Overcoming the seemingly impossible

And we all know this one ayah that pops up in our news feed every once in a while. The ayah that is supposed to help our situation.

 

وَاسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلَاةِ

“And seek help through patience and prayer…” Suratul Baqarah, ayah 45

 

I don’t know about you but I definitely didn’t use to be able to make sense of this ayah. Like how can I have sabr when that is the exact thing I’m lacking? How can that 5 minute prayer possibly help my situation? These are some questions that came to my mind whenever I came across this ayah.

 

What I didn’t know was that that part wasn’t the whole ayah. And I didn’t know that the answer to my doubt was in the last part of the ayah and the next ayah. Allah says:

 

وَاسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلَاةِ ۚ وَإِنَّهَا لَكَبِيرَةٌ إِلَّا عَلَى الْخَاشِعِينَ

 

Which means seek help through patience and prayer, and indeed it is difficult EXCEPT, for the khaashi’oon. So this means seeking help through sabr and salah will be difficult for us if we aren’t from the khaashi’oon. Who are Khaashi’oon? They are the people who experience a fear when they pray. The kind of fear that makes them feel that their muscles have gone numb.

 

Now you might wonder, why must we feel this kind of fear when we pray in order for us to seek help from it? There are a number of reasons. One of the reasons is a word that we frequently use in our prayer. The word ‘Rabb’. You know like, ‘Alhamdhulillahi RABBil ‘aalameen’, RABBanaa lakal hamdh, Subhaana RABBiyal ‘adheem etc….The word ‘Rabb’ has a lot of meanings. But it is mainly used in the meaning of master. And a master will necessarily have slaves under him that fully submit to his orders without any complaints. So when we call Allah our Rabb, our Master, it necessarily means that we are His slaves. This means we definitely have some orders that we need to submit to. And just like a slave back in the day will be asked about what he did with the orders, we are going to be asked about what we were ordered to do by our Master. And the way we stand in salaah before our Master, is just like the way we will be standing on the Day we will be questioned. We are humbled before our Master in our salaah, with our eyes low, not making a single unnecessary movement, not saying any word except that our Master pleases, just like it will be on that Day. And Subhaanallah its beautiful that the very next ayah says:

الَّذِينَ يَظُنُّونَ أَنَّهُم مُّلَاقُو رَبِّهِمْ وَأَنَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ

“Those who are certain that they will meet their Master, and that they will return to Him.” Suratul Baqarah, ayah 46

 

Now think, if we are certain that we will be meeting our Master, and we are reminded of that meeting every single time we make salaah, won’t that impact our personality? Won’t it change the way we spend our time? Wont we become more serious about the obligations and responsibilities that we have? Won’t those rusty intentions get sincere again knowing that you have something bigger to prepare for? Won’t the pain from a loss feel insignificant knowing that this world is not going to last anyway? Subhaanallah!

 

Now you might tell me that you can’t even bring yourself to pray. How then are you going to get help? Well that’s where sabr comes into play. Sabr doesn’t just mean staying patient when a calamity hits you. It also means staying consistent with following what our Master commanded us to do. Staying away from sins when we have the power to do them is also sabr. So its going to be difficult. You might not feel anything in your prayer and you might think that your prayer is not worth for you to get help. But always remember that our Master is not like any other master. Our Master is One Who Appreciates. And it might be because of those prayers that you prayed, going against your will, forcing your self to sacrifice the time and effort into the prayer, that will strengthen your iman like never before.

 

May Allah make us from the khaashi’oon and make us of those who are qualified to seek help through sabr and salaah! Ameen!