Remember Who You Are

By Ahmad Itani

     

    Let me ask you a question. Or wait…know what?  Why ask when I already know the answer? I think I'll have us ask ourselves a question.

Question one:

It’s easy for us to eat when we're hungry. We just go into the kitchen, open the fridge and everything's already there. And it’s easy for us to sleep when we're sleepy. Personally, I just go to my room, make sure I prayed Isha, throw the cat off the bed and lay on my face. And when it’s too cold, I wrap myself up in that comfy cozy bed-sheet of mine. Then in the morning, we go about doing what we do. We pray, we read Qur'an, we study hard hoping to become the best in our profession in order to fulfill our duty before God... It all seems so easy (except for the study part).

Now think about Hafiza. Hafiza is a little girl with an abusive father. When she's hungry, she doesn't go to the fridge, because she doesn't have one. When she's sleepy, she doesn't go to sleep. In fact, she waits for the night to hide in the dark. And in the dark she takes out a book, and reads next to the candle light, trying to be as quite as possible in fear of attracting her father's attention. Every time her father would catch her reading, he would throw her book away and yell at her because she was a girl. But that didn’t stop Hafiza. She worked and she worked until she became one of the best teachers I’ve ever known. (True story!)

But wait a minute…Who is the hero here?

Question Two :          

Let me take you back 1400 years ago:

You live in a corrupt city ruled by drunken bearded men with swords and lots of money. Every day, you see them talk to their magic rocks with scary faces carved into them.  They rob the poor, and they love tricking pilgrims into their little scams. One day, a good man comes out of nowhere and stands against those men, claiming that he knows a better way of life that doesn’t involve talking to magic rocks with scary faces. You agree with this man, but wait… the drunk people don’t. They start killing and torturing whoever follows him..

In that particular case, would you be the good person you are today, and stand by this man? Or would your fear overcome your passion for the truth?

I don’t know about you. Maybe you think these questions sound meaningless. But for me, they have answered one of the questions that I’ve always pondered as a child: Why would God test us if God knew everything?

Well…I don’t think we can really know…but what we do know is that everything comes from God. And whenever God “tests” us with the downs and slips of life, he isn’t looking for answers…he already knows the answers… it is for us to ask ourselves the question! It is for us to remember that we are still spiritually weak in order to grow stronger before it’s too late. So are we the good people we think we are? Or will we break down when the conditions aren’t right?!

Life is a bumpy road. Some roads have more bumps than others. And just because I’m ahead, doesn’t mean I’m a hero. I was lucky, my road wasn’t so bumpy. So don’t ever think you’ll get away with an easy life… That’s what Surat Al-Ankabut tells us.

I have this friend. Let’s just call him Glucose (because he’s sweet, and funny too). He had to stand up against one of the most hurtful things that life has to offer: The early death of his father. Seeing that he made it to where I am now, I realize that heroes aren’t those who were born on the top. Heroes are those who made it to the top, like our dear prophet Joseph(peace be upon him)…with one unbreakable goal in their hearts: To be with God always…and no matter what.