Perseverance

Bismillah

Lately, I am reminded of the amazing gifts that often come with staying the course, persevering and showing up again and again.

I am reminded of the way Allah Azza Wajal blessed this amazing woman, believer, mother and wife of a prophet, Hajar Radhiyallahu anha. Hajar, was left alone with her baby in the desert. Her husband, prophet Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam brought her and her son all the way to this place in the desert and left them as per the command of Allah Azza Wajal.

I am amazed at the amount of faith she had in the face of this tremendous trial maa shaa Allah. She could have sat down and cried to death literally . She could have used her precious energy to complain and lament and grieve. Alhamdulillah she did not and in that is a great lesson for us.

She knew Allah Azza Wajal was in control so she used her energy to run between Safa and Marwaa seeking help, seeking a solution as she heard her baby cry. She did not give up after the first run, nor after the second run, nor the third. She kept at it until the seventh run, the seventh run sisters! Seven times going back and forth, striving for help, for a solution, seven times of not quitting. Her perseverance paid off! Perseverance in the path of Allah always pays off!

She heard a voice telling her to tap the earth and from that Allah Azza Wajal made the zam zam water spring out.

What amazing gifts came as a result of her perseverance in the path of Allah! We are still benefiting from these gifts! Millions of people are still drinking zam zam water and retracing her steps between Safa and Marwa as part of their worship. SubhannAllah.

I think about that and ask myself what would I have done, were I in Hajar ‘s shoes?

We can learn so much from Hajar, Umm Ismail, (RadhiyAllahu anha,) and from the way she was honored and blessed.

We may not be stranded in a desert currently with a baby looking for water or help, however, we are all facing situations at one point or another where we don’t seem to see a way out.

How persevering are we during these situations? Are we ready to get up, work and show up again and again until Allah Azza Wajal’s gifts descend on us?

Our efforts sisters, is what we are being tested on? That striving in the path of Allah, that perseverance, that grit for His pleasure alone until our very last breath.

The fact is that we are all making efforts anyway, the issue here is are we making these efforts in the path of Allah Azza Wajal?

We are getting up to study, go to work, striving to get the best deals, staying up all night watching this or that, cooking for hours, exercising for hours, socializing for hours. Everything that we do requires some type of effort from us. How beautiful it is when these efforts are done to please Allah Azza Wajal, when our being is attached to seeking His pleasure!

In suratul Layl, Allah Azza Wajal says that our efforts are diverse. As Sa’di states:

Surely your striving is for diverse ends,” this is the point of the oaths: man, you are responsible for your deeds, your efforts are greatly disparate because of the huge differences in your actual works, the amount of them, the energy expended in doing them, the desire to perform them, and in their goals: are they for eternal face of Allah, the Most-High, or are they for some temporal objective soon to disappear? If it is the first case, the deed will endure forever but if it is the second case the deed would come to an end as soon as the goal is reached. This holds true for every deed that is done for other than the face of Allah.

The believers’ efforts are in the path of Allah as per this passage in suratul As Saff (11).

تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَتُجَاهِدُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ بِأَمْوَالِكُمْ وَأَنفُسِكُمْ ذَٰلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ

That you believe in Allah and His Messenger (Salallahu Alayhi Wa salaam), and that you strive hard and fight in the Cause of Allah with your wealth and your lives, that will be better for you, if you but know!

With efforts and perseverance come the gifts of Allah Azza Wajal in this world and the next. The best gift being the one in Jannah in which the believers will look back and reflect on their efforts, their perseverance and be pleased with it all.

Imagine meeting Hajar in Jannah and seeing so many people telling her how they had to retrace her steps in Hajj, how amazing zam zam water tasted and how she taught them the value of effort and reliance on Allah. What a gift, what a blessing!

May Allah grant us this meeting in Jannah. Allahumma Aameen! In the meantime sister, focus on the hidden gifts of the trials as you ‘fall’ and stand back up…. yet again. You got this bi idhnillah 🙂