The Internet Islamic Art Database | Library of Islamic Art and Quotes | Page 83

“So often we think that Allah only tests us with hardships, but this isn’t true. Allah also tests with ease. He tests us with na`im (blessings) and with the things we love, and it is often in these tests that so many of us fail. We fail because when Allah gives us these blessings, we unwittingly turn them into false idols in the heart.

“Love isn't supposed to torment you. If it does, there's probably something wrong.

“One teardrop that falls from the eye of a believer out of love and fear for Him is better than this world and everything it contains.

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

“What if Your blessings come through raindrops, what if Your healing comes through tears, what if 1000 sleepless nights are what it takes to know You are near?

“What if trials of this life, the rain, the storms, the hardest nights, are Your mercies in disguise?

“What if my greatest disappointments, or the aching of this life is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy?

“Today was a day of tears. The pain reminds this heart that this is not, this is not our home. It's not our home.

“Perhaps this trial won't end until you learn the lesson it was sent to teach you.

“We usually think that ease prepares us for hardship. But I think sometimes hardship prepares us for ease. Because ease is often the hardest test.

“When those deserving of Paradise would enter Paradise, the Blessed and the Exalted would ask: Do you wish Me to give you anything more? They would say: Hast Thou not brightened our faces? Hast Thou not made us enter Paradise and saved us from Fire? He would lift the veil, and of things given to them nothing would be dearer to them than the sight of their Lord, the Mighty and the Glorious.

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

“It will keep hurting you, until you let go and there remains nothing in the heart but Him. Once that happens you will no longer love for your own sake. Everything you want, love, or hate will be for, through and by Him.

“Ironically, the less we chase after the approval and love of the people, the more we gain it. The less needy we are of others, the more people are drawn to us and seek our company. ... Only by breaking out of the orbit of the creation, can we succeed with both God and people.

“But the more I fear the people, the more I become enslaved. True freedom only comes when I let go of the fear of anything and anyone other than God.

“Riyaa is a consequence of living in the orbit of the creation. The deeper and deeper I enter into that orbit, the more I become consumed with gaining human praise, approval and recognition. The more I enter that orbit, the more I fear loss—loss of face, loss of status, loss of praise, loss of approval.

“The goal of this life is to realize the Truth of God’s greatness and my own insignificance and need before Him. The goal is to take myself out of the center and put Him there instead.

“Break in the hands of God, He'll unbreak you. Break in the hands of people, you'll remain forever broken. Break to no one, your heart will remain hard.

“The dunya (that great job, certain type of spouse, having a child, school, career, etc) is our end and *Allah* is the means that we use to get there. We use that means, through making du`a’, to achieve our end (whatever it is that we’re making du`a’ for), and then get disappointed when our means (Allah) didn’t come through for us. We throw our hands up in the air and say our du`a’ are not being answered. Our means just isn’t coming through for us!

But, Allah isn’t a means. He is the end. The ultimate objective of even du`a’ itself is to build our connection to Allah. Through du`a’ we become closer to Him.

“True or pure love should never contradict or compete with one’s love for Allah. It should strengthen it. That is why true love is only possible within the boundaries of what Allah has made permissible. Outside of that, it is nothing more than hawa, to which we either submit or reject. We are either slaves to Allah, or slaves to our hawa. It cannot be both.

“Real love brings about calm—not inner torment. True love allows you to be at peace with yourself and with God. That is why Allah says: “that you may dwell in tranquility.” Hawa is the opposite. Hawa will make you miserable. And just like a drug, you will crave it always, but never be satisfied. You will chase it to your own detriment, but never reach it. And though you submit your whole self to it, it will never bring you happiness.

“Real love, as Allah intended it, is not a sickness or an addiction. It is affection and mercy. Allah says in His book: “And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquility in them; and He placed between you affection and mercy. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought.” (30: 21)

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