Don’t Sell Yourself Short

By Imam Abdullah El-Amin, Muslim Media News Service (MMNS)

“And those who having done an act of indecency or wronged their own souls, remember ALLAH and ask for forgiveness for their sins, – and who can forgive sins except ALLAH? – And are never obstinate in persisting knowingly in the wrong they have done. For such the reward is forgiveness from their Lord and gardens with rivers flowing underneath, an eternal dwelling: How excellent a recompense for those who work and strive in the cause of ALLAH.

Ali Imran:135-136

This verse from the Qur’an is one of my favorites because it calms my soul as I remember all the wrong I have done in my life. Without the strength we get from the message and the Messenger that ALLAH sent to us, we would be lost. (I know I would).

Too many people allow guilty feelings or feelings of inadequacy to keep them from exerting themselves to reach their full potential. I have seen and talked to many people who let other people throw hurtful words at them and tear them down. But these people are worse than the ones they are trying to belittle.

Allah warns us of this in Hujurat:11

“O ye who believe! Let not some men among you laugh at others. It may be that they are better than you. Nor let some women laugh at others: it may be that they are better than you. Nor defame or be sarcastic to each other, nor call each other by offensive nicknames. Ill-seeming is a name connoting wickedness, to be used of someone after they have believed. And those who do not desist are indeed in the wrong.”

ALLAH The Almighty put Adam (male and female human beings) in charge of and above all creation. He endowed us with tremendous power through these human resources to raise ourselves and the rest of creation, to great heights.

ALLAH is also the Most Merciful and Most Forgiving. He gave us a piece of those same attributes and is also aware of our shortcomings. And the need for repentance. And believe me, we are most fortunate that His mercy exceeds His wrath, or we’d all be in big trouble.

This is why it is important to keep your spirits high and not sell yourself short. Negative feelings about you can only come from one source–the Devil. Remember, when he was Iblis, he was ordered to make sajda to our grandfather Adam (as) but he refused. He thinks he is better than us because he is made from fire, and therefore tries to make us sell ourselves short because of a silly mistake we may make or omit.

Let us look at ourselves the way ALLAH looks at us and not the way our chief enemy wants us to look at ourselves.

As Salaam Alaikum
(Al Hajj) Abdullah Bey El-Amin

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