[Ramzan, 9] Welcome to Day 9 of the Ramzan Writing Series.

When you feel you are lagging behind in life, or think others are ahead of you, it is natural to feel jealousy. Being who we are, us women tend to feel jealousy in our marriages, home life, husbands and children is something we are inflicted with it often. This Ramzan let’s try and fix this problem is us.

Today’s topic is about a simple way to control our feelings of jealousy.

Imagine yourself sitting in front of a wall. Imagine that this wall has a small dot on the near the floor, followed by a long, straight line. Assume that this line extends to infinity. Now think about this dot and this line in relative to each other.

The dot represents the life of this world. Everything you accomplish, feel, go through, is in this dot. Same is for everyone around you. All the efforts you make for a happier life are confined to this dot. Your tests, your pain, your loss are in this dot. Your efforts and striving towards deen is also in this dot. Your late night ibaadaat, your summer day fasts, your perseverance for maintaining the daily five prayers, you zakaat, your sadqa, your effort to stay positive despite everything is in this dot. This dot will have everything related to this dunia for you and for everyone else around you.

Now we talk about the line. The infinite line represents your next life, the akhirah. It is a perfect, long, beautiful, never ending life. It represents your never ending life of jaza. Jaza is either good or bad, that is why one should always say “jazakallahu Khair”, instead of “Jazakallah”.

Can you see where I’m heading with this?

In this life, there will be times we feel we fall short; we think we deserve as many blessings as others and feel a pang of jealousy when we don’t. Many people around you will have an easy life than you, may enjoy better health, may have more wealth or children, or they may be more successful than you in their endeavors.

That is the time, my sisters, that remember you are in that dot. What lies ahead of you is that beautiful, straight line leading towards infinity. Seeing this life and the present feelings of not being good enough, always remind yourself of this comparison.

May be you are meant to have everything you wanted in that life represented by that invite line. May be the losses of today are only because you are meant to have them in the next life where the happiness will be sweeter, reunions will be forever, love will be stronger, and blessings will be forever.

Any time you feel ensnared by jealousy and anger towards someone else’s blessings and gains, make dua for them and for yourself. Dua is a powerful tool to control these negative feelings. Ask Allah to help you clean your heart and pray that they may enjoy their blessings without losing sight of the afterlife.

When we have our eyes on the next life, things fall into perspective. You see things as they really are and learn to value things that are truly valuable and worth cherishing.

I hope today I leave you with a helpful tool to control these feelings that come to all of us in one way or the other. After all, we are only humans; and Allah loves those who repent.

Do you have some other ways we can keep our thoughts positive and in the right direction? Let’s discuss.

Happy Writing!