#ghuraba

How many slips into sin I have made, yet You are, towards me, full of bounty and favour.

يَظُنّ النَّاسُ بي خَيرًا وإِنِّي لشَرُ النَّاسِ إنْ لمْ تَعفُ عنِّي.

Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله said:

وقال بعض الأطباء العشق امتزاج الروح بالورح لما بينهما من التناسب والتشاكل فإذا امتزج الماء بالماء امتنع تخليص بعضه من بعض ولذلك تبلغ المحبة بين الشخصين حتى يتألم أحدهما بتألم الآخر ويسقم بسقمه وهو لا يشعر

Some physicians / doctors have said that love is the merging of souls because of the harmony / compatibility and similarity between them. Just as water mixes with water, it becomes impossible to separate them from each other. Likewise, love between two people can reach such a level that one feels pain when the other is in pain, and becomes ill with their illness, even without realizing it (even though they're not connected).

Musa waited years in exile.

Yusuf waited in prison.

Yaqub waited with blind eyes.

Ayyub waited through pain.

Nuh waited a lifetime.

Their waiting wasn’t wasted.

Waiting is one of the quietest forms of ‘ibadah - because even in silence, you’re saying: “I trust Allah.”

And when the wait ended, Allah rewarded them beyond imagination.

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And despair not from Allāh's relief:

Imam Ibn al-Jawzī

(May Allāh have mercy on him)

“Beware of thinking that the time of a trial or test is long, or becoming fed up with making duʿāʾ often. For you (mankind) are tested with trials and as a slave of Allāh the Almighty you should preserve with patience and keep calling upon your Lord, and despair not from the relief of Allāh, even if the time of the test is long.”

[Ṣayd al-Ḵẖāṭr (1/439)]

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قَالَ الإِمَامُ اِبْنَ الجوزي - رَحِمَهُ الله - :

« فَإِيَّاكَ إِيَّاكِ أَنْ تَسْتَطِيلَ زَمَانُ البَلَاءِ ، وَتُضْجِرُ مِنْ كَثْرَةِ الدُّعَاءِ ، فَإِنَّكَ مُبْتَلًى ، بِالبَلَاءِ مُتعبَّدٌ بالصَّبر والدُّعاء ، وَلَا تَيْأَسُ مِنْ رَوِح اللهُ ، وَإِنْ طَالَ البَلَاءُ ».

[ صَيْدَ الخَاطِرِ : 439 - 1 ]

a Lord Who knows every secret, every sin, every slip and still opens the door of mercy wide.

a Lord Who watches hearts drift away and yet calls them back gently, again and again.

a Lord Who does not turn away from the broken, Who does not abandon the sinner, Who does not get tired of being asked.

how merciful is the One Who forgives when others would give up? how kind is the One Who welcomes the weak, the lost, and the heavy hearted?

when the world feels cold and hearts feel distant, His Mercy is near. when shame weighs down the soul, His forgiveness lifts it. when the distance feels too great, He reminds: “I am near.”

so how can a heart not break out of love for Him?

…so you come understand the meaning of سيعود غريبا،, you look at the lives of those before you, and you wonder at them, you learn from how they threaded such a heavy path, you take them as your friends, they become you role models, they become the ones you relate to.

For it is indeed, it is very heavy to turn against your family, everything you know and choose the path of Ar-Rahman, and you just wonder how Rasulullah ﷺ did it, just how was he able to turn against his whole tribe? سبحان الله. So inspiring, so powerful.

🍃When Truth Becomes Strange🍃

💠 Shaykh 'Abdullaah bin 'Abdur-Rahmaan Abaa Butayn (1194H -1282H / 1773 -1865 C.E.) said:

🔰 "If the majority of the people today were upon the truth, then Islam would not be something strange. And by Allāh, it is something very strange today." [Al-Rasaa'il wa al-Masaa'il al-Najdiyyah | 5/64]

💢 His words are a profound reminder that the truth is never determined by the size of those who follow it. If guidance were measured by the majority, then the Prophet ﷺ would not have informed us that Islam would once again become something strange.

💠 The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ reported to have said:

"Islam began as something strange and it will return to being strange as it began, so glad tidings to the strangers." [Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim]

🔰Throughout history, Allāh's Prophets were rarely followed by the majority. Nūḥ عليه السلام called his people for centuries, yet only a few believed. Ibrāhīm عليه السلام stood almost alone against an entire nation. Our Prophet ﷺ began his mission with only a small group while most people rejected him.

💢 For this reason, the believer never measures the truth by popularity, numbers, trends, or public opinion. Rather, he measures it by the Qur'ān, the authentic Sunnah and the understanding of the righteous Salaf.

☝️If holding firmly to Tawḥīd makes you appear strange, remain steadfast, adhering to the Sunnah makes you seem different, remain steadfast. If abandoning innovations and sins causes people to criticize you, remain steadfast.

💢 The stranger praised by the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ is not someone who seeks to be different, but someone who refuses to abandon the truth when falsehood becomes widespread.

🔰As Abā Butayn رحمه الله said, "By Allāh, it is something very strange today." Yet this strangeness should not weaken the believer. Rather, it should increase him in patience, certainty and gratitude that Allāh (subhanahu wa ta'ala) has guided him to the straight path.

🤲 Allāh (subhanahu wa ta'ala) make us among the ghurabā' (the strangers) who remain firm upon Tawḥīd and the Sunnah until they meet Him. Āmīn.

Abu Ad-Dardā said "A person should be careful not to be cursed by the hearts of the believers without even realizing it."

They asked him "How?"