We, at times, are presented with situations and hardships where there is no clear path to choose in order to reach a solution – this can lead us to confusion and anxiety when we don’t know which way to go.
While I was looking for guidance myself, I came across a verse from Quran that gives a straight answer to clear the confusion and provide guidance as to what we should be doing when we are presented with a problem and either can’t find a solution or are confused as to what way to proceed. Let’s take a look at the verse and its translation.
ما أَصابَ مِن مُصيبَةٍ إِلّا بِإِذنِ اللَّهِ ۗ وَمَن يُؤمِن بِاللَّهِ يَهدِ قَلبَهُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيءٍ عَليمٌ
[Surah AL-TAGHABUN ( التغابن ) 64, Verse 11]
No affliction visits [anyone] except by Allah’s leave. Whoever has faith in Allah, He guides his heart, and Allah has knowledge of all things.
From the verse, I would focus on the part which says “whoever has faith in Allah, He guides his heart” – the translation has a lot of depth as explored by the scholars and I would shed some light on the context that it presents for us.
The clear advice Allah SWT is putting in the verse is that when stuck in hardships, not knowing what to do (confused), anxious about the results, and in sadness, we should focus on reviving our faith in Allah (this means that we should improve and increase our prayers, supplications and remembrance of Allah SWT). Following the advice, Allah SWT mentions that He will guide the heart – this is beautiful because a lot of times we are going through anxiety and depression also because we don’t know the way forward, this verse comes in as a savior.
The last part of the verse is beautiful where Allah SWT reminds us of His entirety of Knowledge – this piece gives instant relief to someone who refers to this particular verse at a time of hardship, how? Because Allah SWT is being extremely specific with us that He knows everything – our hardships, our confusions, our anxiety, our sadness (even when we may not have the right words to explain).