Repel boredom with work
Assembled by Abba Abana, Kubwa, Abuja, Nigeria
Those who have nothing to do with their lives are the same people who spend
most of their time spreading rumors and falsehood, mainly because their minds are
devoid of beneficial thoughts:
{They are content to be with those [the women] who sit behind [at home].
Their hearts are sealed up [from right guidance] so they understand not.} (Qur'an
9: 87)
When you find yourself to be idle, prepare for depression and despair,
because idleness allows your mind to wander in the past, the present, and the future,
with all of their difficulties. Therefore, my
sincere advice to you is to perform fruitful acts instead of being idle,
for idleness is a slow and veiled form of suicide.
Idleness is like the slow torture that is inflicted upon prisoners in China:
they are placed under a tap, from which a drop of water falls only after every hour.
During the period of waiting between drops,
many of them lose their minds and are driven to insanity.
Being inactive means being negligent of one's duties. Idleness is an expert
thief and your mind is its victim.
Therefore get up now and say a prayer or read a book; praise your Lord,
study, write, organize your library, fix something in your house, or benefit others
so that you can put an end to your inactivity. I
say this only because I sincerely wish for your betterment.
Do not be
a mimicker
Destroy boredom by working. When you apply this simple precept alone, you
will have traveled at least fifty percent of the way towards happiness. Look at
farmers, carpenters, and the bread-maker,
and observe how, when they are working, they recite words as melodious
as the singing of birds, because they are content.
Afterwards observe yourself and how you toss and turn on your bed while
wiping away your tears, always miserable, always torturing yourself.
Do not transform yourself into someone who you are not: do not mimic others.
Many are those that feign to forget their own voices, movements, idiosyncrasies,
and habits, in order to imitate others in
their ways. Among the consequences of such behavior are artificiality,
unhappiness, and a destruction of one's own entity.
From Adam to the last born baby, no two people are exactly the same in
appearance even twins of the same sex. Lok very close, you will see minor or
major differences. Why then should they be the same in mannerisms and tastes?
You are unique — none had been like you in the past and none shall be like
you in the future. You are totally different from X or Y, so do not force upon yourself
the blind following and imitation of
others.
Go forth according to your own nature and disposition.
{Each [group of] people knew its own place for water.)*(Quran 2: 60) {for
every nation there is a direction to which they face, so hasten towards all that
is good.)? (Qur'an 2: 148)
Be as you were created and do not change your voice or modify your walk.
Cultivate your personality by following what is found in revelation, but do not
render your existence void by imitating others and by depriving yourself of your
individuality.
Pre-ordain
ment
Your tastes and preferences are specific to you and we want you to stay
as you are, especially because that is the way you were created and that is how
we know you to be. The Prophet (BPUH) said:
"And let no one among you be an imitator of others."
In terms of characteristics, people are like the world of trees and plants:
sweet and sour, tall and short, and so on. Your beauty and value is in preserving
your natural state. Our varied colors, languages, talents, and abilities are signs
from our Creator, the Almighty, All-Glorious, so do not disbelieve in them.
Pre-ordainment {No calamity befalls on the earth or in yourselves but is
inscribed in the Book of Decrees — before We bring it into existence.(Qur'an 57:
22)}
The pen has dried, the pages have been lifted: all events that shall come
to pass have already been written.
{Nothing shall ever happen to us except what Allah has ordained for us.)*
(Qur'an 9: 51)}
Whatever has befallen you was not meant to escape you, and whatever has
escaped you was not meant to befall you: If this belief were to be firmly
ingrained in your heart, then all hardship and difficulty would become ease and
comfort. The Prophet (BPUH) said:
"Whoever Allah wishes good for, He inflicts him (with hardship),"
For this reason, do not feel overly troubled if you are afflicted with
sickness, the death of a son, or a loss in wealth. Allah has decreed these
matters to occur and the decisions are His, and His alone. When we truly have this
faith, we shall be rewarded well and our sins shall be atoned for.
Verily, with
hardship, there is relief
For those that are afflicted with disaster, glad tidings await them: so
remain patient and. happy with your Lord.
{He cannot be questioned as to what He does, while they will be
questioned. (Qur'an 21: 23)
You will never completely feel at ease until you firmly believe that Allah
has already pre-ordained all matters. The pen has dried and with it has been written
everything that will happen to you. Therefore
do not feel remorse over that which is not in your hands. Do not think
that you could have prevented the fence from falling, the water from flowing, the
wind from blowing, or the glass from breaking. You
could not have prevented these things, whether you wanted to or not.
All that has been preordained shall come to pass.
iThen whosoever wills let him believe, and whosoever wills, let him disbelieved
(Qur'an 18: 29)
Surrender yourself: believe in preordainment, before pangs of anger and
regret overwhelm you. If you have done all that was in your power, and afterwards
what you had been striving against still
takes place, have firm faith that it was meant to be. Do not say, 'Had
I done such-and-such, such-and-such would have happened'; rather say, 'This is the
decree of Allah, and what He wishes, He does.'
Verily, with hardship, there is relief {Verily, with hardship, there is
relief (Qur'an 94: 6)
Eating follows hunger, drinking follows thirst, sleep comes after restlessness,
and health takes the place of sickness. The lost will find their way, the one in
difficulty will find relief, and the day will follow
the night.
iPerhaps Allah may bring a victory or a decision according to His Will)*
(Qur'an 5: 52)
42 Verily, with hardship,
there is relief
Inform the night of a coming morning, the light of which will permeate
the mountains and valleys. Give to the afflicted tidings of a sudden relief
that will reach them with the speed of light or with the
blinking of an eye.
If you see that the desert extends for miles and miles, then know that
beyond that distance are green meadows with plentiful shade.
If you see the rope tighten and tighten, know that it will snap.
Tears are followed by a smile, fear is replaced by comfort, and anxiety
is overthrown by serenity. When the fire was set for him, Prophet Ibraheem (Abraham)
(may peace be upon him) did not feel its heat because of the help he received from
his Lord.
iWe [Allah] said: 'O' fire! Be you coolness and safety for Ibraheem!'}
(Quran 21; 69)
The sea would not drown Prophet Moses (may peace be upon him), because
he uttered in a confident, strong, and truthful manner:
{'Nay, verily! With me is my Lord, He will guide me. (Quran 26: 62)
The Prophet Muhammad (BPUH) told Abu Bakr in the cave that Allah was with
them — then peace and tranquility descended upon them.
Those that are slaves of the moment see only misery and wretchedness.
This is because they look only at the wall and door of the room, whereas they should
look beyond such barriers as are set before them.
Therefore do not be in despair: it is impossible for things to remain the
same. The days and years rotate, the future is unseen, and every day Allah has matters
to bring forth. You know it not, but it may be that Allah will afterwards bring
some new thing to pass. And verily, with hardship there is relief.
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