before we enter our final phase in the hereafter.

The reality is not whether we are happy with our spouse, or we have financial problems, or that our beauty is fading away. The reality is that the clock is ticking, and soon our cycle on this life will end to make way for a new phase.

Once we are living the journey of faith with our Lord, all our daily difficulties diminish. They take lesser priority relative to our goal in life and in the grand scheme of things. When put in its correct perspective, our problems are so insignificant. A Muslim’s eyes are constantly on a higher goal. One of my teachers told me that it is in aiming for the stars that we reach the mountain top. It is in striving for jannah that we can rise above our issues.

Instead of running and hiding, face your future, because if Allah is with you, your future is very bright indeed!