A story of hope vs desperation

Sometimes, life brings us to a point of utter desperation, when every thing seems to be going wrong. It is not only a perception but Murphy's law becomes a reality. I read about it in "Peer-e-Kamil" as well when Salaar Sikander was completely and truly humiliated, frustrated and desperate when he asked Allah for mercy. I have seen it in real life many times. I know well enough that such times are tests, severe in intensity, hard to bear but they inevitably end and happier times follow. In fact, the happiness that follows is much bigger in intensity. I know all this and it's a very strange feeling; this knowledge that whatever is happening is due to a reason and is a test, not a punishment, not an aazmaish. I find solace in the Quranic verse "Verily, after hardship is relief". I know that Allah takes great tests of the people He loves; the stronger the faith, the greater the trial. I know precisely the bigger reason of such instances: God testing our faith and increasing it; looking at our patience and seeing if we complain or accept. Still, sometimes despite all such knowledge, it becomes hard to bear and desperation sets in and starts killing hope.
Losing hope is one of the worst things that can happen to human beings. It takes every thing away with it and everything appears bleak. What I love about Islam is its inherent message of hope, always hoping for Allah's mercy, always asking for His forgiveness, always thinking that He knows us and looks inside our hearts. I have a firm belief that Allah never turns away one who seeks Him and asks Him. I firmly believe in a God that loves. Allah's mercy overpowers His anger and in times of hopelessness when nothing makes sense, this makes perfect sense to me. I feel Him looking into my heart and overpowering me with His mercy.
We, humans, have ups and downs, passions and failures and a life that is not always fair. I have stopped wondering long ago about the apparent inequality of hardships borne by good and not so good people. I have long accepted that sometimes, it is better to let go and not try to understand. One day, it all makes sense. Allah jo chahta hai, us me raazi ho jana chahiye, is me bara sukh hai. It is not giving up; it is just putting down our burden and giving it up to God.I have long since learnt that the road to achieving Deen lies through terrible hardships and there is just no shortcut. The best way to is through it. Pain and suffering have the ability of bringing out the best in us. Like a washing machine wrings and spins clothes, hardships shuffle us and clean us through and through, provided we look at it this way.
I find no other way of looking at it. This is the only perceptive that offers hope and redemption. True, it is hard but when did calm seas ever make skilled sailors?
So, keeping my faith and love for Allah in my heart, I walk with closed eyes on a path full of stones, believing that I will come out in light sooner or later.

Faroha Liaqat
http://avoiceforislam.blogspot.com

The road ahead

Sometimes I wonder why temptations come in the way exactly at the moments when one has to make the toughest decisions. Why is it so that when one wants to finally break away from the past and make a new beginning, when one has gathered the courage to take the first stride and when it's time to start, a temptation that's hard to resist beckons you and makes you drag your feet; you would love to give up resisting, to turn back to something you've always wanted and yet.............Is this the trial, the "azmaish"?
It's hard to view life from a logical perspective in every respect. Sometimes logic fails and one is helpless, unable to understand, unable to make head or tail of your life. I once read in a book that at such moments when one feels lost, it is best to give up trying to make a sense out of things and accept life as it is, though acceptance is hard to come  by. After all, we are not in the driving seats. I am fatalist when I say that we are all prisoners of fate at sometime or other in our lives. I remember Hazrat Ali when a man asked him how much control we have over our fate and Ali asked him to stand on one leg, which he did. But when Ali asked him to take both his legs off the ground, he was helpless. The answer was: this is the extent up to which you can master your fate.
So, it's better sometimes to give up, to accept that perhaps fate might be too much for you. But at other instants, it's better to fight your way to put the first step on the long, narrow, hard road that leads to God. The demons may call you back, the temptations may hold your feet, but fight and God will give you the strength to master your fate. Whom God beckons, nothing can stop.

Faroha Liaqat

Is life fair?

Sometimes I wonder if there is any retribution in life, if there is any concept of ethics and morality still left or are such things just fancy thoughts and behavior only found in books. Is there any justice? As one sees around, many examples present themselves about life being unfair and one wonders what's the use of behaving well if all it comes to is heartburn and anguish?
But as life progresses, we see that though life may be unfair, God isn't. If one dearly loved thing is taken from us, we are blessed with another. We just fail to connect the dots but as we look back, we see that the entire picture was always taking shape for our good. These are not mere high-sounding words or idealistic thinking. This turns out to be absolutely true. I refuse to agree with people who say there is no fairness in life. There is, though life does not offer itself to us in the way we expect it to. It takes a different turn and brings us unexpectedly to a place where God makes us see how HE has given us back what HE took from us, in a much better way.
Though there is heartburn at present, there may be satisfaction in future. This is the way I choose to look at things because, otherwise, there's nothing but gloomy thoughts to entertain. I firmly believe in thsi worse of the Holy Quran " Hal Jaza-ul Ehsan-e- ill-al ehsan".....A good deed is returned by a good deed only.
I know the right path is hard to follow but it is this narrow gate that leads to fulfillment and peace.

A message of hate rather than love?

I fail to understand one thing. Wherever we look these days, people are fonder of giving vent to expressions of hate ,rather than love. This is specially true of the so called religious leaders, who are, sadly, very unreligious in this respect. The point is, what are we coming to? Why have we forgotten the beautiful gestures of Prophet Muhammad and the Caliphs and all the good Muslims before us? Why do we and the West of course remember all the brutality and cruelty that has been carried out in the name of Islam? Isn't struggle against your own "nafs" the better jihad?

The only sliver lining is the recent awakening in the youth. Our youth is being attracted more towards religion, but I fear we are being divided in to two classes. One, a strict narrow-sighted mullah and the other a religious but moderate youth. Its a battle between the two and I hope, for all our sakes, that the spirit of Islam wins and not mere ritual?

P.S I feel more and more why there are so few soothing voices from India and Pakistan after the Mumbai blasts and why the stage is dominated by the war-mongerers? WE surely love more to hateather than to love!