veiled4allah: sabr

For those who are unfamiliar with the term, sabr is an Arabic word that means patience or perseverance. In the religious context it means continuing to put your trust in Allah SWT no matter what afflictions or calamities befall you. It's easy to get bitter or to give up hope or to stop caring. But we can't do that or we'll be lost. We have to remember that Allah SWT knows, and we do not know. He knows how good can come out of each thing that He has written for us, even if we don't see how that could be. One of our greatest struggles (jihads) in life is the struggle to submit to Him, to accept that He knows best for us. To be able to say "make me pleased with whatever You have willed for me and show me the good in it".

Life can be rough sometimes, so that you feel overwhelmed. You know in your head that there are many who are far worse off than you, who have seen their families or themselves raped or tortured, or they have no food and no home. But still your heart is filled with sadness and longing because that doesn't change your own situation or make things any better. Maybe it makes us selfish or self-centered, but it's still true.

The thing that seems to work best for me is to keep making du'a and keep asking Allah SWT to help me know what's right to do and to help me find the good in my situation that I can make better, and to set my heart at ease. And to take it one day at a time. It isn't a perfect cure for depression, but it's enough to keep me trying every day and not to give up. Sometimes I start wondering, because I feel so blue, but I know that if it weren't for Islam, if it weren't for my faith in Allah SWT and for the solid grounding that it gives me, I would be much worse off because then I wouldn't know any constructive way of coping with these feelings.

May Allah SWT give us all strength and increase our faith and set our hearts at rest. Ameen.