Musings of a Servant of Allah
Verily in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest. (13:28)Archive for December, 2007
On The World of Retail
If there’s one thing you take away from my entire BLOG – it’s this…..please, be kind to the person behind the cash register. We’re still people! With feelings!
I’m having a surprisingly great time, working as a Christmas Casual at one of the biggest department stores in Sydney. I’ve learned a lot about what it’s like to actually provide customer service.
I’ve worked at the loading dock and the shop floor. There’s this hilarious rivalry between the two. The folk at the loading dock are a lovely, down-to-earth type. The ones on the floor are very customer-service oriented. So when I got back to working at the loading dock, one of the guys asked “It’s better down here, isn’t it?” I grinned and laughed, and said it depended on my mood.
SO, be nice to your customer service lot! We’re still people, with feelings. When you browse, pick up the things you drop. We appreciate it!
…and on relief
Alhamdulilah. Alhamdulilah.
Life is cyclical like that, and the promise of Allah is true 
On hardship
…so it’s been a while since I’ve last updated. Lots has happened. Without giving too much away, there is much going on behind the scenes. Alhamdulilah for everything.
Faith makes suffering, sufferable. This world is filled with shades of darkness and light. Absolutes are hard to find. Thinking in black and white leads to unnecessary strife. There are the major truths which I cling on to, and I ask those who know better when I’m stuck. Allah knows best.
Where do I begin?
So much has happened over the last few years of my life, and is the case with every other human being on this planet….my trials are ongoing. Allah is the only reason why I’ve come this far. Intact. Allah is the only reason for everything, really. Such is the perennial problem of humanity. When things are peachy, we forget Him. When things are hard, we fall on our knees and beseech His help.
There is sweetness in hardship, though. That’s when one’s prayer is sweetest, Quran recitation has more soul, and we truly feel broken as we prostrate before Him. And only He can heal. That’s always the case, of course, but realising our daily indebtness to the Almighty, both in times of ease and hardship, is an tremendous gift from Him.
There are among men some who serve God, as it were, on the verge: If good befalls them, they are, therewith, well content; but if a trial comes to them, they turn on their faces: They lose both this world and the Hereafter: That is loss for all to see! (Quran 22:11)
People of faith are a 3D construct in this 2D world. We look beyond the horizon of the everyday, especially when struck down by hardship, and remember that there is a power greater than us. Events like grief, loss, sickness and poverty are a lot more bearable when we know that at the end of the day, God will take care of it.
Alhamdulilah, in Islam, sickness of any kind (physical, psychological, spiritual) is a cleansing of sin. That’s good news, because expiation of sin in this life is a lot better than in the next!
May Allah grant us all healing, and ease our trials.
