In Hard Times
God Almighty says in Surat Al-Balad: "Verily, we have created man into [a life of] pain, toil, and trial." Ibn Abbas explains the verse by saying: God created man to face the hardness of life and after life. What brought this idea to my mind is that three things happened on one day. I wanted to include the honorable reader in these matters. On Sunday morning, I received a message from a colleague of mine who collaborated with me in a bank 30 years ago. This woman is of Arab origin and Canadian nationality. Her job and family situation were excellent at that time, until her husband fell ill with an incurable illness, and she suffered for more than two years during his treatment and care until he died. I helped her and mediated a lot of her work matters until she stabilized. This Sunday morning, and after a lot of years without any news about her, she sent me a message telling me that her only son fell ill with the same illness as his father and at the same age, saying: "I know that he will die, but this is Allah’s fate," and she continued: "I can't describe my situation to you, but today I felt like I wanted to communicate with you and excuse me for bothering you with my bad news." I answered her with a message and prayed for her son to be safe, but then I heard no news from her. On the same day, I was informed that "Bu Saleh", who is an old friend of mine, even if he is older than me, visited me in the office, but unfortunately, he only remembered my last name and my place of work. He began to lose his memory. I was saddened by the status of that good person. He had a prominent opinion, was full of humor and knowledge, was a sponsor of orphans, and keen to do virtuous deeds. But he began to suffer from Alzheimer's. By chance, I met a woman in one of the malls who looked at me and said: "Bo Othman!" Don't you know me? I told her: Excuse me, I did not know you. She answered me with a smile and said: I collaborated with you in the same bank 30 years ago. I remembered her and asked her how she was, and she answered calmly: My husband died 13 years ago, my son lost his sight 3 years ago, and my daughter died of Corona complications. She continued calmly, "Verily, we have created man into [a life of] pain, toil, and trial." I could not reply to her except that I said, "May God give you patience." The sufferings of this day kept burning in my heart all night, and I thought and said, "Allah be praised." All day long, people are looking after their businesses and interests, and some of them are after collecting money, whether rightly or wrongly, and this is not important to them. What is important to them is only collecting money. Many people complain and most are dissatisfied with their lives, and the days pass and people get old so fast as if they were children and youths yesterday, whereas their laughter does not disappear, they play and amuse themselves, as if they are not getting old and time is not counted. I will give advice for those who want to live happily to be aware of this equation: happiness is linked to contentment. Contentment stems from a belief in fate and destiny. The troubles of life have another equation. Its basis is greed, then envy, and ends with the lack of insight. Whoever does not see the blessings of Allah in his life, if he becomes healthy, in decent shape, safe and secure, he completes his day with grumbling, slander and harming people. Such a person is unable to see the glass half-full and has lost a lot in this life and the next. There are a lot of life problems, some of which end, and some of which we must live with and accept. The point here is that the solution lies in accepting the status quo, coexisting with it, and being satisfied with Allah’s fate.
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It is not accepted:
Unfortunately, after my previous article, "Stop naturalization," some publishers, especially on Instagram, published my photo, under which a line was quoted from my article. Some of them distorted this line. They changed what came at the end of the sentence at the beginning of it, and they did not indicate that this is from an article published in Al-Qabas for those who want to read it. What happened is that a number of people were provoked by this fabrication and the many hurtful words that followed. I advise everyone not to follow and respond to such postings. It may be an amputation that does not reflect the truth of what was said, so you will wrong yourselves by what you write. I say to the brothers who own these sites: please be careful in the quoting and mention the source of what you are offering. At least you give your reader the opportunity to investigate and understand the origin of the topic. May Allah forgive you and all those who offend me.
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On Eid Al-Adha, I extend to the good people of Kuwait, both Kuwaitis and expats, my warmest congratulations, and blessings.
Stay safe.