Advice from a Cloud (Ifa Cloud Could Speak)

Everyone deserves water to drink, so shower your kindness on sinners
and saints alike.
People will see different things in you: relief, or comfort, or a
fearsome signof a storm. Pay no attention to any of that; but do your
job peacefully.
It's a beautiful thing to provide shade on a hot day(to comfort those
in distress).
You sometimes drift aimlessly, but by the will ofAllah, you get in the
right drift and current again.
Oppose evil with thunder and lightning, but with others be soft as cotton.
Not everything is what it seems: the darker the cloud, the more water
it carries within, to cleanse the earth and bring new life.
Never forget, you are mainly made from water. Make sure to always
replenish yourself with pure sustenance.
There's a rainbow right behind the storm.
Can you think of any other advice a cloud might give?

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Islam is a Game Changer

Islam is a game changer. Every other system, every human-made "ism" –
feudalism, tribalism, nationalism, monarchism, capitalism, communism,
fascism – treats human beings like commodities or less. Every other
system simply plays around with variables like distribution of wealth
and labor, or elevates one group of human beings based on lineage or
geography, while devaluing others to less-than-human status.
All these systems are fundamentally uncivilized, even barbaric.
Islam changes everything. Islam says, we're going to uphold the
fundamental dignity of all human beings.
"And We have certainly honored the children of Adam and carried them
on the land and sea and provided for them of the good things and
preferred them over much of what We have created, with [definite]
preference." – Quran, 17:70
Allah has honored all the children of Adam. Not only Muslims, not only
men, not one race or nation, not only the wealthy or beautiful, but
all humans. As for the nature of man, Allah says, "[So mention] when
your Lord said to the angels, 'Indeed, I am going to create a human
being from clay. So whenI have proportioned him and breathed into him
of My [created] soul, then fall down to him in prostration.'" – Quran,
38:71-72
A being into whom Allah breathed cannot help but be noble by nature.
Yes, wehumans are corruptible and shortsighted, but we don't have to
be. Our nature is pure. We can, at times, rise above our own
foolishness and become great.
When it comes to morality,Islam takes the approach of trusting human
beings to live by values like compassion, justice, fairness, help for
the poor, brotherhood and sisterhood, devotion to God, and
non-attachment to material luxuries.
That's what Islam is supposed to be!
This is why certain oppressive cultural practices found in parts of
the Muslim world are so abominable. I'm talking about so-called honor
killings, female genital mutilation, denial of education to women,
violence against religious minorities, etc. These practices must be
abolished. They are anathema to everything Islam represents.
Islam came to promote an idea of human dignity based on:
1- Our relationship with Allah;
2- The love and mercy we show one another;
3- The utilization of our free will for a higher purpose.
All human beings are created in the best of molds ( You Are Perfectly
Created ). All human beings are born on the fitrah , the pure and
natural way, withan inborn inclination to recognize the Creator and do
good. Racism and nationalism are abhorred and abolished. Women are
recognized as intellectual and spiritual beings, not property,
objects, or vassals.
That's Islam as it should be.It's a revolutionary system. Rather than
a limited material or tribal system, itis for the first time in
history a human system. If we're practicing anything less then we're
not practicing Islam. If we look down on certain races, if we hate
people because of their nationality or religion,if we subjugate women,
then we're practicing a fraud, and shaming ourselves before the world.
Islam rises above everything that came before. Islam came to change
the world, and to elevate the essential nobility all human beings, a
nobility not based on nation or tribe, but on our eternal souls.
That's the callof Islam. That's the path we must follow.

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“The writer Mustapha wrote,

'When I looked into history I found a small number of individuals
whose lives mirrored the life cycle of a grain of wheat. They were
torn from their roots, then crushed, then ground in mills, then
kneaded with fists, then rolled out and baked in ovens at high
temperatures… just so they could provide food for others.'
Patiently persevere in the face of hardship hoping for a good outcome
because you never know how manydead hearts you will bring to life in
the process. No hardship lasts forever. There is always an end."

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Where Are the Answers?

"What am I going to do? Why is my life so messed up? Why can't I find
happiness? Why am I alone? Why do I feel stuck?Why do I have these
problems?'…
These questions only have meaning if we direct them to Allah. No one
else can answer them. Consider the words of the Prophet Ya'qub
(alayhis-salam, peace be upon him) when his son Yusuf (as) was
secretly thrown into a well by his brothers. They then reported to
their father that Yusuf had been killed by a wolf.
And he turned away fromthem and said, "Oh, my sorrow over Yusuf," and
his eyes became white from grief, and he fell into silent melancholy.
They said, "By Allah , you will not cease remembering Yusuf until you
become fatally ill or become of those who perish."
He said, " I only complain of my suffering and my grief to Allah , and
I knowfrom Allah that which you do not know.
- Quran, Surat Yusuf, 12:84-86
"I only complain of my suffering and my grief to Allah…"
When you feel stuck, when you feel that no one understands your
situation,when you're in pain and you can't even imagine a solution,
only Allah has the answers. You can't see a way forward, but He can.
You don't see your own worth, but He does. You can't figure out the
road to happiness, but He can show you.
I remember a night in Arizona when I was twentysix years old. I lay on
a cot in a small, frigid cell. There was snow outside and I had only a
thin blanket. As I often did, I put on all my clothing in layers –
three pants, three shirts, an armyjacket and a pair of boots –and
still I kept waking up shivering and shaking. Yet, even more than the
physical discomfort, my spirit was tired. I had mademistakes in my
youth and had been locked up for almost five years. I had become hard
mentally and physically, but my heart was full of sorrow. I lay there
that night and I thought, "I have nothing inlife. I have accomplished
nothing. I have no university degree, no wife, no children, and not
even my freedom."
That was a bad time. But I had my faith, and I used to weep to Allah,
asking Him to have mercy on me. I think I gave up on myself for a
while, but I never gave up on Allah. It would not even have occurred
to me to do so. I did cry to Him sometimes saying, "Why, Allah? Why?
Why am I here, suffering like this?" But it wasn't despair,only
confusion. In my heartI knew that He heard me and that an answer would
come.
Shortly after that I receiveda letter from the parole board granting
me early release. I had previously been told very clearly that Iwas
not eligible. It was entirely unexpected, and if you are familiar with
the American penal system, miraculous. But for Allah, nothing is
impossible or even difficult.
Within a few months I was free. I found a job a week after my
release, and I excelled. I began writing, sitting at my desk every
night after work and disciplining myself to work on poetry, stories
and articles. Eventually I went back to school and began anew career,
got married, bought a beautiful house, and one day had a child…
What can I say except Alhamdulillah! SubhanAllah! What can I doexcept
weep in gratitude for these blessings that I did nothing to earn, but
were given to me by my Lord who loves me and cares about me, and wants
good for me. I am so deeply touched and movedby the way Allah has
answered my prayers from the depths of darkness. If I did anything to
merit His blessings, perhaps it was only that I directed my pleas to
Him. I knew that no one else could help me.
This is a very emotional post for me to write. I want every Muslim to
havethis sense of Allah as their friend, as someone who cares for them
deeply. I want to put that awareness into your heart like a gift.
When I was in that cell I used to pray the same dua'over and over,
begging Allah repeatedly. If I had made such pleas to a human being
they would have stopped hearing me long ago. When we're needy with
people it pushes them away, but when we're needy with Allah He comes
closer to us! He never tires of answering our need and forgiving us.
I know of many similar stories of people who havehit rock bottom and
have called upon Allah – or , not even knowing "Allah" by that name,
have called to the Supreme Being, saying, "I know you hear me, tell me
what I need to do, show me the way!" – and then, like a circle of
sunlight piercing a cloud, something or someone comes into their lives
to show them the way forward.
When we're out of ideas, surrounded by problems, and feeling totally
alone… we're not alone . Allah is with us. If we pray sincerely and
strive, He willput light in our hearts and help us from directions we
did not expect.
Ask Allah sincerely, open yourself to Him, and acceptwhat He gives you
even when it goes against your own desires.

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