by Izzati Bahri
Bismillaah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem,
“All praises are due to Allah. We praise Him, and seek His Help, and ask for His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil in our souls and from our sinful deeds. Whoever Allah guides, no one can misguide. And whoever Allah misguides, no one can guide. I bear witness that there is no one worthy of worship except Allah. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger.”
This is the opening speech that my Shaykha uses each time she delivers her weekly online halaqaat. I never took notice of its meaning until one night, she asked us, “Tell me what do you understand by And whoever Allah guides, no one can misguide and whoever Allah misguides no one can guide.”
The question was thought-provoking. What makes Allah want to guide a person? An even more serious and worrying question that came to my mind was that why would Allah want to misguide a person?
Shaykha gave us sisters a few minutes to think it over. What usually happens is that the sisters and I would be busy typing on the chat box in the virtual classroom interface to give our answers. This time, no one was typing. It was complete ‘silence’. I guess they too were cracking their heads for answers.
The time was up and we were asked to give our answers. One answer came on the screen, and then followed by another. Everyone was given the opportunity to share their thoughts. Something amazing happened by Allah’s Will. Each sister was inspired by Allah to give the same answer. The answer was CHOICE.
Shaykha expressed a light laugh. Happy to know that she has trained her students well, Alhamdulillah. She then began explaining,
“Each and everyone of you are a given the ability to choose. If you choose to want Allah’s Guidance, then He will guide you through and through. However, if you choose to overlook His Signs – and He is ever so kind to give you signs without you even looking – and you still refuse His Guidance at your own will, then you have become the one who is in severe loss, as no force, no help and no power can overcome His Might.”
Will we make that choice to connect and reconnect with Allah? Will we choose to establish a firm and sweet relationship with Him?
Or will we choose to be complacent and remain disconnected?
Till then, may Allah guides us all.
Ameen.
Best Regards,
Izzati Akmar Bahri
