The true meaning of love

The situation in Syria continues...the fighting, killing and suffering. Nobody wants to live in a war zone, everybody wants to live in peace. When I was making a decision to return to Malaysia, I was afraid that things might change. I was afraid if this country would suffer the same fate as Afghanistan, Iraq or the Middle East. I do not want to see war, chaos, disorder but the world is changing every day and the political situation all over the world seems so unstable, it is hard to imagine what will happen tomorrow.

I was watching Al-Jazeera and a Syrian man said something that affected me. He said his people have lost everything. They used to have a thriving economy, oil, universities, schools, business, factories but now they have lost everything...there is no businesses, no petrol, no homes, no security and not even knowledge. He said "we have nothing left except God".

Most people who listen to that statement would think this man is the poorest person alive, how pathetic is he compared to someone who lives in Sri Hartamas with a big mansion and several sports cars. In the eyes of the world, the one with the wealth, the children, the mansion, the fancy gadgets...that is the rich person, the successful person. However, for me...I have come to understand that when a person has lost everything they've ever loved, when God takes away everything and He leaves a person with nothing but Himself, that is actually the richest person alive.

Why? because the world and everything in it is nothing compared to a REALIZATION, an UNDERSTANDING...that all of this is temporary, is borrowed, is unreal compared to the reality of the hereafter. I don't know how else to say this but that REALIZATION, like when you're in a dark room and you can't see a thing but suddenly someone switch the light on and you start to see everything...that KNOWLEDGE, that ability to see what you have never seen before, that is what makes a person RICH beyond all means...beyond all wealth...beyond this world.

There will be sceptics or atheist or people who will think that I'm talking about some myth, some mumbo-jumbo or just making up a deity to make human beings feel better but No! I'm talking about holding on to the One who ensures that the sun rises in the morning, that the moon rises in stages to complete a full month, that the rain falls down from the sky to bring life to a barren land, the One that ensures that gravity exist at all times to pull us down firmly on the ground. I'm talking about the One who ensures everything is constant everyday without fail...

Surely we do not believe that the universe runs by itself like a ship without a captain, an airplane without a pilot or a hospital without a manager? Everything requires someone to regulate it, to make sure that things run smoothly and according to plan. Allah SWT says in the Qur'an:

Chapter 10:5 "He it is who made the sun a shining brightness and the moon a light, and ordained for it mansions that you might know the computation of years and the reckoning. Allah did not create it but with truth; He makes the signs manifest for a people who know. 

When you lose something special...you must remember that it is Allah SWT who took it from you. Allah gives and He takes and He replaces it with something better. When you sacrifice the things you love for the sake of Allah SWT, you start to appreciate the true meaning of love.

When everyone leaves you, when they hurt you, when your heart is broken, when you are harmed by others...you understand that God never leaves, He never forsakes you, He never ignores you, He heals, protects, comforts you. He forgives and He shows Mercy. He is always there ready to accept your repentance and ready to answer your prayers (dua).