As salam alaikum dear Muslim sisters and brothers,
I hope you are all doing well with Allah’s remembrance. I hope you had a blessed Eid.
This Eid I visited my sister and her family in another country. It was fun but challenging.
A theme that kept coming up on this trip was: “waiting.”
On Eid, we went to a masjid at 4:30 AM and had to walk 2 miles to get to the prayer area. After the prayer, I went to my brother in law’s car and had to wait in the heat for over 30 minutes because he was trying to help a lost girl (which I didn’t know about). I was very tired, waiting for some reason I didn’t know, and became extremely frustrated.
I started to have negative thoughts and it wasn’t pretty. Eventually we got home and I did things to calm myself down, like dhikr and dua.
We all have negative moods sometimes. Shaytan will take advantage of this and suggest more negative thoughts to weaken us. Realize this and “make it a win for the humans.”
How do we “make it a win for the humans?”
By realizing Shaytan’s agenda–to do anything he can to make us think/act negatively.
By choosing to make dua and dhikr when we are angry and frustrated.
By thinking of solutions rather than dwelling on the problems.
By having self compassion–we are only human and we all fall back sometimes.
By trusting in Allah’s qadr/destiny–whatever happens has a wisdom to it.
By admitting to yourself that you are in a negative state–and not denying it.
By remembering that Allah tests those He loves (a famous hadith).
By remembering to look for things to be thankful for.
One thing I learned from all the waiting I had to do (there are many more examples–like our flight back home got delayed 4 days), is to make dhikr when I am waiting. So instead of feeling frustrated with waiting, I say “Laa ilaha illallah” over and over–and I am getting blessings for waiting!
So please make it a win for the humans–not the shaytans–whenever you are challenged emotionally.
For more ideas on how to be a Happy Muslim no matter what, read my book on Amazon: “How to be a Happy Muslim Insha’Allah.”
For more inspiration about Islam, please read my other book: “The Basic Values of Islam”.