…wasted

Imagine a beautiful garden that you have been blessed with. There is so much greenery in it, so many beautiful plants and fruits filling every spot possible. So much color, so much beauty, it takes your breath away. You put so much effort into it, so much time so much money. Thousands of dollars used to get every type of seed and supplies to take care of the garden. Hours and days and months spent planting and nourishing this beautiful garden. Then imagine the whole garden being destroyed right in front of you. All that effort goes down the drain. All those beautiful plants are finished in front of your very own eyes. Why is all this done? Because of your disbelief in Allah, because of ungratefulness to the Lord who gave you all this, because you were boasting and showing off.

In life, we are always accomplishing many things. We work so hard on big things such as assignments, projects, jobs and little things like cooking and cleaning. And when we reach our goal, we always think, “Wow, I’ve done so much! My hard work paid off! I’m so good!” Rarely do we ever say,”Alhamdulillah Allah has helped me. Only because of Allah was I able to do this.” The matter of fact is we are not able to do anything without the help of Allah. If Allah didn’t give us the ability to do certain things, we would never be able to accomplish them. It’s only because of the tawfeeq Allah gives us that we are able to accomplish little and big things in our daily lives.

This beautiful example Qur’an shows us how it’s not enough to just believe in Allah and deny the blessings. We have to believe in Allah and realize that everything we have is all because of him and no one else. We shouldn’t do something big and think that now no one can ever mess this up. The one who gave you the ability to do it can easily destroy it. A great example all of us know of is the great Titanic. The creator of Titanic said, even god can’t sink this ship. And what did God do? He sank this ship. Interesting isn’t it?

Do we really want to have all our hard work destroyed? In the example given in the Qur’an, this person realized the power of Allah and how he had was powerless after everything was destroyed, when it was too late. Alhamdulillah we have this example so we realize before it’s too late. We need to understand and realize that we don’t have the ability to do anything without the help of Allah. We need to be grateful for the talents and abilities Allah has blessed us with and use them in the correct places. We are not as strong as we think; we are so weak without Allah. We cannot do anything without the help of Allah. Are we working so hard to see it all go to waste? How sad will it be if we work so hard in this world, and when we return to our Lord, everything is destroyed because we were never grateful or because we used to show off? Do we really want our deeds to be wasted?

And present to them an example of two men: We granted to one of them two gardens of grapevines, and We bordered them with palm trees and placed between them [fields of] crops. Each of the two gardens produced its fruit and did not fall short thereof in anything. And We caused to gush forth within them a river. And he had fruit, so he said to his companion while he was conversing with him, “I am greater than you in wealth and mightier in [numbers of] men.” And he entered his garden while he was unjust to himself. He said, “I do not think that this will perish – ever. And I do not think the Hour will occur. And even if I should be brought back to my Lord, I will surely find better than this as a return.” His companion said to him while he was conversing with him, “Have you disbelieved in He who created you from dust and then from a sperm-drop and then proportioned you [as] a man? But as for me, He is Allāh, my Lord, and I do not associate with my Lord anyone. And why did you, when you entered your garden, not say, ‘What Allāh willed [has occurred]; there is no power except in Allāh’? Although you see me less than you in wealth and children, It may be that my Lord will give me [something] better than your garden and will send upon it a calamity from the sky, and it will become a smooth, dusty ground, Or its water will become sunken [into the earth], so you would never be able to seek it.” And his fruits were encompassed [by ruin], so he began to turn his hands about [in dismay] over what he had spent on it, while it had collapsed upon its trellises, and said, “Oh, I wish I had not associated with my Lord anyone.” And there was for him no company to aid him other than Allāh, nor could he defend himself. [Kahf:32-43]