Assalamualaikum my dear,

Last week, one evening, I came across the most random Youtube video ever.

It was a 300 day time lapse of a pine tree.

I have no idea what made me click it. But it might’ve been the coolest video I have ever seen.

I watched this pine cone take a whole week to pop out a seed and another 2 weeks for the tiniest of green to shoot out from the ground.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. 2 weeks to barely see a teeny shoot?!

59 seconds into the video and 300 days later, we had this teeny pine sapling. You could hardly even call it a baby tree.

I clicked onto another video - a 400 day time lapse of a date palm.

Once again, I watched in disbelief. This seed, so preciously watered and looked after, took 50 days to shoot out the teeniest of green. 50 days? That’s 7 weeks, I thought in shock.

 I couldn’t believe it. This man had to wait months just to see any result of all his efforts. On top of that, he dedicated a whole year or more to these plants, but all he had were a bunch of tiny shrubs?

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My Thoughts of Disbelief

My first thought was, wow I bet farmers are such patient and calm people. If you have to wait for this many years to reap the fruits (pun intended) of your effort, you’d have to be the king of patience!

My second thought was - no wonder the Quran references the world of nature continuously to us.

Allah tells us again, and again and again, to look at the world around us because in it there are signs and lessons for us. There are so many verses in the Quran that I didn’t even know which ones to pick to share with you!

Look at the heavens, look at the earth, look at the seed that sprouts, look at the waves, the moon, the stars, the sun.

Look at yourself.

I say I want to be a person who reflects on the Quran. But the thing is, if I want to truly reflect on it, then I need to reflect on what it asks me to reflect on - the world around us.

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The Plants Of My Life

I think Allah showed me this video today so I realise something.

Because as I was watching those videos, all I could imagine was all the plants I was trying to grow in my life. My hifdh, my health, my writing.

Imagine memorising a surah for a whole month and still taking the same numbers of hours to memorise just a few lines, 7 weeks later. Imagine running every day and not finding it even a teeny bit easier, 49 days later.

How demotivating would that be? I can already imagine the feeling of frustration seizing up my chest, the bit of self-loathing creeping up my throat, the chanting thoughts of ‘not being enough’ that I would have.

I can imagine announcing to everyone ‘running isn’t my thing’ or ‘I don’t think I’m intelligent enough to maintain my hifdh’, and then moving on to something else. Because c’mon, it’s been 49 days. I think it’s time I find a new plant to grow.

But if only I knew, the seeds of my plants were growing underground without me realising. They were rising and rising and if I’d carried on watering it just one more day, I would have seen that teeny sprout burst through the soil.

And as I watched Allah show me His sign through the cycle of life in nature, I knew this was the lesson I needed to take away - Growth takes time, and for a long stretch it is unseen. Trust the process. Trust in Him.

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Compound Interest of Self Improvement

This reflection reminds me of a concept that James Clear explains in his book, Atomic Habits.

It’s the idea that in the beginning of trying to improve something, it will always feel like no change is happening. We might begin a small new habit, maybe walking 20 minutes a day or memorising a line of Quran a day. These are 1% improvements that we add to our life. But at the start it isn’t noticeable. It feels like there is no difference.

But in actual fact, these tiny improvements are actually rapidly improving us. It’s just we don’t see it, just like we don’t see the roots and stalk growing beneath the soil.

But as time goes on, these 1% improvements multiply and compound. And just when you feel like nothing is changing, you’ll suddenly feel a shift.

The shoot sprouting through the soil.

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But why do I want to keep growing?

I recently started studying counselling and in one of our first classes we came across this theory that forms almost the foundation of counselling. 

It’s the theory of actualisation. This theory states that every human, regardless of the situation they are in, have a basic tendency to improve and reach their full potential.

I love this concept because it fully aligns with the concept of the fitrah - the natural inclination every human has been given by Allah to become true and better worshippers to Him.

Every one of us have this invisible force in us that pushes us to want to improve day by day.

But the thing is, coupled with that is this feeling of urgency we have.

This means we have the urge to grow and fulfil our potential, but it’s not that we want to reach our potential over our lifetime. We want to reach it now. We want to grow and become a tree…today. Like right now.

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Looking past the concrete jungle

In a world where you can get everything in an instant, in a world of instant streaming, Prime delivery and Uber eats, not getting growth instantly feels like a failure. We’re looking for the quick 1-week diets and the crash courses in hifdh.

The concrete jungles we surround ourselves with have artificially created a bubble where we think everything can be achieved in an instant.

But the rules of nature, the rules of Allah, dictate otherwise. Allah tells us to look beyond the metal, tech and glass. He tells us to look to the natural ways of life around us and to take our lessons from there. He tells us to look at the examples of the past, and take our lessons from there.

Nature tells us progress and growth takes time. The stories of the past, our Prophets, our role models shows us progress and growth takes time

But humans are hasty and we want everything now.

My favourite example of the past that I feel like truly embodies that date palm tree, is our beloved Prophet (pbuh) himself. He was a seed that only sprouted through the soil at around 45 years of age. I envision the Prophet (pbuh)’s life till 40 like the seed that was slowly cracking open. And at the age of 40, as the rain of revelation was sent down upon Him, the seed burst open and the roots began to take hold.

But it was only a few years later, after the ridicule, torture, and pain he faced from his people in Makkah, did the first green sprout through the soil. When Hamza (ra), his brave and beloved uncle accepted Islam. When Umar (ra), one of the strongest men in Makkah accepted the message. And even then, it was just small teeny stalks.

It would have been only 23 years later that these small stalks grew in to long tall branches. And it may have been only after his death (pbuh), as the message of Islam spread across from China to Spain, did the date palm fully take its whole form. 

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So sis,

Maybe you are trying to improve your tajweed or the khushu of your Salah. Or maybe you're trying to improve your skills at work or even as a friend or family member. And it just feels like nothing is changing.

Please don’t give up and think there is no point. Carry on putting your effort in.

This teeny pine cone and date seed lies as a reminder for us to stop wanting results today. To be like the patient farmer who waters and nurtures his barren land full of seeds year after year, not expecting any fruits to bear until years on.

To trust the process. And most importantly, trust in Him.

Just like He breaks open the seed and allows that tiny sprout to break through the soil. Just like He brings forth more and more sprouts and allows them to rise and thicken and eventually, years and years later, bear fruit.

He will sprout your seeds too.

Until next week.

From your sis,

Thasneema 🌻