The need to Believe

We all pray for and believe, that whatever happens, happens for the best. It is our believe that Allah does only the best. He chooses only the best for his creations. He knows the best for us all. And that, we may not understand what His will is at the moment, but it becomes clear with time that what happened was the best, that nothing better could have happened, and when understanding dawns we cannot help but accept that we will not have it any other way.

And so we pray that Allah may choose the best for us. May He give us what is the best. May He find the better path for us and show it to us. Whenever tangled up in confusing threads we seek Allah's guidance. And how better to do that than pray, narrating what is going on in our heads (though He already knows and that too far better than us), and then ask Him to do what is best for us, to let us take only those decisions that will prove to be good ones.

And yet, after all of this, whenever our prayers are answered by something we do not understand, something that is not in accordance to our liking, we forget all about what we have been praying for and instead fall victims of thanklessness. We ask Allah why this happened? Why our prayers were not answered? When in fact they have been answered.

This is because our small minds fail to go beyond the panorama of the secluded walls that our thoughts and imagination have created. This is because, we with our feeble thoughts cannot imagine how far things may go and how small things may affect our lives, our futures.

With a cool mind anyone would be able to say all that has been written above.

With a cool mind anyone would pray Allah to give him the best, to make the decisions for him and claim that he would trust His decision and would want nothing more.

Yet, that is only when one has a cool mind.

Caught in a thunderstorm of circumstances, human beings tend to forget all claims, all promises. What they see is only what they have in front of them. Denying the past. Neglecting the future.

I am mentioning past because many a times, it is the past that has led us to the current situation. Our decisions that got us in trouble. Our reactions that brought stress. Our failure to understand that our own wish has resulted in the current situation.

And future, because that is what we are headed towards. We forget the impacts this may have on the future. Or if we do remember it, we do not believe that the impact may be anything positive. What we imagine is the worst.

And sometimes, it may turn out to be all wrong as well. But that is all part of life, isn't it? And that is how past is linked with the present and the future.

It's all a big, tangled ball of thoughts, reactions, wishes, prayers, and what not.

But if we pray to Allah to choose the best for us, then we must also ask Him for the strength to accept whatever He chooses for us, whatever decision He takes for us, wherever He leads us, whatever He gives us. If it is something we did not really hope for then we must be patient so that He may show us how what He chose was the best. Or we must accept it as a punishment for our own shortcomings. And if it is something that we hoped for, wished for, wanted; even unconsciously; then we must thank Him for He is the most merciful. :)