The Wrappings of Gratitude

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In the Name of Allah Most-Compassionate, Most-Merciful

In relation to the previous post about stress and anxiety, quite often this can be related to not understanding the feelings we are experiencing at any one time and not being able to associate those feelings with a cause. In other words, whilst it is true that specific events in our lives do cause us stress, it is also true that there isn’t any pain or anxiety experienced by a believer which is not intended as  source of guidance towards Allah. Fyodor Dostievski once said, “The origin of conscious is suffering”, which entirely reflects our understanding in Islam. That in every suffering there is reward and the greatest reward is to be directed towards Allah. Hence, for the greatest part suffering is a means by which we may begin to think about our condition, about who we are, about we are suffering and what has caused it. And more importantly it causes us to turn to Allah in order to allieviate the suffering. Hence, contained in the suffering is immense blessing and an opportunity to turn to our Lor, seek His guidance, help and aid. It is not an opportunity to turn down or imply seek to remove the suffering from us, but rather try to understand why Allah has placed us in that condition. Suffering is the beginning of the path to knowing Allah, it is the opening and unfolding of the heart, and the heart is the place of cognisance of Allah, about which a well-known Shaykh said something very beautiful and true:

The key to the knowledge Allah made available to man is embedded in OUR divine personality. Specifically, He has implanted in each person one of His divine attributes which is his key to opening his relationship with his Lord…….therefore whoever seeks to approach his Lord must know the attribute in himself, that is the key.

Mercy Oceans of The Heart – Shaykh Nazim the Cypriot.