Do we know what’s good for us? A true story was told by DR. Bilal Philliphs

Do we know what’s good for us?

A true story was told by DR. Bilal Philliphs

.........In
one of his articles, Dr. Bilal Philips (a well known Islamic scholar)
narrates a story that involves tragedy, drama, and joy. The story is
about an Egyptian teacher whose photograph appeared in a local
newspaper. The picture showed his smiling and happy face with his hands
stretched out and both thumbs sticking up; his father was kissing him on
one cheek and his sister on the other cheek.

The newspaper
narrated his story about working as a teacher in Bahrain. After a brief
visit back home in Egypt, he was returning to join work and thus taking a
flight from Cairo to Bahrain.

However, at the airport he wasn’t
allowed to get on the flight because he had one “stamp” missing on his
Pmindport. This made the teacher distraught, thinking that his career was
over because this flight was the last one back to Bahrain which would
have enabled him to report back on time, missing which also meant that
he would lose his job. He thus became quite frantic, but his endless
crying, screaming, and explanations to the airport staff could not get
him on the plane. His family comforted him to accept Allah’s decree.

Disappointed,
he returned home only to learn a few hours later that the flight he was
meant to take (Gulf Air flight GF072) crashed killing everyone on
board.

While feeling sad for the pmindengers onboard, he along
with his family thanked Allah for His decree. The day he thought was the
most tragic day of his career and life, ended up to be the happiest one
averting a tragedy for him and his family.

We are reminded of
such signs in Surah al-Kahf, a surah that Muslims are instructed by the
prophet (sallalahu alayhi wa sallam) to read every Friday.

In it is the story of Prophet Musa (alayhi wa sallam) and Khidr.

Khidr
bore a hole in the boat of the people who took him and Musa across the
river. This made Musa question (and object) to such an action as the
owners of the boat were quiet poor and obviously weren’t happy to what
was done to their boat. However, as it became apparent later, an
oppressor King came down to the river and forcefully took away all the
boats except the one with a hole in it. So the owners of the boat
praised Allah due to the fact that there was a hole in their boat.

We
learn from this story that in times of distress or when we desire
something badly, we shouldn’t always mindume what’s good for us and
what’s not because Allah may have decreed a different outcome. As Allah
says in the Quran (part of the verse):

“….and it may be that you
dislike a thing which is good for you and that you like a thing which is
bad for you. Allah knows but you do not know.” (Quran Al-Baqarah:216)

When
struck by an affliction therefore, we have to be patient and in control
of oneself. That is possible when we elevate ourselves to a high enough
spiritual level where our Iman (faith) in Allah can help us ride the
wave.

We can also stay in control by not losing our sense of
reasoning that can help us provide better perspective of the situation.
ibn al-qayyim (rahimuallah) said, “patience can be defined as a manner
of spiritual superiority by virtue of which we refrain ourselves from
doing evil. it is also a faculty of the intellect that enables us to
live properly in this world.” Qatada said, “Allah has created angels
having reason but with no desires, animals have desires and no reason,
and man has both reason and desires. Therefore, if one’s reason is
stronger than his desires, he is like an angel. On the other hand, if
his desires are stronger, he is like an animal.” (ibn Al-Qayyim – “The
Way to Patience and Gratitude.”)

The take away lesson for us is
that we can improve the quality of our lives by making an effort to
train ourselves to be patient, i.e. to elevate our levels of faith and
to understand the dynamics that reasoning plays in staying patient.

As the prophet (sallalahu alayhi wa sallam) mentioned in a hadith,

“……..whoever strives to be patient, Allah will make him patient” (Al-Bukhari).”

May Allah make us amongsth those who are patience ameen

» My Way To Islam by Bilal Philips
» Judgement Day - Heaven & Hell - Bilal Philips
» ** just a story مجرد قصه **
» الكتاب: True Repentance - التوبة النصوح
» الكتاب: The Ideal Muslim - The True Islamic Personality as Defined in The Qur'an & Sunnah - شخصية المسلم