Inspiration

Big Decisions and Istikhara

There will be certain times throughout your life where you will have to make a big decision; usually something that will determine your future. From deciding which college and what career to go into after high school, making a decision about marriage, making a decision about where to live, and so on and so forth. There can also be big decisions when it comes to your spirituality, such as deciding to start wearing the hijab or to pursue a path of Islamic knowledge. Essentially, big life decisions are inevitable, so there must be a way to decide with less worry and stress, and make the decision process easy on us.

Islam, as it always does, has a solution to this; Salatul Isktikhara. Praying two rakats of this prayer and then saying a special supplication afterwards is what will ease our worries. The beauty of this supplication is that we essentially leave the decision up to Allah (SWT). As we believe that He is The All-Knowing, we should believe that the decision He makes for us is the best decision. After keeping this as your mindset, you will feel a sense of peace as you feel your worries slowly dissipate. This concept of placing our trust in Allah (ie: having tawakkul) is what will reassure us when it comes to our decisions.

Who is better than Allah to make a decision for us? So the best thing you can do is to turn to Him and Him alone, for life decisions, and for anything else, of course. Just understand that your affairs are safe with Him and that nothing can go wrong when you have the support of Allah (SWT). The Prophet (SAW) used to teach his companions to seek counsel from Allah for any matter just like he (SAW) used to teach them the Quran. There is a hadith narrated by Jabir bin Abdullah (R.) regarding this, where the Prophet (SAW) teaches the duaa for istikhara (Sahih Bukhari 1166). So, never believe that Allah cannot take care of your affairs. He can, and so tawakkul is necessary for this. Trust in the decision of Allah and you will never be displeased!

Change: To Fear or to Embrace?

I once read somewhere that “Not all storms come to disrupt your life, some come to clear your path”. When I read this, it reminded me of the idea of change. Change can be such a turbulent thing for many people, and is not always desired. However, the quote is hinting at something important - which is that change can be good. In the end it may just be able to focus your mind, clear your heart, and set you in the right direction to help you avoid obstacles. Whether it be a tiny change, such as getting a new bookbag for school, to a huge change, such as going off to college, new experiences can help in developing one’s spiritual and mental health. Some people are great with change, because they may have a higher level of curiosity and level of capability to deal with it. However, there are also many that hate the absolute thought of it, and are more inclined to experiencing stability.

Nevertheless, the real question is if one should fear change, or embrace it, because life does inevitably keep changing. One way to look at it is the idea that new experiences (meaning bad and good) lead to more knowledge about different situations and things. For example, you may experience the betrayal of a friend, who suddenly acts like a stranger to you the next day. From this experience, you will learn to be careful about company/those around you and may also realize the pain of betrayal. On a higher scale of self-reflection, the pain of betrayal may lead to one understanding the pain and making a resolution to not do that to anyone else. Another example could be going to college. The experience of finding your passion and going off to college is a journey within itself, and opens your horizons to thoughts such as “what you want to be” or “what you want to contribute to the world”. These kinds of changes help in opening one’s mind.

One really good way from an Islamic perspective on dealing with change is the idea of “Qadr”. “Qadr” is an Arabic word that roughly translates to “destiny”. The idea of “accepting” what comes of your destiny is a true blessing, and is a great help in this matter. If one learns to accept whatever Allah (SWT) has destined for them, life begins to ease, and the fear of change does not jut its way into our minds as much as it usually does. Knowing that whatever change has happened, whether good or bad, is from Allah, and that Allah is the best of planners, is a great way to soothe the heart in regards to this matter. So instead of “fearing” change, learn to slowly embrace it, one step at a time. And, when worried or nervous about a situation, remember Sayyiduna Umar Ibn al-Khattab’s quote: “No amount of worrying can change the future. Go easy on yourself, for the outcome of all affairs is determined by Allah’s decree. If something is meant to go elsewhere, it will never come your way, but if it is yours by destiny, from you it cannot flee.”. Most importantly remember the most beautiful supplication, “Hasbunallahu Wa Ni'mal Wakeel” which means “Sufficient for us is Allah, and He is the best Disposer of affairs”. Another thing that we can keep in mind to soothe the worries of the future is the fact that duaa can soften Qadr- as the Prophet (SAW) said in two different narrations: "Dua meets the calamity that has been decreed and wrestles with it until the Day of Resurrection." (Tabarani) and "Nothing can change the divine decree except dua." (Ahmad). So, if one calls upon Allah with an intense amount of love and power, He may lighten something hard that is in his Qadr.

And so, in the end, as it has been hinted through both through Western and Islamic perspectives, is that there is nothing wrong with embracing change, no matter how big or small. There is no reason to fear it. Again, as a reminder, Allah promised us- we should not be afraid as our destinies are in His hands. New experiences and situations are there to increase you in knowledge and beautify one’s character and morals. What better is there to continuously increase in knowledge and perfect one’s character? What is better than Allah Himself handling your affairs?

Awareness to Bring Ascension

“We must close our eyes and invoke a new manner of seeing, a wakefulness that is the birthright of us all, though few put it to use.” In this quote, Plotinus, a Greek philosopher, speaks about unlocking a new part of the mind: awareness. Many Greek philosophers spoke about awareness due to its incredible impact on the brain and heart. Awareness can be something small such as "I want a cookie", or it can be something large like understanding one's divine purpose on Earth. It is the core of improvement, humanity, and the universe itself, because it governs all noble affairs of the soul.

Improvement is only achieved through self-awareness, which is achieved through conscious unlearning and reconstructing. Unlearning is to recognize and discard negative tendencies or beliefs that were adopted over the course of one's life. An example of unlearning is someone being called too opinionated, and forcing themselves to not acknowledge their own thoughts.

They could start writing three small things on their mind at the end of each day in order to bring all aspects of their soul to light. Reconstructing is replacing the emotion these negative tendencies provided with something constructive. The person in the example was given a sense of control over their personality, so to feel in control they could pick up a new hobby to expand on their personality. This would make them feel in control of the way they speak, and it could end up being a positive thing, stretching into other aspects of their life.

Humanity is built on improvement. If humans stayed with their heads and hearts low, they would have never fallen in love with the planets and tried to reach them with paper, machinery, and charts. Their hearts are now filled with oceans of passion. This was brought about through self-awareness: the determining characteristic between humans and other species. Rather than having to constantly worry about survival, humans have unlocked medicine, architecture, and literature.

In fact, with intentions, a person's entire life can be improved through self-awareness. Since it starts with the heart, spreads to the tongue, then fuels the limbs, awareness covers a wide range of change as long as the right intentions are there. Drinking another glass of water each day isn't noteworthy in itself, but if it's done in the sake of health, it creates new and nurturing thoughts. When small acts like this are accumulated, a person's life can change; when multiple people's lives change, the world changes. In this ayah, Allah (SWT) tells Muslims that understanding themselves leads to understanding their external truths: “And in your own souls (too); will you not then see?” (51:21). This means that with introspection comes understanding, and understanding changes everything.

Self-awareness improves the very universe through its wonders. It improves individuals through unlearning and reconstructing; it builds civilizations and philosophies; it shakes worlds and breaks barriers. It is endorsed by philosophy, sensibility, and Islam. Most importantly, it lives in a part of the soul that begs to be acknowledged. In it, oceans of truth flow free.