By Abdullahi Jamaa
One of my neighbours is a COVID-19 survivor who spent two weeks in the hospital, spending a bill of two million shillings (USD 20,000). The family is still struggling to clear. This is a middle-class family that was able to run its affairs smoothly, yet it is now struggling with the reality of life.
It happened to just one member of that family and the bill was so huge. Thinking about their situation and how Allah (The Most High) protected the rest of the family who were all negative despite staying with the victim in the same house, the Corona pandemic is indeed a trial from Allah.
Just like this family, so many other households are seething in frustrations. The pain of the pandemic is having a profound impact on our life and livelihoods. Even if its cruelty subsides, the impact will last longer.
Indeed 2020 was a tough classroom and Corona was a powerful lesson. We have witnessed a lot in the past twelve months that devastated the socio-economic fabric of the global community. The year was an equaliser for both the rich and the poor. For the first time money did not work.
A lot is at stake in general spheres of life in these moments where everything seems to stop although it doesn’t mean the end. It marks a new beginning for most families and individuals. It was a year full of lessons for every citizen of the world, young and elderly alike.
Death, loss of livelihood, anxiety, and ‘a new normal’ all marked the beginning of a worldly order where every home is up against a brick wall. The world is at its weakest moments unable to return to normalcy.
The global community thought that it has moved away from the devastations of plagues. No one in his rightful mind imagined that a disease will concur contemporary world where modern science and technology are so advanced.
The pandemic with its catastrophic impacts inundated humanity, overwhelming our human ability and overstretching our capacity to deal with the situation. While various global mitigation efforts are on course, it is apparently clear that the pandemic is beyond our control.
Did not Allah say in the magnificent Qur’an that He (The Most High) will test us with fear, hunger, and loss of wealth and life? But with Allah, our apparent loss maybe our real gain because through these trials we shall learn great lessons of perseverance and obedience.
Re-orient yourself
The first lesson that we must learn from 2020 is that we should not take things for granted; any moment, life can take a U-turn. Your health can be taken away, your wealth devastated and your life shuttered.
The long and lethal road to life will lead us to nowhere if we continue to handle our affairs without any meaningful purpose. We have had so many golden moments in our lives but the last few months appear to us as if we have been in struggles forever and for life.
Just imagine, it is just one year but it seems as if the disease lasted for many years. The global economy has suffered the worst recession and governments all over the world are in ruins that will probably take them so many years to recover.
We missed golden opportunities to appreciate a lot in life. We thought with all our powers, money and education we are emirs of the world, that we control the universe yet corona came with a powerful message exposing our human vulnerability.
We have seen compounding devastations and grief, we have witnessed untimely death and agony that we have no control over. Like a tiny desert wasp whirling around sand dunes and falling down, isn’t it that we are on the edge of life?
It is easy to say that the pandemic is a global crisis but truly and at an individual level, the current crisis is a lesson for everyone. What was your life about before Corona and how is it now? If it did not change a thing in your spiritual, mental and social affairs then you need to re-orient yourself.
It is time to connect with Allah in full attestation to His powers. If anything, tighten your belts, pull up your socks and join diligent worshippers in the Masjid. It is time to sincerely repent and focus much more on your connection with the creator.
It is not only about worshipping for sustenance, support and protection for that is an apparent weakness and spiritual blunders that we continue to make in life. Sincere worshipping is knowing that we bow, prostrate and supplicate to Allah as He is supposed to be worshipped in utmost humility. We have to come back to where we belong.
Hope for the best
Nothing lasts forever, trials will come and pass and this certainly will pass. With prayers and patience, nurse a brimming hope that Allah (the Most High) will pour his mercy on earth and lift the suffering. If you have taken the test seriously, then know that it is just a matter of time before you again rejoice and enjoy life.
In his book Jami’ Al-Ulum Wal-Hikam, Ibn Rajab quoted a poet who said: “What you see may not last and you will see a relief from the catastrophe of this time. Allah may relieve such hardships, for Allah ordains the affairs of his creatures. If there is a hardship, hope for relief. Allah ordained that after each hardship, there would be a relief”
Trails such as the current one require a resolute faith, an unshakable spirit and a true sense of religious dedication, this, coupled with patience directs the believer towards hope in expectation of Allah’s boundless mercy.
Legendary scholar Fudail Ibn Iyad said: “fear is best while one is healthy, so that one may excel in good actions. However, during weakness and illness, hope is best so that one does not grow despondent”
As you mark your calendar, preparing your diary for 2021, open your heart and mind to the reality of life, knowing that indeed our goal in life is to strengthen our relationship with the creator and lead a more complete and wholesome way of life in which we earn the pleasure of Allah in every path we take and decisions we make.
Best of luck………
