Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff – ALLAH is the Only Reality

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

“..…And further, thou seest the earth barren and lifeless.  But when We pour down rain on it, it swells, and puts forth every kind of beautiful growth in pairs.  6). This is so because ALLAH is the Reality.  It is He who gives life to the dead, and it is He who has power over all things.” 

Qur’an 22:5, 6

Repeated:  There is a positive thinking book out called “Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff – and it’s all small stuff.”  This statement sort of puts in perspective everything we know.  ALLAH, The Almighty, made Adam (human beings) to be over everything we can see or imagine.  That is awesome power.  Just look at the creation of ALLAH.

We can start with the tiniest of atoms, which we cannot see with our naked eye, and they are composed of matter even smaller.  We are in control of even this microscopic material.  Look at the awesome destructive power we unleashed by splitting one.  The ensuing chain reaction resulted in the most destructive and deadly weapon man has ever used against his fellow man.  And that was 60 years ago so you can imagine what we have now.

We can then look at what we can see in this world.  Trees, animals, etc. are all under our control.  Tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters, will one day be controlled by us or at least we will harness their power for our use.

And this world seems to be nothing compared to the universe and beyond.  Adam is also in charge of that.  I don’t think it will be long before we have people living and vacationing on the moon.

But with all that great and powerful material creation that we can see, as well as imagine, we must remember, it is all fading away.  Science has calculated that the sun, as massive as it is, is burning out.  Only ALLAH is permanent. He, ALLAH, says everything is fading away except Him.  ALLAH is The Reality – The ONLY Reality.

“What is with you must vanish: what is with ALLAH will endure.  And We will certainly bestow, on those who patiently persevere, their reward according to the best of their actions.” 

16:96

So knowing this great truth we should not let any person bring us some “small stuff” and make us feel inferior to them.  Sometimes we let people chastise us by reminding us of some mistake we have made.  They will go so far as to make you seem stupid for making the mistake.  But we must remember, that mistake, and everybody’s mistake will go away along with the rest of creation.

Generally these people are reminding you of your shortcomings to make you seem small and make them seem big to you.  This is nothing but Shaitan trying to fulfill what he promised ALLAH he would do to Adam (human beings).  And when you look closely at them, you find they are making more mistakes than you – but trying to conceal them.  Their aim and intention is to denigrate you.

But if you view it right, your mistake is only there as a learning tool for you.  It is to teach you not to do that thing again.  But it will go away because ALLAH is the only reality.  If these evil people try to denigrate you by calling you stupid or something worse, just say, “maybe I am, but so are you.  ALLAH is the only reality.”  This should make you feel better instantly and while you are feeling better about yourself you can more directly take steps to improve yourself.  

As Salaam alaikum
(Al Hajj) Imam Abdullah El-Amin