It’s a time of great uncertainty, with many of us now feeling overwhelmed by the lockdown, quarantine and other changes we have to adapt to due to COVID-19 outbreak.
So it’s normal for our minds to get stuck with fear and stress, and we keep asking ourselves many questions we might not have an answer for!
However, there is one important question everyone should be asking at the moment.
Sister Yasmin Mogahed shared her thoughts on this important question through her Facebook page, and they are highly inspirational!
Here’s what she says:
Am I Good with God?
Many people are struggling today to deal with the anxiety and uncertainty of this crisis. But the issue goes deeper than just Coronavirus. The Turth is, there is one formula for success in *any* circumstance:
We must focus on what we can control, rather than on what we cannot control. In other words, we must narrow our long list of worries to only one singular concern.
Our everyday lives are full of various concerns. And now this crisis brings new worries and new fears. As a result, our hearts have become tired and overwhelmed. The heart is not designed to have many concerns. It is designed to have only one. One *ultimate* concern…
Am I good with God?
Today we have all pushed the pause button on our lives. We aren’t going to work. We aren’t going to school. We aren’t going out to eat or shop or meet friends for coffee or dinner. We aren’t traveling or even praying in congregation. No one is going to bars or casinos or clubs.
Many people are discussing why this is happening. Is it a punishment? Is it a test? Could there be a hidden blessing? Could there be a conspiracy? Other people are consumed by the news, following each and every statistic, news story, or headline.
But we are focused on the wrong questions. We don’t need to understand why God does what He does. And we can’t control what’s happening in the world. That’s not our job nor are we authorities on Divine wisdom.
We won’t be asked about the statistics or the death toll. We won’t be asked to explain God’s wisdom. Our focus should be on the one thing we *will* be asked about. The one thing we *can* control: Our response.
Perhaps this great pause is to help us remove the many false concerns that surround us, to focus on the only one that matters:
Am I good with the Creator, and am I good with His creation?
In this situation, that means turning back to Allah (tawbah). It means repentance. It means increasing my thikr (Quran, athkar, duaa). It means fixing my prayers. It means rectifying my heart and my actions. It means making sure I’ve fulfilled the rights of Allah *and* the rights of the creation.
Am I protecting others and myself through social distancing? Have I done right by my parents, my spouse, my children, my neighbors? That’s also what it means to do right by God. Have I fulfilled the rights of the people around me?
Every single one of us will die. And every single one of us will meet our Maker. It is not about *when*. It is about *how*. In what state will my heart be in? In what state are my actions? So let us put aside the debates and the obsession with news, and focus on what we *can* control. And on what matters.
Am. I. Good. With. God?