A Jar of Mixed Nuts

My daughter was eating cashews from a jar of mixed nuts. She loves cashews. All other nuts become invisible to her when she sees cashews. I had to remind her to have some almonds as well. I remembered reading somewhere that almonds, out of all nuts, are the richest in calcium, and are the healthiest of all nuts overall as well. With this insufficient and imperfect knowledge, I made sure that she gets nourished in the best possible way in that situation.

I had a sudden realization. Allah SWT is our Rabb: the Ultimate Nourisher and Sustainer. He also has the Perfect Knowledge and Wisdom – He is Al-Aleem and Al-Hakeem. It means that Allah SWT is constantly Nourishing us in the most Perfect of ways in every single situation that we encounter in our lives. Sometimes we only want to have cashews but He Gives us almonds as well, out of His infinite Mercy. The almonds might taste bitter sometimes, but they provide our soul with the nourishment it needs.

As humans, we have a very simplistic outlook on things. Sometimes we become fixated on a single pixel instead of the bigger picture. We make up images in our minds about how an “ideal” life should be. We become convinced that a certain degree, a certain house, or a certain spouse would be the best for us. We imagine having a specific number and gender of children. Allah SWT, on the other hand, describes Expanding or Constricting His rizq (provision) according to His Will, Gifting or Depriving someone of daughters and sons out of His Will, and Prolonging or Shortening someone’s life out of His Will. Some of these circumstances can come as a test for us, and therefore be painful, but when we rest assured that His Mercy encompasses all circumstances, we allow sakeenah (tranquility) to enter into our hearts, despite the overwhelming pain. If the veil was lifted and we could see the wisdom behind His Plans, we would have tears of joy because of His Decisions in all matters.

May Allah SWT Enable us to trust Him in its truest sense.

وَمَنْ يَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللَّهِ فَهُوَ حَسْبُهُ

“…And whoever relies upon Allah – then He is sufficient for him…” (65:3)