(The below anecdote is taken from the lecture entitled ‘Reliance on Allah’ which is currently available for purchase on the Apple iTunes Store and on www.meccacentric.com. I was hoping to upload the short excerpt where Shaykh AHM narrates the story, but for some reason it doesn’t allow me to upload it here, therefore I’ve transcribed (to the best of my ability) what Shaykh AHM said. It’s more or less word to word, but I refrained from using speech marks in case I’ve missed a few words out! Jazaka’llahu khayran to the very kind soul who emailed me the lecture details!)
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There is a story which Sayyidina Jalaluddin Rumi tells of an ant that’s creeping across the carpet in a mosque, and the ant complains to God saying: “what is this, these bumps, and strange colours, and patterns, this must have been created just as a meaningless obstacle course, what a futile thing to have made.” But of course the carpet maker, looking at it from above can see the patterns and the purpose of it, and can see that the whole thing is perfect and is good. And Allah is often like that. We often can’t make sense of the misfortunes because we are two dimensional, we are at ground level, we can’t see what it all means, but the khalifa of Allah subhanahu wa’tala knows even if he can’t always see that this is a manifestation of Allah’s will which is always good and always perfect and always beautiful. ~ Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad
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I found this anecdote truly amazing. Life takes us through so many unexpected hurdles and obstacles, difficult and painful situations and experiences, all of which we often cannot decipher why these things are happening, or have happened to us. Just like the ant in the story, I guess, we are only tiny ‘beings’ in this big world where our vision and understanding is very limited. We do not have the full view like Allah does; He knows what has happened, what is happening and what is yet to come; He can see how everything fits together and what the ultimate result shall be. ONLY HE KNOWS!!
May He grant us true reliance and trust in Him alone, with whom no trust or reliance is lost. Allahumma amin!
8 comments
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July 14, 2010 at 9:57 pm
zakia
absolutely love it xxx
July 15, 2010 at 2:22 am
maryam
jazakallah khayr for this post! makes you think about the bigger picture–something we all tend to not do much of the time. now I wanna purchase the lecture..mashaAllah, Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad gives fab lectures.
ps: welcome back, sis! sooo happy to see you posting!!! :))))
July 15, 2010 at 2:23 am
N.A.
SubhaanAllah!
July 15, 2010 at 7:50 am
Ummu Sarah
JazakAllahu kheir for the post, very beautiful story..and true..
July 15, 2010 at 7:52 am
abdul kareem
Salaam just to correct a little mistake its not too dimensional but two dimensional
July 15, 2010 at 8:29 am
sidramushtaq
BarakAllahu fik for your comments! Happy to be back too Maryam 🙂
Thank you sidi Abdul Kareem for pointing that small typo out!! I’ve amended it now- jazaka’llahu ‘khayran!
Peace and prayers!
SM
April 22, 2013 at 3:47 pm
Johan Tristan Aslim
Abdal Hakim Murad mentions the same story in his conversation with Halal Monk. You can find it here: http://www.halalmonk.com/abdal-hakim-murad-authority-within-islam though the story is taken up in his reflections on free will. (you can find that pdf at the bottom of the article.
September 2, 2013 at 8:18 pm
Poem by Imam al-Haddad | Healing Hearts
[…] One of my favourite lectures by Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad is called ‘Reliance on Allah’. A few years ago, I posted an excerpt from this lecture here. […]