[Ramzan, 8] Welcome to Day 8 of our Ramzan a Writing Series.

Today’s topic is very close to my heart. Soon you will find out that this is something close to your heart as well.

We all face setbacks in life. Some are in our control to improve upon, and some are completely beyond our control. Life doesn’t knock you hard till you lose something that adds meaning to it. The constant absence of any such vital thing to your life is a decisive point: you either prostrate or you rebel.

I too, faced many such setbacks. My normal reaction would be lamenting and regretting, wishing I had done things differently to begin with. Starting off differently would have had a different result, right?

That was where I was wrong.

The Quran mentions disaster, trouble, problem with the word “museebah” (مُصِیْبَتْہ).

The word has a negative connotation in our daily use, yet again. But wait, let me finish. And by the time we end this post, you will think differently.

The Arabic language is known to be full of words that are not just words, but paint a whole picture. The choice of the word “museebat” in Quran is very apt. The meaning is very picturesque:

Mubeebat means, “hitting someone with an arrow taking a precise target”.

It is the calamity that was bound to come. The target was made, with precision, and the arrow was not meant to miss you. Whatever steps you took, you could never undo them because that calamity was bound to come.

But what does this mean in terms of Allah’s Rehmat? Did Allah mean bad for you? NO! Far from it.

Allah wrote this test to come to you, keeping in view your strength and what and how much you can take. Your problem was tailor made for you, so that you may rise above in His eyes. Why do tests come? That is a topic for another day, which is again a beautiful topic to cover.

But today, I want you to internalize this word’s meaning so you let go of the lamenting, the regretting and the “what-ifs” that sometimes eat you away.

Nothing that is happening to you was a mistake or a result of poor judgement on your part. It was to be this way.

This word clarified a lot of confusions in my mind and eased my heart from a lot of burden that it was carrying around needlessly. A believer’s firm belief should be that nothing that befalls him is a coincidence; everything is Allah’s grand plan. He is Al-Qaadir!

Allah has His eyes on you, what an honor! Make Him happy! (In shaa Allah) Pass your test with distinction!

Do you have something to add to this topic?

Happy Writing!