Assalamualaikum my dear,

How are you? How has these two weeks been?

I wanted to share a (slightly harrowing lol) mini story from my flight to India and the reflections I had from it.

So, I am notorious for being able to sleep anywhere. And even more so on flights. I’m the type of person that manages to nod off even before the plane takes off. And that day on the flight to India, just like every other time, I did exactly that. The funny thing is, I never usually want to sleep. And I definitely did not want to sleep that day. I had a whole itinerary planned out for myself. I even had my phone on my lap ready for when the flight takes off.

But knowing me, that was a bad idea.

Because I woke up 3 hours later to my husband waking me up to pray Fajr, with no phone on my lap. I knew I should look for my phone, but assuming it would just be somewhere in my seat, I headed to the bathroom and made wudhu. I came back, prayed my Fajr and then casually felt around my seat for my phone.

I couldn’t feel anything.

A small twinge of panic ran through me but I pushed it aside. It’ll be just somewhere on the floor. I jokingly told my husband that I think my phones on the floor. He shoots me a worried look and uses his torch to check the floor. He finds nothing.

I look between the seats. Nothing. Under them. Nothing.

In my bag. Nothing.

Shoot. A surge of panic rips through me. This is not good.

All sorts of possibilities run through my mind.

The young guy in the next seat could’ve taken it. Maybe it’s stuck and I’ll never get it. Maybe it’s rolled back many seats.

At this point my husband concludes that it’s best we wait till we land to find it. But the thought of making him have to wait around for the plane to empty and then search around…I couldn’t do that to him. So I began another round of search myself.

Between the seats. Under in front, under in back. Empty my bag.

At this point, I feel a bit deflated. What do I do?

Suddenly I realise…I hadn’t make any dua yet. I could taste the feeling of guilt in the back of my throat. I could not believe it took me to reach this moment of absolute desperation to remember Allah, to remember dua. I don’t deserve to make it.

But I was so desperate. I couldn’t lose my phone. I could already foresee the amount of logistical hassle it would cause everyone. So I made dua. Oh Allah please help me find it. Please make it easy for me to find. Auoothubilah…auoothibillah.

Suddenly, out of no where, I hear a faint trill. I hear it became louder and louder, sounding ever more so like my morning alarm. I could hear its muffled sound from behind me. I turn around and sheepishly ask the couple in the seat behind me if they could see my phone. They were already trying to locate the mysterious shrilling, and before I finished my question, the lady sweeps up the phone from under her seat.

I can’t describe the sense of relief I felt in my chest at that moment. Safe to say, I spent the rest of the flight wide awake, clutching the phone to myself.

But apart from the fear of losing my phone, there was another set of emotions that were keeping me awake.

It was a sense of disappointment. Disappointment in myself for not turning to dua at the first instance of panic in my chest.

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When do we turn to Allah in a trail?

The reason for my disappointment was because losing a phone is nothing in the grand scheme of life. Life brings trails and hardships so much greater, so if I couldn't deal with losing my phone in the most taqwa-ful (is there any other word to explain this better? mindful?) way to Allah, then how will I be able to for any greater trail?

It felt like Allah gave me this small test to really recalibrate my way of dealing with any sort of test. I realised I had to use that days incident as a lesson going forward.

Honestly, it’s easy to say, turn to Allah in the first moment of any trial. But when the trial hits, when financial difficulty hits, when family drama hits, when exam stress hits, do we end up actually turning to Allah first?

Or do we turn to Him when there is no other way?

But how do we become people who turn to Allah in the first moments of a test?

This question played on my mind a lot. I wanted to be ready the next time I was faced with a trial. I didn’t want to succumb to my emotions alone.

That is when this Hadith came by me -

I used to find this Hadith beautiful because it showed us how merciful and loving Allah was to even want us to ask Him of our silliest needs.

But when I saw it again recently, I saw it in a different light.

I suddenly felt like I could see the profound wisdom of applying this advice from the Prophet (pbuh).

Because just imagine, if we truly applied this Hadith to our daily lives, and so our day is constantly revolving around asking Allah for any needs. And our days are filled with mini whispered duas to Allah again and again and again, wouldn’t dua always be on the tips of our tongue? Wouldn’t dua become a routine of every living moment?

Wouldn’t turning to Allah become a habit?

And when turning to Allah becomes a habit, wouldn’t that mean even in the scariest hardest moments of our life, we’ll automatically turn to Allah then too?

This Hadith felt like it answered my question - to turn to Allah in moments of difficulty, I had to make turning to Him a habit in my life.

The dua for a test

And around this same time, as I came to this realisation, I also came across this verse that basically tells us exactly what dua to turn to when hit with a test. Allah has literally given us the most taqwa-ful (yep, we’re owning this word) way of facing any test, subhanallah.

It is a verse from Surah Baqarah, so a verse we’ve read many times, but for some reason it just jumped out differently this time. Bi ithnillah (with Allah’s permission).

We use the phrase ‘inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiun’ so often in the case of someone passing away. But Allah tells us here that this phrase is for so much more. It’s for any sort of test in our life.

He tells us in the previous verse -

For any form of test, from losing your phone to losing your job, the beloved way to Allah of dealing with that test is to remind yourself in that first moment that all this belongs to Him and so do I.

In that moment we remind ourself to free ourself from our attachment to the world to attach ourselves to Who we really belong to.

So Sis,

To truly face a test, big or small, in the most beloved way to our Lord means to make dua a constant in outlives. And more so, to make the specific dua ‘ إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّآ إِلَيْهِ رَٰجِعُونَ’ a habit in our lives.

To try use it more and more, not for just the tests that shoot panic through our heart. But for all the mini baby tests we get every day, from the broken heater to the heavy shopping bags to the crying child.

Let's make this dua a habit of our lives.

The more we internalise this statement and make it a part of our daily habit, the more it will shine through in the moments of greater trial and difficulty.

And the more we can become of those who are showered with His mercy and blessings as Allah tells us in the very next verse!

InshaAllah.

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I pray we all become people that can make turning to Allah in a moment of difficulty our way of being. And that we can become one of those who are showered with His mercy and blessings.

Until next time,

Thasneema 🌻