Islamic Pearls

When you are handling a child who slithers on the floor in her prayer garment in protest to reading the Quran while the baby grows hungrier by the minute, you think to yourself,

“She’d better be something when she grows up for all the trouble she’s giving me now.”

When you’re stuck in front of the stove with hot viscous oil sizzling in the pan, stove fan buzzing noisily, and raw chicken sitting in the bowl ready for cooking while your 5 month-old wails for milk only you can give, you find yourself running back and forth between the stove and your baby, all the while thinking,

“This too will pass.”

When you’ve just been told that your 24 week old fetus has no heartbeat, and that you have to be induced to get it out, you feel hot tears trickling down your cheeks, and your heart feels as if it has been shredded to bits that your chest actually physically hurts, you think in your head and say with your tongue,

“Inna lillaahi wainna ilahi raaji’oon. Allahuma jurnee fee museebati wakhliflee khaira minha.”

When you are trudging through knee-high snow in 30 degree weather, with a protruding belly underneath all that layer of shirt, dress, and winter coat, and trying hard not slip on hidden, invisible patches of ice, you think,

“There must be light at the end of the tunnel.”

When you nurse your one year old, hoping he would fall asleep and nap for two or three hours, but you only end up nursing him for an hour at which he is still perky and fresh, trying to grab your glasses and flashing you an impish smile, and you feel agitated because you have work to do, you think,

“Arghh!”

When you get so tangled in a web of difficulties in your daily life, you think,

“I can’t wait to get to Jannah!”

When you are exhausted beyond exhaustion from changing two children’s diapers back to back, wiping up the icky, crumbly, muddy mess under, around, on, and in between the baby’s high chair, nursing the baby while the toddler and 3 year old fight over a toy, and trying to take a exercise and shower while they’re still napping, you are so ready to receive your yusra.

Our daily life is so rife with day to day challenges, and our whole life is speckled with major tests and trials. As a mother, my tests mostly come from caring for my children, and throughout the years, I have personally taken this ayah as a source of solace in times of hardship, major or minor.

فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْراً

5:Muhsin Khan: So verily, with the hardship, there is relief, [Surah Al Inshirah; 94:5]

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