Wednesday, August 29, 2012

the only help is God's

I recently came across this quote while reading something online:  

"We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone."

I supposed I remembered it because I can't help but feel that in all the bustling of life, we are infinitely alone. When I came back to Toronto from Egypt, I hoped and even expected that I would get help from people that I knew and loved with certain things. And over the past month and a half I have come to realize that most people live only for themselves, and have little or no desire to lend a hand to someone else (regardless of his/her affinity towards the other).

I don't claim to be the one person out of one hundred that actually helps people when they are in need, but I always thought of myself as someone who, when given the opportunity and means to help someone, would do so.

The fact that people can feign concern for you and your well-being in such a seemingly genuine way, then discard you when you're in a time of need disturbs me. It makes me question many things that I thought I knew. It makes parts of me that I didn't realize could hurt, hurt.

At the end of everything, it's truly only God that you can lean and rely on. No other person can give you what He does, or plant the seeds of serenity in your heart. But I wish I could see more good in people, too, because the more selfish and uncaring humans that I come to know, the more I fear I may be just like them.


5 comments:

in the falling leaves said...

What a beautiful reflection.

11 Years old with attitude said...

http://youtu.be/t2dNLFl6Rdc

http://youtu.be/nNPDwZ3gt_Y

Olde said...

Assalamu aleikum,

The more a person strives to follow Islam properly, the more truly helpful you will find they are.Because if you are mindful of Allah and knowledgeable of the tenets of faith, and striving to follow the way of the Prophet *in all matters of life*, then you will automatically think of your brother/sister before you think of yourself. There are too many hadiths on that fact. It's a core principle that, if ignored, points to the weakness of faith, regardless of what external acts of worship are performed, or what face a person shows to the world.
From all my experiences, I have found this to be absolutely true: only pious people truly help without expectation of anything because they are doing it for the sake of Allah. "Nice" people have no guarantees.

Bottom line is,people are selfish because they have kept the dunya (worldy desires) in their hearts. And what we all need to do is stop making excuses and stop keeping the dunya in OUR hearts. This is an age of narcissism: where people are addicted to Facebook because they seek the validation of others not the grace of Allah that comes with humility,where they post their lives just so they can get the "high" of someone else's approval or admiration. Goodness is in the secret acts and the hidden kindnesses you do without expecting anything, even a "thumbs up". We do good to others regardless of what they've done to us. We go the extra mile even if it exhausts us, for our own benefit. We do it for the sake of Allah.

in the falling leaves said...

I really wish you would post more sis...

Unknown said...

Salamo alaykom wa Rahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu,

Dear dear Esmaa,

I've been reading your blog since yesterday, just started at the very first post.

I just wanted to say you touched my heart with your posts and your reflections.

You made me laugh so hard, but also made me realize how short and strange this life is.

I just wanted to thank you for the amazing insights you gave to me and want to wish you the best of luck for everything in your life!

May Allah Ta'ala keep you always happy wherever you are, and always keep you at peace..

Ameen

Kind greetings from an Afghan girl living in the Netherlands,

Najla,