THANKFUL FOR THE BLESSINGS

Then which of the favours of your Lord will you deny? – Surah Ar-Rahman.(Quran)

This weekend i thanked Allah for his blessings. Life has been kind. That is not to say that i have not had my share of darkness. I have seen sickness of loved ones and eventually said goodbye to them. i have been betrayed. I have had people stab me from behind, lived away from my family and missed them. Dealt with crazy bosses, crazier colleagues, complex family issues. Living in Karachi means that yes, i have been in accidents and survived without injury, my cell phone has been taken away on gun point and i have seen my share of protests and rallies. But then this is normal life for us, isn’t it? I am sure some of you have been through a lot more and truly speaking i feel blessed to not having to go through those “worse” things. AlhamdulilAllah.

Blessings they have come in forms- big and small and hazy and clear. The biggest blessing is to have loving parents who have supported me and encouraged me to pursue my dreams. Post marriage, i sometimes feel like a six year old, aching to be with her ma and pa. I can cry rivers and look potentially silly to everyone just because heck, i miss my mom and dad. That is love. That is a beautiful bond. That is a gift. May Allah bless them with the best of everything in this life and the next. Ameen.

To have spent time with my grandmother has been a blessing. To have snippets of memories about my maternal grand mother has been a blessing. Grandparents teach you the best of everything, don’t they?

To have loved your siblings to death. To fight for them. To die for them. To die with them. That is a blessing.

To have gone to a foreign country to get a better degree. To feel lost and then being embraced by loving house mates is a blessing. To make more friends. To share joy, pain, laughter, craziness, failures and success. To have been able to laugh with abandon, to see beautiful scenic wonders, hear songs that stick to your head for life- those are blessings.

To have broken into a thousand pieces, having sought out God, placing my foot onto the holy land, finding his mercy and care wash over me through despair and tears on a lonesome morning in Karachi – such a blessing. Such a blessing, AlHamdulilAllah.

And then finding love. The love i always had. The love i shunned and embraced. The love i pushed and it pulled me. The love i felt was being compromised. The love that betrayed me. And the love that still remained strong. The love that stills holds my hand and smiles at me. That is a blessing.

To be able to see, hear, breathe, touch, inhale and feel is a blessing.

I don’t have it all. I have my down times. I have those days when I am angry enough to wreck my own life. But then there is patience. There is understanding. There is a constant reminder of my blessings. And then, there is peace. AlHamdulilAllah.

“Do men think that they will be left alone on saying “We believe” and that they will not be tested? We did test those before them, and Allah will certainly know those who are true from those who are false.”Al-Ankaboot – 29:2-3 (Quran)