Allah’s blessings are infinite

“And if you should try to count the favors of Allah you could not enumerate them.” (Qur’an 14:34)

How can we count the blessings of an infinite God with a finite mind? As the teacher of Rumi, the mystic Shams Tabrizi said, “Intellect takes you to the door, but it doesn’t take you into the house.”Despite all divinely sent prophets constantly calling mankind to not seek God solely with the mind, human beings have never stopped searching for a God they can touch and see directly. Islam does not ignore this inclination, but rather uses the same rational thought to challenge it. A mystic master was once asked, “How can I see God?" The master told the questioner, “Look at the sun.” The seeker looked towards the sun, but after a few seconds squinted in pain and said, “I can’t, it’s burning my eyes.” The master then replied, “You can’t even look at the sun without going blind and you want to see the Creator of the sun?” The seeker then asked, “Then tell me great master, where is God?” The masterasked the seeker, “Do you know where in the galaxy the Earth is orbiting in this moment? Do you even know where you are to ask where the One who created place resides? When we cannot even place ourselves relative to the Universe how can we attempt to place a formless God in relationship to an existence He completely transcends?” When our eyes cannot see themselves, or our teeth cannot bite themselves, when we cannot fully experience our own senses, how can we expect to be able to fully experience the One who created those senses?

The human mind will always venture to limit God's omnipresent, transcendent and mysterious nature into a form or formula that can be understood. Rumi metaphorically remarks on the inclination to limit God to the confines of human understanding through the following metaphorical poem: “The truth was a mirror in the hands of God. It fell, and broke into pieces. Everybody took a piece of it, and they looked at it and thought they had the truth.”There are no images or idols in Islam so that man doesn't limit God to a form. Nonetheless, true monotheism is not just belief in a single God, but the ability to see a reflection of God in everything for everything is infused and animated through the love of God. The Qur’an speaks to God’s infinite and incomprehensible nature by declaring, “And if all the trees in the Earth were pens and the sea with seven more seas to help it were ink the words of Allah could not be exhausted. Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise.” (31:27)

Allah is always with you

“Do not fear for Allah is with us.” (Qur’an 09:40)

In the darkness of the night, beneath the blanket of depression, on the days you long for the desert to cover you with its blowing sands, on the nights you imagine ocean waves to grow to the height of mountains pulling you close into the depths of its soul in currents that none can escape, on the days the sadness is like a thousand knives masked in butterflies in your stomach, when the whole world is falling apart a wintery leaf at a time as you watch everyone who said they would be there leave like you are an autumn tree and the softest breeze of difficulty sheds you of all your protective layers, when you have nowhere else to turn, when every bridge you built was burned, when your heart is not broken but shattered into dust into a shape that can't be salvaged, when the moon is swallowed by the darkness of despair, when the sun sets into the ocean of your hopelessness when you feel like a dark ant on a dark stone in the darkest of nights do not be sad God sees you, God is here.

You do not have to find Him or seek for Him or deserve His presence because His proximity to you is not based on you and your actions but Him and His unconditional Love. Don't close your eyes, don't shut off your mind, don't pull the plug on your sensitive heart, stay soft no matter how hard it gets, stay open, no matter how many stones are chuck or wells you are thrown in or giants you face or tyrants come to oppress you or people mock you, trust the help will come, trust that Allah will open a way where no way could be seen. Oceans will part, floods will come, and elephants will kneel, because by the command of your Lord fire is made cool and camels emerge from stone so whatever your pain is, whatever despair you feel know that Allah is with you. That if He finds you lost He can guide you, that if He finds you poor He can make you rich, that with Him near no miracle is too far to reach so do not label anything impossible for He is the Creator of all that is. The peace you seek is sprouting from inside, be patient any day now it will push passed the fertile soil of the unseen, poking its head passed the surface of your consciousness. Just wait a little longer, your spring is just around the corner waiting to blossom, like a rose opens towards the light no matter how many nights you have to face to breathe in the dawn, promise me promise me you will unfold yourself when the light arrives. Promise me, promise me you will trust the Divine!

Allah will always give more than you give

Say, “It is my Lord who determines and increases the sustenance of whomever He wants. He will replace whatever you spend for his cause and He is the best Sustainer.” (Qur’an 34:39)

Rumi beautifully describes a similar sentiment by saying, “If you gave it all away do you think God would be stingy? When you sow seeds the barn is left empty, but the ground is made rich. If you leave the seeds in the barn all you’ll have is a decaying feast for the mice and beetles.” The good deeds we plant in this world do not go to waste, rather they blossom into the eternal realm of the Hereafter. As the Qur’an says, “So whatever thing you are given, that is only a provision of this world's life, and what is with Allah is better and more lasting for those who believe and rely on their Lord.” (42:36)

Allah makes it clear in the Qur’an that, “He will replace whatever you give in alms.” (34:39) Similar to how when farmers prune plants it helps them grow faster, when we give in charity we are energetically pruning our wealth to allow for greater growth. As the Qur’an says, “Who will lend Allah a generous loan so that he may multiply it many times?” (2:245)

The Story of the Ruined Painting

“If Allah knows any good in your hearts He will give you something better than what has been taken from you and He will forgive you and Allah is ever forgiving, most merciful.” (Qur’an 8:70)

There was a painter who was painting a huge painting of the skyline from the roof of a high rise. After months of pouring his heart and soul into every brush and stroke of his painting he decided to invite his best friend to watch on the day the final touches would be made. In order to capture the grandness of the painting and make a few last minute adjustments the painter slowly started to walk backwards. Every step revealed more and more of what had become the most magnificent painting he had every created. His friend watched the painter walk away from his painting noticing he was heading for the edge of the building. At first he thought his friend was aware of the ledge, but then he saw that the painter was so focused on his painting that he had lost track of his surroundings completely. He waved his hands, jumped, and screamed but the noise of the wind was too loud and the painter was unconscious to anything other than the picture in front of him. Two more steps and he would fall off the building so his friend in desperation took a bucket of paint and threw it on the painting.

The painter screamed as he ran away from the ledge towards his friend in rage! But before the painter grabbed him, his friend pointed to the ledge and said, "It was the only way to get you to not fall off the building!" The painter turned behind him with his heart racing and walked towards where he was standing and noticed he dropped his paint brush not even 6 inches from the edge. When he realized that his obsession with his painting had almost killed him he sat down and cried. After a few minutes he lifted his head and smiled at his friend and now he only saw beauty in his once ruined painting because now "the mistake" was less a disaster and more a symbol of true love.

I relate this story to Allah, because often to save us he has to break the picture of something we love or are attached too. If we knew why He "threw a bucket of paint" on the picture of some of our dreams we would see the beauty behind the action, but often we are stuck in the initial anger in a whirlwind of pain always asking why. Everything Allah does is out of His Mercy.As the Qur’an says, ”But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah Knows, while you know not." (02:216) Trust that Allah will never throw a bucket of paint on your plans unless it is to save you from yourself. True peace lies in never holding onto anything mortal tighter than we hold on to God. If you are tired of pain, stop getting attached to things that pass away. After all, everything that is mortal is by its very definition a veil before an immortal God. Trust that the spirit inside of you cannot be shattered, only the mortal illusions of this world can be broken and burned; so let the wild fires of Divine Decree burn every ounce of your ego until it is transformed into compost for the garden of faith that has been dying to come to life.