Have you ever wanted to fight someone so badly. You just felt that you NEEDED to release all your anger onto something right now? Well BRING IT ON!There is an easy and efficient way to channel your anger and willful spirit in a way that brings you great reward.
I was visiting dearest Habayeb at A Learning Muslimah and read her Post on Ordeals are NECESSARY for the soul. I wanted to add onto her post with my own thoughts.
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We all know the phrase "that which doesn't kill us always makes us stronger" So why when we are tested do we feel so weak and lost? Because we are not seeing our ordeals our trials in the right light. I do this often myself so I'm writing this for myself as much as anyone else.
We all know the phrase "that which doesn't kill us always makes us stronger" So why when we are tested do we feel so weak and lost? Because we are not seeing our ordeals our trials in the right light. I do this often myself so I'm writing this for myself as much as anyone else.
A trial is like an endurance challenge. Yet more accurately it is a Faith Challenge! Allah throws challenges into our life to test our faith. Like those who build skyscrapers and must build them in a way that if shaken by an earthquake they will not fall. We must build our faith so that when Allah tests us it does not fall.
Many of us are aware of the story of the first Martyr of Islam, a woman, named Sumayya. She was tied up and forced to deny Allah, Muhammad, and Islam. Her son bound to a pole near her was forced to watch her being tormented. She would not compromise her Faith in the face of Death. By uttering her last testification of faith in the face of death she said the ultimate "BRING IT ON!" She literally fought Shaytan and kicked him to the curb. Shaytan wanted her to give in to fear, to helplessness, to give in to disbelief. She did not. By her strength we have a Hero to look up to til the end of time. Those who think women in Islam are weak need only to look to it's first martyr to know the truth.
Everyday we wake up and even when the skies look a perfect blue we will be tested that day. Many of us are strong, stubborn, willful, intelligent, people. When we want to do something we will do it. So we should view each day as a challenge to beat Shaytan and prove our worth to Allah. I myself know that no argument made by man, no whisper of Shaytan, no force 'of nature' Allah may send into my life will convince me Islam is not the Straight Path. I am like Sumayya and know that even in the face of death I will be firmly saying SHAHADA. There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Messenger.
You wonder how I can be so sure,
what if my child dies? It is by the will of Allah and perhaps it is a Mercy from Him that the child will in the future help me to enter Jannah as all innocents go to Jannah. I will miss my child but their death doesn't mean Allah is cruel and I should forsake Him.
what if my husband beats me everyday? This is the fault of the husband's lack of good faith not the punishment of God. I don't need to loose my faith to leave a man like this, I need only to make my faith stronger and use my resources Allah gives me to leave.
what if I become paralyzed or loose a sense like seeing or hearing? It is just a test to learn how to do things in a new way. To let others gain reward of charity in serving to help me. To benefit in learning the world through the eyes of those who have walked that road before me and do my best in showing that road to others so they too can understand.
what if my plane is crashing and i have to jump into the sea with only a life raft and then wash up on a deserted island? Oh please, nomadic island life BRING IT ON! I'd love that challenge, sure I'd MISS my BELOVED family and friends (ahem and Internet full of bloggers), but I would not forsake Allah because of the "affliction" in fact I would Need to rely on Him and His Mercy even more.
We humans are always in trials and always have problems. No one has a perfect life. Each person is given a set of tasks to overcome to better their souls. Are you going to sit there shrinking from your to-do-list of soul improvement or try to ignore it hoping it will just go away? Or do you flex your strong Will and puff your chest like a man and bellow BRING IT ON!!!
Not every task will be so life altering. Sometimes those of us who are strong in facing these despair situations loose our faith subtly in the everyday drama of trying to keep life rolling smoothly. An example: you have to get to work on time and your kids are dragging you all the way and you show up to work an hour late through no fault of your own and your Boss chews you out, then at lunch break you have to work overtime to make up the time you missed in the morning but you then realize you need 15 minutes to pray Thuhr Prayer, you can't ask your Boss who already thinks your irresponsible so shaytan starts whispering a subtle way to break your faith...."go on and work, you can always make it up later at home right?...after all better late then never?..." so you give in and work really hard all day to SHOW your Boss how wonderful you are. You go pick up your kids but then get so wrapped up in their drama you forget to make up Thuhr and to pray Asr and now it's Maghrib before you realize the sun set and you haven't prayed all day. Your faith feels low and you start feeling anxious and depressed about life....
THIS is where you have failed to make Allah the first priority in your life. This is where you have succumbed to Shaytan and you let him beat you up and take your prized possessions (your faith). You didn't step up and take charge of things where you should have.
You failed that test. And small test like that build up on each other until failing after failing your faith is so weakened. Going back to the skyscraper metaphor. If debris in a tornado continue to tear away at the structure of your building, your building won't survive the next hurricane/earthquake. Instead, when the debris hits (those small tests), you gotta quickly rebuild and make things sturdy again. Repentance for failing even the small tests should come quickly. Even if you let them pile up for a long time now and your building is pretty darn weak you can still take a deep breath and start now to rebuild. Perhaps your neighbor will see you rebuilding and will give you a helping hand.
The first step is yours though. You need to realize you have to step up and face the Challenge of Defending your Faith from those who try to take it from you. 
You gotta put on your game face and just say Bring it ON! Bring it ALL ON! You will not take me out. And mean it.
You gotta put on your game face and just say Bring it ON! Bring it ALL ON! You will not take me out. And mean it.May Allah make it easy for you all to do so. Make du'a for each other and when you see your fellow human or animal or even plant being kicked to the curb in any situation Bring it ON yourself to lend a hand. Thus when you are down someone may offer that hand to you.
9 intelligent thoughts:
I am a smasher. but I have channeled my anger energy into smashing and throwing around soft inate objects until i feel good again. I am someone who neeeeeeds physical release. I usually just go for a work out at the gym or a long, very long walk.
Yeah rite Bring It On ;) ... Masha Allah beautiful post ... very insightful :) ... Jazak Allah for sharing ....
hmmm you know... I totally thought I did comment to you. Because I said yes that was totally ok for you to do that as long as you link it back to my page. Which now makes me wonder... where the heck did that first comment go and who has it?? @__@
You've been tagged dear pls visit Ms.Uniques Corner :)
I liked your thoughts on surviving on a deserted island. I think you would be a very organized "Castaway" Brandy!
Mashallah so many thoughts went through my head reading this. Paralyzed but strong Christopher Reeve. The Iraqi or Palestinian mother mourning their young...Gilligan's Island, only with less romance and more reflection of Allah....
Sweetie, you are SUCH a gifted writer. I was reminded of Habayeb's posts with this, but I love your extra touches. No offense to Habayeb of course, but I like your real-life comparisons.
May Allah reward you! Love you so much sweetheart.
Oh it has been BROUGHTEN! lol... just kidding. Good post Brandy Keep up the good work.
I'm not sure about the whole butt kicken will power thing like you are. But, my grandma used to say a great woman is like tea, you only know her true colors when she's in hot water. oh how hard ti is to balance and prioritize what's necessary in life. The smallest of things can seriously shake my core.Thanks for the reminder. Like the hadith says, Allah (swt) only tests those that he loves.
:)
Oh, I totally asked my sheikh about that one day, because he was all, "You can't make du'aa against anyone," and I was like, "Well, does asking God to make someone disappear from the earth count?" and he was like, "(laughs) uh, yes." And I was all, "Man, because I was totally making that du'aa during Ramadan." and everyone in my class looked at me all weird and it got quiet, so I laughed like all awkward and was like, "Uh..heh..eh..heh? Just kidding."
Only I totally wasn't kidding, but don't tell my sheikh.
Bring it ALL ON!
Sometimes you need to drink your anger.
Rubber.
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