Sadullah Khan – 22nd Post Witr Talk Ramadaan 1444 2023

We

continue our theme.

Moral guidance from everyday experiences.

We are all aware that the current environment

that we find ourselves in,

it can be very challenging.

It can change us.

It can weaken us.

It can harden us.

It can most certainly test us.

And as we know anyway,

life is a test.

But the kind of challenges and trials and

tribulations that we are experiencing now

seems to be at a global level

a test of who we truly are.

An incident that may shed some light

on how to approach the inevitable challenges of

life.

A young woman or young lady

was complaining to her aged grandmother

about how life was so stressful.

She was tired of struggling and striving.

And whenever one matter was solved,

another two issues

seemed

to crop up.

So complaining to the grandmother,

the wise old lady

took her granddaughter into the kitchen

and put 3 pots

of water to boil on the stove.

She brought a carrot

and asked her daughter to feed it,

her granddaughter, and she said it's firm.

The mother took the firm carrot and put

it into the boiling water.

Then she took an egg,

solid on the outside

and of course protective layer

with liquid,

soft flowing liquid on the inside

and she put the egg in another boiling

pot.

And then she brought some coffee beans

and put

that into the 3rd pot of boiling water.

After a while,

the woman took out the carrots

and asked her daughter to feel the carrots.

That hard firm carrot

had now become

flexible,

spongy

and soft.

She took out the boiled egg,

the outside of the egg

which was solid was now cracked.

Easily able to be peeled off which you

couldn't do before.

But more than that, the inside of that

egg which was liquid

became hard and firm.

And when they looked at the coffee,

the coffee beans,

they both saw

that the coffee beans

had transformed

that boiling water

into an

aromatic drink of coffee.

Now the lesson, said the grandmother,

you see these three things, the carrot,

the egg and the coffee bean,

say, faced exactly the same challenge.

They faced exactly the same challenge, boiling water.

But each reacted differently

to the challenge

that they faced.

The carrot went in soft,

strong sorry, strong and hard,

unrelenting so to say, and came out soft

and weak.

The egg went in with a soft liquid

inside,

protected by a firm shell, but boiling water

hardened the softened interior

and cracked

the firm outer shell.

You see Allah makes reference not to this

particular thing but to the same notion of

hardened

hearts.

Sometimes people hearts become so hard

it's like rock or even worse than rock.

They can become hardened. You're not born with

hard hearts

but sometimes

it ends up like that.

But the coffee bean

was the only one that overcame the boiling

water

and transformed

its source of challenge.

It transformed it into

a drink, a delicious drink, a refreshing drink.

This is a simple very basic

kitchen story, a thought provoking story nonetheless

about perspective.

About the reality of adversity which we all

have to face in some way or the

other, and how you view things

that are happening in your life.

Maintaining perspective

on things

helps a person

to overcome adversity

in challenging situations.

But the question that the story poses to

us,

in life,

are you going to let the challenges

change your character and mangle your being

becoming weak like the carrot

or hardened like the inside of the egg?

Or will you be like the coffee bean?

Persevere,

meet the challenges that you face with a

degree of positivity.

Bear

with persistence

the challenge you face

and change your circumstances

to what is better.

Life

is often difficult.

It can be harsh.

It certainly can be stressful.

And the world

may feel sometimes like a pot of boiling

water.

But

faith,

patience,

perseverance,

all of these are essential

specifically for a person of faith to deal

effectively

for the inevitable challenges of life. Allah makes

reference in the Holy Quran.

The last verse of Surah Al Imran.

Oh you who proclaim faith, oh you who

believe,

patiently endure

patiently endure

with a facilitating persistence not only for yourself

but even other people.

Be patient and facilitate patient. Patiently endure with

facilitating

persistence

and with the consciousness of Allah

so that you may be successful.

We can be like the coffee bean

and discover the power inside us to transform

our circumstances,

to have a positive impact on our environment,

overcome our challenges

and create

positive change. May Allah grant us the strength

to be able to deal and overcome our

challenges with iman and was Sabah.