Is it Me or my Maker?

Many of us have been brought up in the modern era to believe we can do anything we want. Try and you will succeed. Perseverance is the key to success. All this is true; we achieve when we try and sometimes even with struggle. The genesis of this emotion may be that hackneyed yet wise saying we have known from childhood “Necessity is the mother of invention”. This is the way of the world. We get what we seek and we seek when our situation necessitates it in some way or the other. If we don't try we don't get it.

But what we seem to forget is that we get something because someone gives it. It can be a toy we wish for, good grades in exams, a job that we wanted, beautiful clothes, a virtuous spouse or wealth beyond our dreams are all given by someone. It may be a parent, the teacher, the shop merchant, the willing parents of the spouse, or even the stock market. There is always a giver. But as we revel in the joy of our achievement our shortsightedness keeps us tethered at best to the causes mired in the mundane only. Our thoughts cannot move beyond to know that everything is related to everything else. At the worldly level we have the idea of ecology and the environmentalist quip that “ the flutter of a butterfly in Rio affects the weather in China”. We must know that this chain of events carries even further - to our Maker. This is the ultimate source that guides this whole string of causes. For many of us Allah seems so remote because our mind is set in this world mostly and correctly so, given our human foibles. This is our primeval plight. But it's our destiny to move from the primeval being to the lofty heights of spiritual enlightenment. Everyone of us human beings has the potential to rise to these heights but we have also been given the choice to do as we please; but not without consequences. Even our worldly systems so remind us to not trespass the bounds of law and when we do, we do have to pay. Allah's judgment is ever more fair and just beyond our imagination. That assurance is there; no bias or favour beyond what is deserved.

It's a blessing for us then to be aware of this final link that the giver is indeed Allah. He is not remote as we may think in our state of ignorance. He is close at hand and ready to listen to our asking and to help us in anything we ask for. Ask and you will be given. It's not the Universe itself that is working to give it to us but it's the universe with the permission of Allah that fulfils our supplications; it is that organising power that is behind the workings of the Universe. When we understand, believe and accept this truth in our heart and then ask Allah, our lives will change and joy will prevail.