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How to Deal with Your Inner Struggle

Ustadha Ameena Blake
19 January, 2020

There is a battle all the time between the desires and the whims that we are feeling, and then we implement what’s called jihad-nafs (the struggle of the inner self).

So, how do we do that?

A Choice to Make

We have a choice to make. Imagine you’re driving down a road and you get to a junction in that road; you could turn left or you can turn right, it’s your choice.

If you turn left it’s going to lead you in a certain direction, and if you turn right, it’s going to lead you in a different direction. And then all the roads after that will be as a consequence of which choice you took.

Read Also: The Beauty of Free Will

 But Allah gives us many opportunities to become of the patients. So, it might be that you are in a junction right now of your life, you have some choices that you need to make, but then think about the consequences of your choices.

You can either choose to go down the road of a nightclub, which will be enjoyable but will not be beneficial for you; or you can choose to go down a different road, which will lead to some goodness and maybe will be a little bit more difficult for you, but will lead to this inner peace; but we do it step by step.

Sometimes we have very high expectations of ourselves, and what happens you will start practicing and we take on too much and then we end up falling over.

Take The First Step

Part of being one of the patients is not just having the patience, but also having this consistent action that we’re building step by step.

So, each little change that you make in your life is a change that you are doing with the intention of being a permanent change, not just a temporary change. Then eventually, we will find that Allah will help.

Allah expects us, as His servants, to make that first move. In fact Allah says that if we do change the condition of ourselves, then Allah will change what’s within us.

So, we have to change our condition first and then Allah will change our condition. Allah says in a sacred hadith that if we walk towards Him, then He will come to us running.

 What does that mean?

This means that Allah will help us. He will help our hearts. He will put positive opportunities in our paths for us to achieve amazing things with our Iman and taqwa.

About Ustadha Ameena Blake
From Sheffield, UK; Ustadha Ameena Blake embraced Islam in 1992. Her academic qualifications include undergraduate in English Studies, Post Graduate in teaching, MSc in Leadership and Management and MA in Islamic Studies. Ameena has been active since 1994 having studied under various shuyukh and academics including Dr Jamal Badawi, Sh Abdul Aziz Atiq (Yemen), Sh Faisal Manjoo, Dr Atullah Siddiqui and others. Roles have included Vice President of MAB, Assistant Secretary General of the MCB and Head teacher of a girl’s Islamic school. She is founding director of the EHUK women’s refuge project and is a lecturer at Markfield Institute of Higher Education. She also sits on Mosque boards and is an Islamic advisor on Halal Guide. Ustadha Ameena lectures about Islam nationally and internationally and has appeared at conferences, fundraisers and events across the globe. Her topics include tazkiyah, women in the Quran, dawah and Seerah and others. She delivers regular live interactive lectures on Facebook and has appeared on channels including Channel 4, Sky TV, The Islam channel, BBC radio, Iqraa TV and others.