New Literature for a New Era

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God: Our Only Refuge

All this leads me to my fourth comment or observation on Soorah Al-Hadeed.

(D)  God is our only hope and refuge. There simply is no running away from him.

…Laa Malja-a Minallahi Illaa Ilaih

(Soorah Taubah).

Which in paraphrase means:

There is no refuge from God but in him (9:118).

Or,

There is no escape from God but to him (9:118).

That means total control with regard to everything being in God’s hands at all times, and loss and gain both being completely from God, it is to him that people must turn.

That means we need to be, at all times and in everything, fully accepting of God’s decisions, even as we strive mightily and tirelessly to do our best in every situation.

Beyond that, we need to go even further and train ourselves to actually rejoice in his decisions – no matter what they are.

That means we need to learn to live in him and through him. And we need to be of him and by him.

We need to learn to grieve, whenever sorrow and pain overtake us, in his presence, before him. We need to train ourselves to show our pain and hurt to him and only him.

So also must we train ourselves to continually beg him for mercy and forgiveness.

We need to teach ourselves to turn to him every time we are in trouble and let him take that pain away – and let him heal us, and console and comfort us, and make us whole.

For, only he can do it.

No one else can.

So, it is all a matter of our training and conditioning ourselves into this new culture of putting our faith, trust and hope in Allah the Almighty – and in him alone.

It is a matter of our teaching ourselves some new skills and habits of mind, body and spirit.

That means we train ourselves to fear nothing and no one but him, just as we train ourselves not to expect or hope for anything from anyone but him.

It is all a matter of training and conditioning.

(32)

Conquering Fear and Grief

So how do we really conquer fear and grief?

Ultimately, it is all a matter of believing in certain things and then living by the implications of that belief.

It is a matter of creating a new culture of fearlessness – a new culture of hope, trust, faith, belief and confidence in God Almighty.

And, through him, in ourselves.

It is a question of creating a new mindset, a new psychological and spiritual outlook.

That new mindset will help us to conquer all fear and grief and sorrow.

The body will still be prone to physical pain, affliction, hurt, injury and suffering as per the law of nature. That is the nature of what I earlier called the human condition.

But the mind and the spirit will no longer be in bondage. They will have conquered all unreasonable fear, grief and sorrow.

While the body will still be subject to the force of gravitation and thus mostly earthbound, the mind and the spirit will soar beyond the skies.

Sorrow and grief (Huzn) about losses and painful experiences perceived to have been suffered in the past – losses and experiences whose memory your brain relives and rehearses forever – will take a backseat to your being able to put things in some kind of a healthier perspective.

Fear (Khawf) and despair about losses and painful experiences and outcomes in future, under the shadow of which your brain holds your night and day prisoner, will give place to hope, confidence, courage, vigor and a budding determination.

You will learn to see, beyond the stream of immediate worldly events, the true unfolding of the supreme divine will.

You will be able to see behind human and other actors of this world the hand of God – the true and only actor.

Thus, no matter what the event, and no matter what the outcome, you will know and you will see how God Almighty is working his will in the universe – and in your own life.

When you reach that stage of self-training, self-discipline and self-realization, you will give thanks when good things happen to you.

You will also learn to act with patience and fortitude when bad things happen to you.

In either situation, your focus will be on pleasing your master and submitting to him – and not on complaining to the rest of the world about him.

That is why we are taught that when bad things happen to us, we should still say – along with all the other things that teach us how to seek refuge in Allah’s mercy and beg for his help: Alhamdu Lillahi Ala Kulli Haal – I praise Allah under all circumstances!

What a glorious, fear-and-grief-free, fail-safe attitude is this!

(E) This is liberation – real and true.

This is true liberation of the soul and the mind and the spirit.

It is liberation from fear, from grief and from all other negative and oppressive feelings and emotions that torment so many people so often and hold humanity in thrall.

As I said earlier, the human body, as per the laws of creation, will still remain subject to the functioning of the forces that operate in the universe – such as injury, illness or death.

But the human mind and spirit would have been unbound and set free to soar beyond the stars.

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