Over the past few weeks I’ve felt myself getting a bit tired. The constant repetition of classes, morning and evening. The constant memorization of new terminology, vocabulary, Ayat, texts from books of Fiqh and poetry from poems of Tajweed and Theology. Sometimes it all takes a bit of a toll on a person. In times like these, one needs to ensure they don’t pick up extra tasks for the sake of diversifying their work because those extra tasks may lead to them being unable to finish anything.
I believe at moments like these it is best to renew the intention. To remind myself why I am here, to remind myself of the blessing that God bestowed on me to allow me to be where I am. It is in moments like these that I need to continue pushing regardless of whether I see the finish line or not. A few days ago, I was contemplating on what things would be like when I’m done with my studies, both here at Studio Arabiya and in general here in Egypt. Won’t I miss these moments when there wasn’t a community calling for me to deliver some type of talk or to teach Arabic to children? When there were (for the time being) no children calling their “baba” away from his work? Won’t I miss those days when I was able to go freely from class to class without a care in the world, the only worry was about whether I had fully memorized the text with full comprehension. No doubt I will miss it all, and that is why I need to push harder. This is why I want to live in the moment that God has given me – To relish every opportunity.
One of my teachers here at Studio mentioned something in class the other day, “Why did you come here?” Of course all of the students mentioned that we are here to learn the book of God and the language He chose to reveal His words in. “Do you think everyone is afforded this opportunity?” We all looked down in shame (I forgot to mention that we had all neglected to complete our homework that night.) His point was made: this is the opportunity of a lifetime, this is the opportunity we all prayed countless nights for when we first decided to devote our lives to God and to learn more about Him. Our prayers came true. Now the question is, are we ready to devote the time? Now that the prayer has been answered, how sincere were we?
I believe I was sincere. If not, I probably wouldn’t be where I am today. The opportunities wouldn’t keep coming in. Because like so many others, when the only opportunity given to me was to drive an hour 3 days a week to a Quran class that only lasted 30 minutes and at the time I could barely read a word of Quran, when that opportunity was there I took it. When weekend classes started coming to my town, I got involved. When the Imams in the community needed help, I was there. When you devote yourself to God, He opens paths for you. So may God facilitate the paths of knowledge for all of us. Don’t give up, renew your intention and conquer the task that God has placed before you.
