I
find it amazing how there is not a single one of us that is infallible. Is it
not amazing? There is not one person on this earth incapable of slipping,
making a mistake or falling into error.
I think about this and i discover two major lessons.
First, that this is a pointer, a reminder and yet another sign that perfection is not ours, but Allah's alone. As a result, we must not expect perfection from one another, but rather be open to forgiveness, pardoning and overlooking the shortcomings; lowering our wings of compassion to one another.
But this is not the main lesson.
Every now and again, the mistakes we make, the errors we fall into serve as a "Humbling dose" for us. What it means is, we get reminded of our limitations and fallibility. It gives us another reason to turn back seeking forgiveness and it serves to keep our pride or arrogance at bay.
Imagine a situation where you never have to ask anyone for help or anything, you never make a mistake, and you get everything you want and you get everything right? I feel unable to imagine this, nor to imagine the size of ego that would come with it.
But when once in a while, we slip, we have to ask for help, we have to ask for forgiveness, and we have to get let down, then it reminds us of the fact that everything is not going to be perfect until we get to jannah in sha Allah, not life and most importantly not our own selves. And this is the humbling dose. A dose effective enough to steer us to the realization of our own imperfections; appropriate enough to keep us humble and down to earth and moderate enough to keep us grateful despite being imperfect.
So this turns out to be a mercy from Allah, if it makes us do that which is beloved to Him; turn back and seek forgiveness, humble ourselves, and cut down pride and ego. The result of this becomes even dearer to Him because an error that makes us turn back to Him in humility, seeking forgiveness is more beloved to Him than a good deed that turns us arrogant.
And our humbling dose does not always have to be a sin that we commit, it could be something we had sought for and never got, it could be overconfidence that was tamed by a failure or anything that reminds us that we do not own it all and we are not the ones in charge.
And as I mentioned earlier, the purpose of such a dose would only be to steer us back to humility and understanding, and thus is a mercy from Allah even so, as long as we are able to recognize it.
So perhaps subsequently, when we encounter a defeat, or fall into error, we hope to recognize this as a humbling dose for us, smile and say Alhamdulillaah for hopefully through this, we get to stay humble and close to our Lord.
I think about this and i discover two major lessons.
First, that this is a pointer, a reminder and yet another sign that perfection is not ours, but Allah's alone. As a result, we must not expect perfection from one another, but rather be open to forgiveness, pardoning and overlooking the shortcomings; lowering our wings of compassion to one another.
But this is not the main lesson.
Every now and again, the mistakes we make, the errors we fall into serve as a "Humbling dose" for us. What it means is, we get reminded of our limitations and fallibility. It gives us another reason to turn back seeking forgiveness and it serves to keep our pride or arrogance at bay.
Imagine a situation where you never have to ask anyone for help or anything, you never make a mistake, and you get everything you want and you get everything right? I feel unable to imagine this, nor to imagine the size of ego that would come with it.
But when once in a while, we slip, we have to ask for help, we have to ask for forgiveness, and we have to get let down, then it reminds us of the fact that everything is not going to be perfect until we get to jannah in sha Allah, not life and most importantly not our own selves. And this is the humbling dose. A dose effective enough to steer us to the realization of our own imperfections; appropriate enough to keep us humble and down to earth and moderate enough to keep us grateful despite being imperfect.
So this turns out to be a mercy from Allah, if it makes us do that which is beloved to Him; turn back and seek forgiveness, humble ourselves, and cut down pride and ego. The result of this becomes even dearer to Him because an error that makes us turn back to Him in humility, seeking forgiveness is more beloved to Him than a good deed that turns us arrogant.
And our humbling dose does not always have to be a sin that we commit, it could be something we had sought for and never got, it could be overconfidence that was tamed by a failure or anything that reminds us that we do not own it all and we are not the ones in charge.
And as I mentioned earlier, the purpose of such a dose would only be to steer us back to humility and understanding, and thus is a mercy from Allah even so, as long as we are able to recognize it.
So perhaps subsequently, when we encounter a defeat, or fall into error, we hope to recognize this as a humbling dose for us, smile and say Alhamdulillaah for hopefully through this, we get to stay humble and close to our Lord.
