SubhanAllah. Today, my cell phone slipped from my hand, and what I saw was quite a heartbreaking scene, my cell camera’s screen had been shattered.
SubhanAllah! I saw shattered glass and assumed loss. In reality, the real lens was untouched.
I thought something was broken. It wasn’t. There was protection I didn’t even know about. The protection on the camera lens was already planted by the one who had gifted it to me, and I was all unaware about it.
I was thinking how many times do we panic over situations that look “ruined,” but the reality is that Allah Al-Hafeez (The Protector) has placed a barrier between us and actual harm. Sometimes we realize it, and sometimes we cannot perceive it.
Alhamdulillah! Sometimes what breaks is just the cover, not the core. But we end up assuming the cover as the core.
I didn’t install that protection. I was not even aware that it existed there at the first place. But it was there. I was thinking how Allah Al-Hafeez (The Protective One) has planted countless unseen protections, to cite a few like – the du’as we make for ourselves, and we think they are “not being answered as it is” or duas someone makes for us or sadaqah or good deeds that become shields by the will of Allah.
SubhanAllah! I was heartbroken before I had full information. Typical human nature. But clarity often comes later, sometimes even through someone else. In my case, it came through my younger one, Alhamdulillah.
I was heartbroken not just because I had cracks on the cell camera’s screen, I was sad because I just don’t take pictures. I capture reflections on the تَخْلِیق (creation) of Allah الخالق (The Creator).
The moment I saw broken screen I said – “Ya Rabb!
إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ”
…And I was reminded, the word Rabb doesn’t just mean “Lord.” It comes from the root r-b-b-the same root as tarbiyah.
Tarbiyah means, nurturing, gradual development, disciplined growth and cultivating something stage by stage.
Rabb is not just One Who owns. Rabb is One Who raises, develops, protects, refines and revives.
I thought my cell camera had shattered. My heart dropped.
Then I discovered protection was already there.
That is tarbiyah. Because tarbiyah is not always comfort. Sometimes it’s a controlled scare to make you feel deeply about the privileges you already have in your plate.
Sometimes Allah Al-Hakeem lets the cover crack so you can finally appreciate the real lens behind.
Alhamdulillah.