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Friday, July 6, 2001

The Rainbows in Our Lives

by Siddiqua Haswarey

Assalaamu-Alaikum wa Rahmatullaahi wa Barakaatuhu.

I saw a rainbow today, and it was one of the most beautiful sights that I have seen. SubhanAllah! We live our lives in the most precarious and hurried fashion, sometimes hardly turning our head to either side to notice what is really out there, calling out at us to see, to look at the blessings that Allah has blessed us with, all around us, even in those simple things that surround us, just like the beautiful rainbow that I saw.

It is easy to forget the everyday beauty and small happinesses around us. We tend to become preoccupied with our needs, or pressing concerns. But it is just as amazing how Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) reminds us again and again, showing us the little happinesses around us that make our lives more livable and enjoyable. It is also amazing how we overlook the many small blessings while we are crying out for more, ungrateful and complaining. For us Muslims, it's all the more sad. Being Muslims, we know and recognize Allah's creation and His might and can't just over look or forget them. We have to constantly be grateful to Him.

It's still worse when we not only forget about what we have but bemoan what we do not have. And if you think about it in depth, we are sad for no reason. We are so rich in the simple facts of being blessed to be Muslim, in believing in Allah, in striving each day to obey Him, in striving to be the best Muslims and Muslimahs and waiting for the day when we shall, InshaAllah, enter Jannah for eternity.

We all have personal difficulties, things that weigh us down, or issues that pull us to sadness but, isn't it interesting how we supplicate for Jannah, for being like Rasullallah (Sallallahu alaihi wa Sallam)…. supplications to be in his (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) companionship in the highest abode in Jannah, and yet when we are faced with a difficulty we get upset and become impatient. It doesn't make sense, because we asked for the best... and now when Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) grants us as we asked we don't want to go through with it. SubhanAllahi Atheem! Man is very hasty and impatient indeed. If I want Jannah, I have to realize that I will have to pay my due for it; I will have to be patient.

It was narrated by Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-'As (Radhi Allahu Anhu), that Allah's Messenger (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said, "Whoever has two characteristics will be recorded by Allah as grateful and showing endurance. He who regarding his religion considers his superior and emulates him, and regarding his worldly interests considers his inferior and praises Allah for the bounty He has bestowed on him, will be recorded by Allah as grateful and showing endurance. But he who regarding his religion considers his inferior, and regarding his worldly interests considers his superior and grieves over what has passed him by will not be recorded by Allah as grateful and showing endurance." (Tirmidhi transmitted it.)

The beautiful rainbow that I saw was just one of the things around me that my intellect and vision could perceive as beautiful. I know there are many more... around me, with me and waiting out there for me, InshaAllahu Ta'ala.

I pray you see rainbows just as I have and that you are blessed and loved by Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) and that He grants us the insight to see the little joys in our individual lives before looking on to the other side of the fence to what we think is the greener side. Allahumma Aameen.

Siddiqua Hassan Haswarey

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