Opportunities

Constantly within our book we are reminded of Allah t'ala ni'ma upon us- that He send down pure water from the skies, that He created us in the wombs of our mothers and fashioned us with due care, and in due proportion, and so much more. 

But what is interesting about the narrative contained in our book is the *manner of gratitude that is incumbent upon us.*

For Allah t'ala wants for you to act, and to be grateful for the opportunity that He provides to you.

For when He makes accessible to you an opportunity, then only a fool would squander it.

So He reminds us for the pure water that He sends from the sky, and a grateful believer does not squander that bounty. But instead irrigates his land so that he might have provision.

He provides for us the night so that we might rest, and the day so that we might seek our livelihoods, so a grateful believer does not squander those opportunities and instead works hard to provide.

And when you are put to trial, a grateful believer is happy that he has the opportunity to prove his true worth, that he will act morally, stand up for truth against falsehood, pay the due of those to whom a due is owed, even when his means are straightened, that God might know who he is.

That is what Allah t'ala means when He says that *He does not change the state of a people until they change themselves*, that gratitude is not about Allah t'ala providing you with water, and nourishment, gushing straight into your mouths (Surah Raad, verse 14), but true gratittude is about you being thankful for having the opportunity to do good, to go that extra mile, to change the face of this country, and our people, as no one else can.*1

That we are actors, 

That we supplicate the Most Merciful, and then thank Him for the opportunity, and ability, that He affords us and then act to remove oppression from this country of ours, from those that surround us. 

So much so, that this be a rudder that changes the course of our World's history, that we might stand as a Nation again that removes oppression from our Holy Lands- the Lands of Ibrahim (as) and his progeny.

And that is what Islam was meant to be, 

not a flash in the pan, a power that had it’s day and now wanes

not a religion for a byegone era, 

but a force of change for the future.

And that is not an empty promise, for indeed the Promise of God is ever true, that when we change ourselves, are forever grateful for opportunity, and means,that He gives to us, and then seize that opportunity that presents itself to us, then He will change us in ways that no one will understand.*2

That we are the cusotdians of this World, by God's leave and with His permission.

And these others, these faithless people who oppress and wrong, and have no shame in oppressing and wronging.
Away with the faithless ones.

Knowledge is gained through study and deliberation. Not solely this above, but when you act to fulfil the opportunities that God presents you with.