foremost to myself

assalaamu alaikum

we've all heard the stories of the prophets and heard of their miracles. and we think that surely, if we were present when Musa AS split the red sea or Eesa AS cured the sick and brought dead back to life by Allah's will, we would have no doubt as to who our creator was, and we would be complete and utterly perfect believers. wouldn't it be cool and so strengthening to witness one of those miracles? and so we neglect the greatest miracle of all, namely the Quran, that is right under our noses. and sometimes i think, we are the last nation. but say for instance, IF there was going to be a nation after us, or perhaps on the DOJ when everything is told, those who came before us would probably be dumbfounded as to how we could have neglected such a clear and obvious sign and miracle such as the Quran, the same thing we say and think about them when they killed the cow.

how could they be so stupid?

now although we have a tendency to follow others footsteps, right into the holes they crawl into and get stuck in, some of us claim that we try and learn from others mistakes. well i do, at least. so i have to be careful to not develop an attitude that prides itself on not falling into the same holes that everybody around me, my friends and peers, have fallen into, and continuously and repeatedly fall into. and so i remind myself, that every person has their own test. and where one person has failed, and i have succeeded, does not mean anything. that might have been easy for me and hard for him. and i look at myself now and see a hundred different things that i fail at everyday and others have no problem with.

its like when people say, "i can't marry somebody from back home, because they haven't faced the same struggle as i. they've lived around muslims their whole life, they haven't been exposed to the trials of the west, etc" this always bothers me, because Allah clearly says in the Quran, do you think you will be left alone saying you believe and not be tested? the people before you were tested until their foundations were shaken and they were left saying, when comes the help of Allah? sure, maybe you have been through certain things that other person hasn't, but you can bet your nikes that that person has been through a hundred things you have never experienced also.

the same way, our parents came here and aH, they established the deen. they built masajid, and now schools, and now institutions are being set up everywhere throughout the west. that was their job and their test. we can't just retake their test, because the answers are already on the sheet. we can't just keep on building masjids and schools. its our job to take it another step forward. and we have to figure it out and pass this test on our own. because its YOUR test. and MY test. in the end the judgement is for Allah. he tests whom he loves, but its not my job to figure out whether he loves me or you more.