HOPES AND DREAMS – AND THE REALITY

IN THE NAME OF ALLAH THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE MOST MERCIFUL Everyone has hopes and dreams. The hopes and dreams of each individual depends in the personal circumstances of that individual:

• The Palestinians in Palestine hope that there will be peace and no more sounds of bombs
• The Yemenese in Yemen hope that there will sufficient food some day that they do not need to starve for a few days
• Those is developed countries dream of having a good career, good house, intelligent and healthy children, etc.

Several basic principles that we must understand regarding our hopes and dreams:  

1. Allah has the final control of one’s affairs – 12: 21
2. Allah is the best of planner
3. Everything has been Decreed by Allah
4. Our provision has been determined when we were in our mother’s womb
5. The things that we may like might be evil for us 2: 216
6. It does not mean that if we do not achieve what we want or that we are poor that Allah does not love us.

      “And Allah has preferred some of you above others in wealth and properties…” 16: 71   “And wish not for the things in which Allah has made some of you to excel others. For men there is reward for what they have earned, (and likewise) for women there is reward for what they have earned, and ask Allah of His Bounty. Surely, Allah is Ever All-Knower of everything.” 4: 32   The Prophet (ﷺ) also said, “When one of you sees someone who has been blessed more than him in money or appearance, then let him look at someone lesser than him, whom he has been preferred over” [Bukhari]. We need to be in a constant state of shukr (thankfulness). Allah does not leave us with nothing, He has granted us with an infinite number of blessings, so perhaps keeping a gratitude dairy could help identify what these blessings are, and say Alhamdulillah for each and every one of them on a daily basis.   “And He gave you of all that you asked for, and if you count the Blessings of Allah, never will you be able to count them. Verily! Man is indeed an extreme wrong-doer, – a disbeliever (an extreme ingrate, denies Allah’s Blessings by disbelief, and by worshipping others besides Allah, and by disobeying Allah and His Prophet Muhammad ).” 14: 34   Anas ibn Malik reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Whoever is concerned about the Hereafter, Allah will place richness in his heart, bring his affairs together, and the world will inevitably come to him. Whoever is concerned about the world, Allah will place poverty between his eyes, disorder his affairs, and he will get nothing of the world but what is decreed for him.”   Source: Sunan al-Tirmidhī 2465   Grade: Sahih (authentic) according to Al-Albani