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2. KEEP PRAYING SINCERELY A Pakistani surgeon, Dr. Ihsan, went to the airport to attend a world seminar on medicine to present his paper and explain his biggest discovery in the field of medicine. The plane he was taking was already one hour in the air when suddenly something was wrong with it and its pilot had to take an emergency landing at the nearest airport. As it would take about sixteen hours to repair the damage of the plane, and by then it would be too late for him to attend the seminar to fly with it. He was so specialised his field, and his discovery would have saved life in every minute. So, he asked the employee of the airport how long it would take to reach his destination by car. He was told that it would take about three hours. So, he rented a car and there he went. While he was driving for about five minutes the weather suddenly changed. It started to become cloudy, then it rained and thundered, but he kept driving. After about two hours driving he became tired, apparently he also lost his way. He saw a small house where he could rest, ask direction and hire a telephone. But the host, an old woman was so poor, that she did not have even electricity, let alone a telephone. She entertained her guest with food and tea. She was a pious woman, and after she prayed she made her supplication (du’a) for her grand child who was beside her. She had been generous and liked to help needy people. She said that only one of her du’as which had not yet been answered by Allah. She heard that her grandchild needed a surgeon, and there was only one surgeon who could treat the child with his new discovery, but she could not afford to take him the hospital. She prayed that Allah would solve this problem. She wept of joy when Dr. Ihsan told her that her supplication had been answered, as he was the surgeon meant by her. Instead of going to the surgeon, the surgeon himself came to him. This is one of many examples of how Allah answered our supplication. For Allah it is more important to visit the sick child than attending the seminar which was so important for the surgeon,
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where he could present his new discovery in medicine. “Misfortune” befell him one after the other: the plane he was flying with had to take emergency landing. He could not wait until the damage of the plain was repaired which took about sixteen hours. Because of bad weather the car he rented led him to the house of the old women who had prayed for his assistance. Many things happened to us and to people around us which looked bad, but there is wisdom behind each of them. There is always something called “Allah’s wisdom” behind anything happens to us. : صّلا ى اُ َعَلْيِه َوَسلَّم ٍ، صَهْي ُ َعْن َ ا ِ َقلاَل َرُسوُل: َقلاَل، ب َ َ ْ ْ َ ّ ّ ، ٍد إِل لِلُم ْؤِمِن، ك ِلَح َ س ذكا َ َوَلْي، إِّن أْمَرُه ُكلُه َخْيٌر، ”َعَجًبلا ِلَْمِر كالُم ْؤِمِن ، ضّركاُء َ صلاَبْتُه َ َ َوإِْن أ، َفَكلاَن َخْيًركا َلُه، صلاَبْتُه َسّركاُء َشَكَر َ َإِْن أ (صَبَر َفَكلاَن َخْيًركا َلُه “)رواه مسلم وابن حبان َ It was narrated by Ṣuhayb r.a.who said that the Messenger of Allah s.a.w. said: “How amazing is the condition of a Muslim, that all his cases are good, and this would not happen to anybody except to the believer: if happiness (prosperity) befalls him, he thanks (Allah),and it is good for him; and if adversity befalls him he becomes patient, and it is (also) good for him.” (Reported by Muslim and Ibn Ḥibbān) The well-known American writer Dale Carnegie said in his book entitled How to Stop Worrying and Start Living that he saw the Bedouins when something bad happened to them they said maktūb (“it has been written”). Therefore they had no worry and did not feel bad and blame anybody for what had happened. On the contrary, people who have pessimistic attitude in life see everything in a negative way. It is like wearing a pair of pink glasses, where there is always pinkness in everything. In one of Shakespeare’s plays, Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, considered not only the palace he was living in to be a prison, but the whole country, Denmark. He said: "there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking
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makes it so." So, it is our attitude and thinking that make a situation good or bad. ا َ ا ِ ّ َعْن َرُسوِل، َعْن أَِب ي ُهَرْيَرَة َ ّ أَّن: َقلاَل، صّلا ى اُ َعَلْيِه َوَسلَّم 1
َوإِْن، إِْن َظّن ِب ي َخْيًركا َفَلُه، "أََنلا ِعْنَد َظ ِّن َعْبِد ي ِب ي: َعّز َوَجّل َقلاَل )َظّن َش ًّركا َفَلُه" )رواه أحمد و ابن حبان
Abū Hurayrah r.a. narrated that the Messenger of Allah s.a.w. said: “Allah the Almighty said: “I am with the thinking of My servant of Me; if he thinks of Me good, then it will be so for him; and if he thinks of Me bad, then it will be so for him (too).” (Reported by Aḥmad and Ibn Ḥibbān) Therefore, we Muslims are supposed to be away from worry and stress, let alone of having mental breakdown, since we have good faith with our Creator, Allah the Almighty. The Egyptian sufi Ibn ‘Aṭā’ Allāh al-Skandarī, said in his Wisdom no. 6 in his book entitled al-Ḥikam (Wise Sayings), as follows: موجبلا ليأسك- َل َيُكْن َتَأخر أمد كالعطلاء مع كاللحلاح ف ي كالدعلاء، فهو ضِمَن لك كالجلابة فيملا يختلاره لك ل فيملا تختلار لنفسك ل ف ي كالوقت كالذ ي تريد، وف ي كالوقت كالذ ي يريد Do not let the delay of the answer of what you are fervently asking for make you despair. He has guaranteed an answer to your prayers in those things He chooses for you, not in those things that you choose for yourself, and at the time He wants, not at the time you want. In other words, Allah guarantees that He will accept our prayer (dua) with His choice, either all of them, or half of them, or with something else as substitute,(such us protecting us from any harm or disaster), and not with our choice. The time of His acceptance is also up to Him; it could be tomorrow, next year, or even in the next life,
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Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2
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the Hereafter. We leave it to Him, for He knows exactly what is good for us. However, there are some conditions to be fulfilled for the answer of our dua: sincerity in our dua, not asking bad things, such as sins and cutting family relationship, being patient in waiting for the answer, and avoiding sin. The Prophet s.a.w. mentioned the case of a person who prayed to Allah, but his food was ḥarām and his clothing was ḥarām so that his prayer would not be answered. (CIVIC, 23 January, 2015) كالمركاجع: كالمكتبة كالشلاملة الحكم.إبن عطلاء ا كالسكندر ي Dale Carnegie. How to Stop Worrying and Start Living William Shakespeare. Hamlet.