theservantsscript - Tumblr blog

[theservantsscript]

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ ٱعْبُدُوا۟ رَبَّكُمُ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَكُمْ وَٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ . ٱلَّذِى جَعَلَ لَكُمُ ٱلْأَرْضَ فِرَٰشًۭا وَٱلسَّمَآءَ بِنَآءًۭ وَأَنزَلَ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ مَآءًۭ فَأَخْرَجَ بِهِۦ مِنَ ٱلثَّمَرَٰتِ رِزْقًۭا لَّكُمْ ۖ فَلَا تَجْعَلُوا۟ لِلَّهِ أَندَادًۭا وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ

O mankind, worship your Lord, who created you and those before you, that you may become righteous. [He] who made for you the earth a bed [spread out] and the sky a ceiling and sent down from the sky, rain and brought forth thereby fruits as provision for you. So do not attribute to Allah equals while you know [that there is nothing similar to Him].

(Al Baqarah, 21-22)

[theservantsscript]

It's a shame that we submit ourselves to Allah swt the most in the bad times when we're suddenly faced with a seemingly impossible trial. When in fact, we wouldn't experience the good either if it wasn't for the will of Allah.

So say Alhamdulillah no matter the circumstance

[theservantsscript]

It is reported in al-Musnad, on the authority of Anas, that the Prophet (pbuh) said:

"The faith of a servant is not put right until his heart is put right, and his heart is not put right until his tongue is put right."

THE PURIFICATION OF THE SOUL

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إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتِ إِنَّا لَا نُضِيعُ أَجْرَ مَنْ أَحْسَنَ عَمَلًا

Indeed, those who have believed and done righteous deeds - indeed, We will not allow to be lost the reward of any who did well in deeds.

[Al-Kahf 18:30]

(english - sahih international)

[theservantsscript]

A small portion of two verses from the Quran that I always write in the beginning of the week in my planner are:

‎وَٱللَّهُ خَيْرُ ٱلْمَـٰكِرِينَ (1)

"And Allah is the best of planners," (Surah Anfal, Verse 30)

‎(2) لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ

"And if you are grateful, I will certainly give you more," (Surah Ibrahim, Verse 7)

I'm a very schedule oriented person, hence why I love using planners. I like to know what I'm going to be doing throughout the day. But sometimes, things don't work out or go the way you plan. So, having these verses in front of me every time I open my planner for the week, to either check something off or cross something out because I couldn't get to it, reminds me that we plan and Allah plans, but Allah is the best of planners. And to always be grateful despite the circumstances of what is and what isn't. Along with having trust in Allah, believing His promises is also part of it. Allah says that the more grateful you are, the more He will increase you. We shouldn't just be grateful for what we already have, but also for what we don't have or what doesn't work out for us.

[theservantsscript]

Ya Allah, please let me be ready to receive what I prayed for

[theservantsscript]

Just remember that everything in our lives on this earth is temporary, the good and the bad

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وَٱضْرِبْ لَهُم مَّثَلَ ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا كَمَآءٍ أَنزَلْنَٰهُ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ فَٱخْتَلَطَ بِهِۦ نَبَاتُ ٱلْأَرْضِ فَأَصْبَحَ هَشِيمًا تَذْرُوهُ ٱلرِّيَٰحُۗ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ مُّقْتَدِرًا

And present to them the example of the life of this world, [its being] like rain which We send down from the sky, and the vegetation of the earth mingles with it and [then] it becomes dry remnants, scattered by the winds. And Allāh is ever, over all things, Perfect in Ability.

[Al-Kahf 18:45]

english- sahih international

[theservantsscript]

The Prophet ﷺ was asked about fasting on the day of 'Arafah (9th of Dhu'I-Hijja), whereupon he said: It expiates the sins of the preceding year and the coming year.

Sahih Muslim 1162

[theservantsscript]

توكل (Tawakkul)

This is my first short story, on tawakkul- trust and reliance on Allah swt

‘Shall we say next Wednesday, then?’ 

The class groans in response to Miss Swanson. Scheduling a test right after the Easter holidays is just cruel, Nadia thinks, but her English teacher is already scribbling a note down in her planner, confirming that there will indeed be a full hour of stress right here in this classroom next week. Following the teacher’s cue, everyone in the room opens up their planners to mark the date. Nadia dispiritedly does the same, before dropping her books and pencil case into her worn bag.

It wouldn’t have been so bad if they had been told before the holidays that they had a test coming up; at least then there would have been a chance to revise. But there’s no way Nadia can get anything done with everything she has going on this week, leaving her just Monday and Tuesday evening before the test. Under normal circumstances, two days would be more than sufficient. But lately, she’s been finding it harder and harder to keep up with all her schoolwork. Her mocks in December hadn’t gone very well, even though she’d put in a little more effort for them this year, and whilst she’d mostly managed to scrape satisfactory marks, she’d completely messed up on a few subjects. She still can’t manage to look her History teacher in the eye after he’d pulled her aside to express his concern over her exam score.

English was Nadia’s last period today, and as she leaves the school building she’s hit with the strong rays of the afternoon sun, coaxing her to set her bag down and take off her blazer. She pulls off her jumper beneath the jacket and crams it into her bag, before wrapping the blazer around herself again. It’s not quite warm enough yet, she thinks. She pulls down the fabric of her hijab a little over her chest before readjusting her backpack onto her shoulders. 

The sunshine has consistently been a fail-proof source of serotonin for Nadia, but she’s much too aware of the downsides that have been coming with it around this time of year. Two weeks off from school have meant holidays abroad for her friends and classmates, picnics in parks and a break from everything stressful, whereas Nadia’s experience was far from relaxing. In fact, she feels a little resentful towards the girls at school talking about what they did over the last two weeks when she’s mostly been stuck indoors tutoring as many primary schoolers as she can before her end-of-year exams start, in an effort to not lose out on any income. 

Nadia’s parents are completely stretched thin at this point. She feels awful opening the fridge and seeing all the cheaper, close-to-expiry food that they've been stuck buying for the last few years because of their situation. Trying her best to contribute, she usually finds herself in the supermarket after school. Milk, bread and eggs are all things paid out of Nadia’s pocket now. At first, her mum was completely against it, telling Nadia her earnings should be her savings and things weren't so bad yet that her daughter needed to start paying for their family groceries. But Nadia was insistent on doing so. Besides, who knew, if things really did get that bad, if she would even be able to contribute at all. No one has any idea about the future. It was best she do something while she could. Tutoring was a good job, she was comfortable with it now that she’d been doing it for two years, plus it didn’t require her having to go out. She felt she had been blessed that she hadn’t had to put too much effort into finding students either. It seemed they came to her. Allah swt had given her more than other girls her age, in many ways. 

At the self-checkout, Nadia carefully places a carton of eggs inside a shopping bag as well as a loaf of bread from the ‘reduced’ aisle. She’ll put it in the freezer when she gets home. At this time, the store is packed with kids buying drinks and snacks. She clutches her bag closer, cautiously manoeuvring around a group of rowdy boys. Nadia can’t remember the last time she spent money on snacks. 

Though as she leaves the shop and starts back home, she wonders more positively about her situation. She realises that many of the kids in the store were likely using their parents' money, while she was proud to be somewhat self-sufficient at her age. And her situation had really taught her how important it is to not be wasteful. She knew that Allah was with her no matter what, through every struggle. And she knew that if she remained patient and trusted Him, there was no way she would be abandoned by Him. Aside from her falling grades, her family’s worrying finances and her growing responsibilities, she had to remember that she had been blessed with people around her who loved her and Allah had kept them going for two years. Surely He would keep them going for more. With His help, she could get everything done, she just had to play her part by putting her best effort into everything that she did. 

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وَمَنْ يَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللَّهِ فَهُوَ حَسْبُهُ

‘And whoever puts their trust in Allah, he [alone] is sufficient for them’ 

- (At-Talaq : 3)