“I never think of the future
- it comes soon enough.” ― Albert Einstein
Future is something that we can never predict. Even a gypsy with a
crystal ball is not able to tell you the exact future despite insisting that
she can.
One thing for sure is that the future is only known to God Al-Mighty.
It is because of tomorrow is not known to us, led us to develop this fear of
the future.
We are afraid that we will face poverty in the future that it prompted
us to become workaholics in order to save a lot of money as a safety net for
the future. This is also the fear of running out of money in the future that we
are reluctant to part with the money that we have in hand, for charity. In our
anxiousness to accumulate material things, we tend to lose sight of things that
really matters such as spending time with loved ones and most important of all,
spending time with Him and for Him. How many time have we told ourselves the ‘excuse’
that we don’t have time for charity or attend Islamic lectures or to perform
sunnah acts? God created ‘time’ and yet we use ‘time’ against Him.
The question is, why do we fear the future? One thing for sure is
that we can never be certain of our outcome no matter how much we prepare for
it. Let me give you a living example. When I was pregnant with my first child,
I made sure that I did everything in the book to prepare for the perfect birth.
I dragged my poor husband to ‘lamaze’ classes and made him learn breathing
techniques so that he could remind me how to breathe when I was in labour. I
ate every food that has been said to be good for the baby’s development and
also food that could facilitate easy delivery. I walked as much as I could so
that my delivery will be fast and smooth. I packed my ‘hospital’ bag and made
my poor husband memorised the ‘emergency exit’ plan. I thought my plan was full-proof!
Boy! Was I ever so wrong….
One fine night, when I was already at 37 weeks, I discovered that
my water bag was leaking. I alerted my husband and was ready to follow the
emergency exit plan. Instead, my husband, who watching football final on tele,
had other plans. After making sure that
I was not in any pain, he asked if he could watch the game till the end, which
according to him was soon. So I sat down, waiting, until the game ended which
was an hour later. So much for my emergency plan exit! Then, when the game
ended, my husband calmly drove me to the emergency ward and the nurse admitted
me in. 24 hours after that, I was still walking around with my huge belly. My
daughter was showing no sign of wanting to come into this world. I wasn’t not
feeling any pain despite the graph detector which was attached to my belly was
going crazy up and down, recording the contraction level. That is when I
discovered that I have a very high pain threshold. So my doctor put me on the drip
to expedite the labour process. After a few hours, things were pretty much the
same. My doctor then decided to break my water bag. Then, hell broke loose…
O.M.G!!! I told my husband earlier that I didn’t want to take any
painkiller as I wanted the birth to be as natural as possible but after my
water bag burst, the pain was unnaturally unbearable. I was ranting on like a lunatic until my doctor begged me to take the painkiller.
To make the story short after 1 hour of pushing hard, my daughter
decided that she was not going to come out the normal way so I had to be
wheeled into the operating theatre for a emergency C-section.
Nothing that I had painstakingly prepared for all those months, was put into practise that night. The breathing technique? Ooh, when my
husband wanted to coach me through I told him to ‘shush’ because I was in too much pain to even concerntrate.
The bottom line is, no matter how much we worry about the future
and try to prepare for it, only God will decide how it will turn out. If the
future does not turn out the way we anticipated it, then we must learn to
accept it and move on. Now, that is what we call ‘believe in pre-destination or
divine destiny’ and it is the 6th pillar of eaman.
“Iman (faith) is to believe in Allah, His
angels, His revealed books, His messengers, the last day, and the
predestination of all things both (those which appear) good and (those which
appear) bad.
(Muslim)
“Say: "Nothing will happen to us
except what Allah has decreed for us: He is our protector": and on Allah
let the Believers put their trust.”
Surah At-Tawbah 9:51
One thing that I learn is that losing sleep or
getting all stress up about the future is actually pointless. Having said that,
it does mean that we basically don’t do anything at all just because everything
is written. What it means is that we try to the best of our abilities and let nature
takes its own course. However things turn out to be, just accept it as being
the best for us even though it might not be as what we had planned. If we get
upset with the turn of events, trust me, we will not find peace in our hearts.
By questioning ‘why’ will not change the past but we are actually questioning
God’s Will and decision.
Every time when
we pray we recite, “RABBANA
ATINA FID DUNYA HASANA WA FIL AKHIRATI HASANA WA QINA AZAB AN NNAR, "Our
Lord! grant us good in this world and good in the hereafter, and save us
from the chastisement of the fire.", that means we have to
put our full faith in God Al Mighty. What He gives us is ‘good’ for us in this
world though it may not be what we wanted.
For me and my husband, we learnt our
lessons and decided then after to take things as they come when it came to
deliveries of our children. No more Lamaze class or emergency exit plan or breathing
exercises, much to my husband’s delight! All of my birth deliveries were topsy-
turvey so it was a good thing that we didn’t have anything planned.
Furthermore, none of my other 3 children were born on their due date. In fact,
all 3 decided to make their grand entrance much earlier than their elder sister.
Looking
back, I realise that indeed God has given me the ‘good’ in this world despite the
chaos……Alhamdulillah
“.But it is possible that ye dislike a
thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you.But
Allah knoweth, and ye know not.”
Surah
Al Baqara 2:216
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