All praise is due to the First, the Last, the Manifest, and the Hidden. We beseech and implore Him to forgive our missteps and transgressions, and to rectify our states, both outward and inward. And we call upon Him from our impoverished states to offer His most salient and manifest blessings upon our master, Prophet, Messenger, and delight of our hearts, Muhammad ﷺ.
The Prophetic teachings inform us that for every circumstance and situation there is a path to Allah. No matter the trial, tribulation, rejection or acceptance, wealth or poverty, Allah seeks us before we seek Him. Indeed, the key to real happiness is to realize the divine favor in choosing us over an infinite number of possibilities, as well as an infinite number of outcomes for each individual, and that the path we are on is the path that Allah desires for us. Indeed, the sages say: “The number of paths to God are by the number of breaths of His creation.” The great sage, Ibn ‘Ata’ said: “When He gives you, He bears you witness to His Benevolence, yet when He denies you, He bears you witness to His Ever Domination; however, He is in all of this facilitating your path to knowing Him and turning towards you with His manifest Gentleness.”
Thus, to know Allah is the highest aspiration and divine favor. The means by which Allah chooses for us to reach this pinnacle should be secondary to the object of aspiration, namely Allah Himself.
These past couple of years have brought with them many challenges, struggles, and pain to many members of our community. Suffering is an inextricable part of our earthly existence, but our souls, even if delighted by temporal pleasures, desire higher meanings and realizations. Islam is beautiful, Muslims are beautiful, but it is only our own egoistic imperfections and shortcomings that fail to manifest this beauty. We all have the potential to be men and women of Allah, and the primary and essential step is to avail ourselves of the beautiful Prophetic teachings.
As we relaunch the website for Sabeel Community, we would like to reiterate our commitment to finding this beauty together, via guided learning, building positive relationships, and spiritual development. We beseech our Creator to facilitate, bless, and grant all success, as all success is by Him alone, upon Him we place all trust, and to Him we oft-return.
– Walead Mohammed Mosaad