Followers

Friday, March 23, 2018

What does the Quran say about HOPE?


Many ask me how I remain focus and positive. How I stay the cause and do not give up easily. Why I seem to always have Hope. Always optimistic and positive about the future. So today I will share with you about Hope. Tomorrow, a related subject – Commitment, or shall I say how to stay committed.

One of my favorite verses in the Quran is at Chapter 3:139. Yusuf Ali translated the verse this way, which I like, “So lose not heart, nor fall into despair: For ye must gain mastery if ye are true in Faith.” This verse is my constant mantra whenever I have face difficulty. When it gets even harder, I will remind myself that a Merciful God will never test me more than I could bear (Quran 2:286). And I am confident that if I do the right thing, I will be okay (Quran 41:46) and hardship never last!!! (Quran 94:5-8)

There are many other verses that constantly help me to stay focus and have hope. Hope you too can make full use of them. Keep them in your phone if you cannot memorize them yet. They will become handy, anytime, any day, anywhere. 

Before I proceed with my entries, I would like you to remember that all over the Quran we are told that God is Most Gracious and Most Merciful. In fact, the first verse of the Quran 1:1 declares it, and so too all the other chapters, minus one. That in itself should remind you and I about hope - we can be sure and confident always. In the introduction to my book The Quran and I, I wrote, “I believe there is a good God who is merciful and full of grace. I have accepted whatever good or bad in my past with love, understanding and an open heart. If God is good, compassionate and full of love would He ever do anything bad to us?  It would be against logic, against His nature. There is a reason behind every trial and challenge in life. It is for us to ask, “What is the message here?” and grow more aware, more conscious.  Every test is a chance to discover ourselves and be more conscious of Him.”

So here are the verses for you.

All emphasis are mine to help readers focus on a particular message.

1.    In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Quran 1:1

2.    God does not burden any human being with more than he is well able to bear: in his favour shall be whatever good he does, and against him whatever evil he does. O our Sustainer! Take us not to task if we forget or unwittingly do wrong! "O our Sustainer! Lay not upon us a burden such as Thou didst lay upon those who lived before us! O our Sustainer! Make us not bear burdens which we have no strength to bear! "And efface Thou our sins, and grant us forgiveness, and bestow Thy mercy upon us! Thou art our Lord Supreme: succour us, then, against people who deny the truth!" Quran 2:286

3.    [In all these respects,] let him who has ample means spend in accordance with his amplitude; and let him whose means of subsistence are scanty spend in accordance with what God has given him: God does not burden any human being with more than He has given him - [and it may well be that] God will grant, after hardship, ease. Quran 65:7

4.    And, behold, with every hardship comes ease: verily, with every hardship comes ease! Hence, when thou art freed [from distress], remain steadfast, and unto thy Sustainer turn with love. Quran 94:5-8

5.    (But] do you think that you could enter paradise without having suffered like those [believers] who passed away before you? Misfortune and hardship befell them, and so shaken were they that the apostle, and the believers with him, would exclaim, "When will God's succour come?"  Oh, verily, God's succour is [always] near! Quran 2:214

6.    WHOEVER does what is just and right, does so for his own good; and whoever does evil, does so to his own hurt: and never does God do the least wrong to His creatures. - Quran 41:46

7.    (Hence,] O my sons, go forth and try to obtain some tidings of Joseph and his brother; and do not lose hope of God's life-giving mercy: [verily, none but people who deny the truth can ever lose hope of God's life-giving mercy. Quran 12:87

8.    AND SO, [when you fight in a just cause,] do not lose heart and [never] beg for peace: for, seeing that God is with you, you are bound to rise high [in the end]; [40] and never will He let your [good] deeds go to waste. Quran 47:35

9.    Wealth and children are an adornment of this, world's life: but good deeds, the fruit whereof endures forever, are of far greater merit in thy Sustainer's sight, and a far better source of hope. Quran 18:46

10.  So lose not heart, nor fall into despair: For ye must gain mastery if ye are true in Faith. Quran 3:139



Without hope, we cannot move to the future.
Peace, anas


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