Cashews, Answers and Comfort
On a recent trip to Senegal, there was one day that was particularly filled with what I would have called coincidences if I didn’t know that Allah planned it all.
The Cashews:
I had gone out solo (armed with my Google translate app) to buy cashews. I was really craving cashews. But despite my best efforts, I was unsuccessful. Shortly after that, I joined my sister and Alioune (our driver in Senegal) to visit a mosque. Along the way, Alioune stopped and got cashews for us - it was the first and only time he had ever done so with us the entire trip!
The Answer:
We continued on the drive and I was chatting with my sister about Islam in Senegal and asked: “When trying to advise against bid’ah, is it better to model the sunnah or to try and convince leaders who are engaging in or benefiting from said bid’ah to change so that their followers change?” Minutes after I posed that question, we eyed a beautiful mosque under construction (not the one we were traveling to) . And so we stopped to take a look. It turns out that this mosque and learning institute was being built to establish and promote the sunnah.
The Comfort:
We eventually reached our destinations for that day and then returned to drop me off at my hotel. Alioune then proceeded to take my sister to her hotel as she had an appointment soon. As I left the car, I was feeling so unusually sad. For some reason I just wasn’t ready for the day to end. I went up to my room and minutes later my sister called. “There’s too much traffic. We’re coming back to pray in your hotel. I’m not going to make it to my appointment. You want to go have dinner?”
Alhamdulilah. That whole day, I felt like I was being given a chance to see signs in the ways Allah was watching me and taking care of my every little whim.
وَقُلِ ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ سَيُرِيكُمْ ءَايَـٰتِهِۦ فَتَعْرِفُونَهَا ۚ وَمَا رَبُّكَ بِغَـٰفِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ ٩٣
Say, ‘Praise belongs to God: He will show you His signs so that you will recognize them.’ Your Lord is never unmindful of what you all do.
The Holy Quran | Chapter 27, Verse 93
