A Quote For When Life Feels Heavy

A quote I keep coming back to, quoted by Khurram Murad in his book ‘In The Early Hours.’

‘Whoever allows the world to become his biggest concern has nothing to do with Allah, and Allah will instill four qualities into his heart: anxiety which will never leave him, business which he will never be free from; poverty which he will never rid himself of, and hope which he will never fulfill.’

{Tabarani}

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Every time I find myself worrying so much about the future to the point I feel my heart caught in my throat…

Every time I find myself exhausted at the end of a day, running and running to get through my to dos, but still never finding enough time to finish it all…

Every time I find myself overthinking my finances and worrying too much about the pennies…

I come back to this quote. And it all makes sense.

I realise why life suddenly feels like it got so much harder, why my chest feels constricted and my shoulders weighed down more.

My focus had slipped away from what really mattered – Allah.

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I just need to spend a few minutes thinking about how my days have changed gradually over time and I know straight away, Id messed up.

Its either my salaahs which now lack khushoo (concentration), or the time I spent with my Quran was becoming less and less, or my adkhar was just lip service without any real thought.

An act of worship that I used to do with utmost concentration and devotion was slowly slipping away and as a result, the problems of life suddenly felt like they were getting bigger and bigger.

It reminds me of the verse in Surah Taha, Verse 124:

‘But whoever turns away from My Reminder will certainly have a miserable life…’

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If life suddenly feels like its getting too much, if it feels like nothing seems to make you feel at peace, maybe just maybe the reason for it isn’t that life’s tests are getting bigger.

Maybe the reason for it is that you shifted your focus from Him, and instead started running after this world too much.

A dua I always go back to when I realise this-

اللهم لا تجعل الدنيا أكبر همنا

‘Oh Allah, do not make the Dunya our biggest concern.’

Ameen, ya Rabb.

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If you reached till the end of this reflection, thank you my friend. I appreciate it!

I hope we get to meet each other in my next reflection too. Until then, if you have any thoughts about what you’ve just read let me know (in the comments or any other way). I’d love to start a conversation!

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