بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
In our shortsightedness, more often than not we failed to see the wisdom of what Allah sent to us especially when it is bad. Regardless whether we see the wisdom of what is happening in our lives or not, we should remember to thank Allah for everything and be patient. Much good will come out of it if we are thankful and patient. Just wait and see. There is definitely light at the end of the tunnel if we are patient to wait and see. In fact, this "bad" thing can be the best thing that could have ever happened to you. At the minimum, it makes you a stronger and better person and help you prepare for bigger challenges. When these challenges come our way, we should always try to remember that Allah does not burden a soul more than it can bear. This will give us the strength to bear them even while we feel that we are breaking.
May Allah protect us from the trials of this life and the next and grant us from Himself mercy and prepare for us from our affair right guidance.
When I looked back to some of the difficult events in my life, I can only thank Allah for them. Had Allah not sent them my way and not help me went through them all, I would not have been able to do what I do today and I would not have found the happiness and the peace that I am enjoying now.
I had faced some major events in my life and there were moments in my life when I felt I was in a soap opera. There was one drama after another but alhamdulillah they are coming together for the better, inshaAllah.
Seven years ago my tire blew up in the middle of a freeway. So what? I am pretty sure many of you have had a flat before, so nothing new, nothing exciting. But this is not about a flat tire. This is one of my favorite events in my life that often brought me tears inside when I remembered it.
I used to have a 4-wheel drive Toyota SUV, a very reliable and comfortable automobile, the reason I bought it. I put a lot of miles on it from driving across country and going back and forth from San Diego and San Francisco for work. A few days before another of my scheduled trip to San Francisco, I decided to attend a lecture by an out of town al-Azhari Shaykh. It was quite early in the morning. Actually, I didn't plan to go to this event because I had much to prepare for the long trip, but I decided at the last minute to go anyway because I didn't want to miss his lectures, which rarely came to the area, and it would be a good opportunity for my children to be around the Shaykh again and other Muslims.
As I was driving, suddenly I heard an explosion and immediately I felt the SUV was tilting to the right. At the freeway speed I was driving, the SUV could have overturned, but it didn't for some reason. I realized then that I had a blown up tire. I tried to maneuver towards a safe side of the highway. I had to drive a little distance to find a safe spot to stop. It was a dangerous situation indeed. I didn't know the area that well. I was scared to say the least. Many thoughts ran through my mind. I never learned how to change tires and what spare tire I had, a donut they called it, was not really a good spare, and it was under inflated. So it could not have taken us very far. This happened on a weekend and it would be a miracle to find a tire shop nearby and if there was one it would be another miracle to find one that is opened that early. Anyway, I asked my kids to stay quiet in the SUV while I looked for help.
The person who Allah sent happened to know exactly where a nearby Toyota dealer was. And it happened to be off the the exit where I was standing but he was not sure if the service department was opened on weekends. I decided to take my SUV there anyway and would leave it there if it was closed and find a ride home. Since the dealer was close by, I wouldn't need a tow since I could drive the SUV with the donut tire slowly. That was good because it saved me some money. I was amazed when I saw that the service department was opened that Saturday. It could have been closed because it only opened every other Saturday.
Since it was a dealer I asked them to also perform a major service since I haven't had it done for a while because I had been super busy. This would require me to leave the car a whole day. It was just all perfect as I didn't have to wait because we would be at the Shaykh's lessons for a whole day. While I was trying to figure out how to get to the masjid, the service manager offered a free loaner car which he had discretion to give out to certain customers. We arrived at the masjid safely and even though we were late, we didn't miss anything because the Shaykh was delayed.
As it turned out, I need to replace the other 3 tires because they were bald from the inside, which can blow up at any time, and a major safety work was also needed. I wouldn't have known this in time for our road trip had it not been for that one blown up tire that caused me to go to the dealer for service. And there was a bonus as well -- the manager gave me a big discount on the major service which somewhat compensated for the cost of the 4 tires.
Was I lucky? No, there was no luck and there was no coincidence but there was Divine plan for my last minute decision to go to the Shaykh's lesson and the tire blew up. Every single detail in this event happened to accomplish Allah's Plan. It truly increased my certainty of the Divine plan.
Sometimes in the midst of certain unpleasant event, the emotions ran high and it could get the best out of you. But if we realize that it could have been worse, we have no other choice, except being thankful to the One who created everything. And if we also realize that He is in control of everything, then we will suddenly realize that it really doesn't matter what is happening--we just go with the flow, so to speak, and resolve the issue at hand the best we can. And we wait for what is next. Only Allah knows what is next. And that is what I understood, at the time, by being patient in the face of calamities. In my heart I couldn't stop thanking Allah for sending me one relief after another in one day, and protect us from serious calamities. There are more wisdoms, to this day, that Allah has shown me stemming from the event.
I had forgotten the details of the al-Azhari Shaykh's lecture, but I could not forget the one thing that the Shaykh did during a lunch break. He did a blood cupping (hijama) on one man. That was my first encounter of this Prophetic practice and found it fascinating. I came to Egypt, another continent, a few years later. I had a lingering health problem before I came to Egypt that I needed to take care but I am not a fan of pharmaceutical drugs. We happened to host a few al-Azhari students one day in my apartment when we just arrived, and I remembered the hijama by this Shaykh (who was an Egyptian) and I thought I should try it. So I asked my guests as they were leaving, if they knew anyone who could perform hijama. SubhanAllah, that person was standing right in front of me. She taught me how to perform the hijama so I could do it to myself regularly. This is another wisdom for my last minute decision to go to the Shaykh's lesson. Egypt was not in my mind for anything whatsoever at the time or before the incident, but Allah has it in His plan that my cure would come from the hijama in Egypt years in the future. Allah knows best. It is during my stay in Egypt that I learned of the various Prophetic medicine and started adopting it in our daily lives.
I cannot see everything in the Divine plan with the blown up tire and I will never see them all in this life. But it is not important. Our life is all in the Plan and we cannot beat that Plan for it is the best Plan. So we should operate with that certainty and from that certainty patience will come and with the patience Allah is with you for Allah is with the patient.
Allah cares about every single detail in our lives, even before we were born, and that means He loves us and cares about us. If someone cares about you, don't you love that person? Of course. So, we must love Allah and increase that love in our hearts through much remembrance of Him and do what pleases Him and don't do what displeases Him. There is nothing that happen in our lives is bad for us because it is coming from someone who loves us. We have to believe that. Allah loves the believers and we should love Him.
My kids and I could have been in a serious or fatal accident had the one tire didn't blow up that morning but Allah did not write that for us and He has a Plan. This event had changed the course I took for my family and have changed my life altogether. InshaAllah, you will have your own life event that will change your life for the better.
May Allah bless our lives and give us tawfiq to the highest station. Ameen.
Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakum Allahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
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