“And it is He who created the heavens and earth in truth. And the day He says, “Be,” and it is, His word is the truth. And His is the dominion [on] the Day the Horn is blown. [He is] Knower of the unseen and the witnessed; and He is the Wise, the Acquainted.”(6:73)

My brother was 7 years old and was learning a story in Hindi which contained some shirk about God. He began whining about how he doesn’t want to learn the lesson as it contained shirk. My mother supported him but I said to him “It’s okay to learn, we aren’t believing in it right so it’s fine as long as we know it’s wrong. And we want to get good marks and this chapter is probably the easiest.”

This happened every year as in Hindi the beliefs of non-Muslims are entwined in the education system. Marks mattered to me more than my brother’s iman back then, I valued grades. I wanted to be someone who could live well in life and not depend on the men folk as I thought there is no guarantee of them being there forever. I always thought life was about being successful; a bit of compromise in religion will get me success. But when I heard this ayah I knew “I was WRONG”. Allah is the creator of all that I know and not know and He can do anything, then do I have to make compromises with the religion He has sent down for me to follow? Do I need education to be successful; does my brother need those 5 marks to be successful in his school or elsewhere?  Allah hu Akbar neither you nor I need these compromises because Allah says:

“Call on Me; I will answer you.” (40:60)

“His command is only when He intends a thing that He says to it, “Be,” and it is.”(36:82)

“Say: He is able to send punishment upon you from above you or from beneath your feet, or to bewilder you with dissension and make you taste the tyranny one of another. See how We present the signs so that they may understand.” (6: 65)

The more I think about how wrong I was I feel the need of getting to know Allah more. This was me, a year ago but now I have realized how when we read the Quran and get to know Allah, the worldly matters are just play and deception. This ayah explains the Greatness of Allah and how Allah has created everything so we need to believe in Him that He will do the best for us. I have come to realise Allas is Ar-Razzaaq, The Provider, and no matter what, I will get what is decreed for me. We don’t need the people or any other thing to attain anything what Allah has written for us. We need to look at the signs and miracles of Allah and make our belief stronger in Him each passing minute. Allah has sent the Quran which is a miracle, the story of the Prophet is a miracle as to how an illiterate person spread the message of Islam by peaceful means, and also the fact that Allah has made me a breathing piece of flesh with so many complicated things inside me that Scientists have yet not discovered is yet another miracle. When we think about this, nothing is impossible for Allah to do. We just need to have a strong iman, conviction in Him and strive in worshipping Him alone.

Allah is All-wise and so He knows what is best for us and so has revealed Islam as the perfect way of life for us and if we start making compromises in that then surely we are the ones in loss. Allah says in the Quran:

“Those to whom We have given the Book recite it with its true recital. They [are the ones who] believe in it. And whoever disbelieves in it – it is they who are the losers.” (2:121)

Hence, this is one of my favorite verses from the Noble Quran. Lastly I would like to conclude that Allah is never blind to our tears, is never deaf to our prayer, and never silent to our pain. He sees, He hears, He is never too far…

May Allah make us closer to our deen and never let us make any compromises in it. Ameen.

By Fatima Damad