Revive Your Heart: Putting Life in Perspective

partnership with this guy. In other words when I leave the matter to Allah, Allah
is as worried about this, if not more, than I am. Allah is not some other that I am
asking; Allah is sharing with me in this matter. Allah is actually a part of this
situation. Whatever I am feeling, Allah knows better than even I know. If I care
about something, I should know that I have made 
tafwīḍ
of Allah, which means
not only do I trust Allah with whatever He does, I know Allah cares about what I
am asking Him. It’s not like He doesn’t care. Nobody gets to say Allah doesn’t
care just because Allah doesn’t answer the way you and I expected.
Part of this is our 
īmān
in the names of Allah and this is what I want to
conclude on. The angels said: 
lā ʿilm lanā illā mā ʿallamtanā
(
al-Baqarah
2:
245)—Master we have no knowledge, whatsoever, except what you taught us.
One of the names of Allah is 
al-ʿAlīm
—the one who knows everything. Now,
you and I think we know; Allah actually knows. There is a difference. Allah says
He brings you out: 
min buṭūn ummahātikum lā taʿlamūn shay’an
(
al-Naḥl
16:
78)—from the bellies of your mothers. He said He brought you out of the bellies
of your mothers, you still don’t know anything. He didn’t say He brought you
out of the bellies of your mothers, you 
didn’t
know anything—since a baby
actually doesn’t know anything. Rather, He says I brought you out of your
mothers and, by the way, you still don’t know anything—
subḥān Allāh
. 
Wa-Llāh
yaʿlam wa-antum lā taʿlamūn
—Allah in fact, knows. This is part of our 
īmān
—
Allah knows and I don’t know.
Let’s put that to the test. I think I know what’s best, but Allah actually knows
what’s best. I think that getting better is best. I think that getting that job is the
best. I think that this difficulty if I can get out of it, it’s the best. But Allah
knows, way better than I know. He knows way better than I know. I make 
duʿā’

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based on what I think is best—that’s what I can do as a human being. I will only
ask Allah based on the limited knowledge that I have, but thankfully Allah
knows better than you and me and everybody else so He will answer based on
perfect knowledge. And maybe the best thing for you is that He does not answer
right away, that He does not give you what you are asking for right away.
One of the most incredible examples of that in Islamic history, I call it
Islamic history because all prophets are from Islam, is the 
ḥawāriyyūn
of 
ʿĪsā
(
ʿalayhi al-salām
).
“Our Lord! We believe in the commandment You have revealed and
we obey the Messenger; make us, then, one of those who bear witness
(to the Truth).”
(Āl ʿImrān 3: 53)
They made 
duʿā’
to Allah: 
Rabbanā innanā
āmannā wa-ttabaʿnā al-Rasūl
fa-ktubnā maʿa al-shāhidīn
. We’ve come to 
īmān
, we’re following the
messenger 
ʿĪsā
(
ʿalayhi al-salām
) write us among those who are witnesses. And
ʿĪsā
(
ʿalayhi al-salām
) clearly needed help:
… as Jesus, son of Mary, said to the disciples: “Who is my helper in
(calling people) to Allah?” The disciples had responded by saying:
“We are Allah’s helpers”…
(Al-Ṣaff 61: 14)
He said: who’s going to aid me towards Allah? 
Qāl al-ḥawāriyyūn naḥnu
anṣār Allāh
—They said we’re going to help you in the cause of Allah. We’re
going to be the aides of Allah. Now Allah in that