What Hope Looks Like

Do you know what hope in Allāh looks like?

Do you know what hope that Allāh will give you the very best of His bounties which your heart pines for, even though realistically and rationally speaking the mere thought, let alone an actual possibility, is too far-fetched, looks like?

This:

Prophet Zakarīyā had reached old age and his wife was barren, yet this did not deter him from asking Allāh to enrich him from Allāh’s bounties in the form of a righteous child. He made a duʿāʾ of a person not asking out of protocol but asking with completely certainty that not only will it be heard but that it will be answered.

But wait there is more. He asked for a righteous child not for personal gains, not just because he knew a righteous child will bring coolness to his eyes and carry his lineage. But he asked for something that would eventually bring victory to Allāh’s religion. He asked for something that would be a means of closeness to Allāh for him.

[This is] a mention of the mercy of your Lord to His servant Zechariah.

When he called to his Lord a private supplication.

He said, “My Lord, indeed my bones have weakened, and my head has filled with white, and never have I been in my supplication to You, my Lord, unhappy.

And indeed, I fear the successors after me, and my wife has been barren, so give me from Yourself an heir

Who will inherit me and inherit from the family of Jacob. And make him, my Lord, pleasing [to You].” – Maryam:2-6

Many of us are attached to ideas, dreams and hopes, without ever considering these ideas, dreams and hopes in relation to our Greater Purpose. How will these ideas, dreams and hopes enable us to serve our religion better, how will they bring us closer to Allāh, closer to Jannah..?

#ShiftYoParadigm: When you plan and dream and ask — make sure you do so not just for your personal betterment but for the betterment of this dīn.

Our pious predecessors had lofty levels of īmān. Īmān was rooted in their heritage; īmān ran through their veins. It was this īmān that directed and guided their thought processes and decision making.

As a result, they would not carry out any task or approach any project except after ensuring what they were about to get involved in would pay back in benefits and khair towards Islām and the Muslims.

This mentality will help you detach from dreams that are fuelled by mere desires of your nafs which might not necessarily be good for you, to dreams with a much grander potential.

And remember: anything or anyone that does not bring you closer to Allāh or His Book is eventually leading you to your destruction.

Wait, there is still more.

Do you know what the epitome of loyalty looks like?

This: Prophet Zakarīyā stayed with his wife – he did not leave her nor replace her, even though she could not provide him with a child that he so wanted. (She eventually did of course, Allāh had decreed it so.)

Perhaps at the core of it all, this is what makes a relationship tick, and last: Sincere love fillāh, loving-supporting-honouring them even when they have nothing more to offer. Yā Allāh.

ربي إني متفائل بعطائك، فأعطني ما تمنيت

My Lord, I am [forever] optimistic in Your Giving, so give me what my heart yearns for.