The Deficiency in Sufficiency

While being in a state of deficiency put you in an endless state of worry, being put in the position where you feel fairly sufficient can do nothing less.

The day my A-level result was announced was one of a kind. I have never cried when I got my UPSR, PMR or even SPM result, but my A-level result day was a whole different story. That's when I found out that being grateful when things have been fine and when things have not been going well are definitely two very distinctive feelings. Something that is gained through the harder way is certainly appreciated way more - well at least I guess that explains the tears I shamelessly burst on June 10th last two years. I then started to question, have I expressed my gratitude ample enough for all the times I have been blessed with the 'gifts' - either to excel academically or in life generally - all this while? 

In a hadith narrated by Imam at-Tirmidzi, Rasulullah s.a.w. said:

Whoever looks at the world by looking at those who are less than them, and he looks at religion by looking at those who are better than them, Allah s.w.t. (puts him) among those who have patience and gratitude

As I am on the way to finishing my second year of undergraduate studies in a city that might have been in some people's childhood dreams, I recently keep thinking of the way I have been living my daily life. While acknowledging the fact that everyone has their own unique set of life challenges, I still believe that I need to constantly remind myself not to complain too much when my studies become tougher as days pass, as there are people who are not even granted the opportunity to pursue their studies in the first place, let alone to study abroad. It is true that the only way to have a sustained sense of gratitude is to look at people who have less in order to get yourself out of the trap of endlessly wanting what others have and also not to let life obstacles blind your perception towards your sufficiency.

Sometimes it takes other people to open your eyes to see the things you have been blessed with. A few hours after I have published this post, Miss Fatihah commented on my most recent Instagram post on my trip to Bratislava last winter, which left me speechless:

You visit and study some of the most remarkable places ❤️ you're living a life some people can only dream of

To be honest, it is even hard for me myself to believe that I have been given this privilege; to travel around Europe because I live in the UK, and to travel around underrated places with the license of my archaeology degree. No amount of alhamdulillah can describe how grateful I am for this "opportunities", so I really hope the insights that I have got would benefit me and others in the future.

Travelling has taught me a handful of lessons, and gratitude is one of the most significant wisdom I have got to keep with me. It is only through travelling, especially when I went for my fieldwork, that I learn to appreciate the amount of time, the appropriate place, the comfortable space that I have ever had to perform the prayers - I take these things for granted all the time when I am at home. Travelling, by studying abroad, teaches me to value the time I have got to spend with my family. The opportunity to travel without having to make a visa to enter another country makes me realise how grateful I should be for not having to go through the hassle of making one. There are tonnes of lessons you can gain through travelling that can be talked about but my point is, sometimes it doesn't have to be looking at those who have less, as being reminded of the state when we ourselves used to be in that 'less' condition can also build that sense of gratitude within us.

Meanwhile, I am in the midst of sending applications for internship jobs this summer, and I have not gotten any replies from any of the organisations yet :') It then hit me how competitive the working world is, and how grateful people with profession should be despite facing daily dose of first world problems for the fact that there are loads of people out there who are jobless and homeless, and some of them are even...feeling hopeless for not being able to be self-sufficient, let alone to feed their children and families.

Gratitude of the 'Business' Class

Imam Abu Ishak Ibrahim bin Ahmad Al-Khawwas divided gratitude into two categories. The first one is the gratitude of the public. These people are those who are grateful when they are blessed with good food, nice clothes and so on. The second one is the gratitude of the special class. These people are those who are blessed with the hearts that are never oblivious from remembering Allah s.w.t. It is said that those who are only grateful for the sake of food and drinks are those who have the blind of heart. It then makes so much sense to me why Allah said in surah Saba' verse 13; "..and very few of My servants are grateful.", especially when we consider the fact that gratitude is more than just saying 'alhamdulillah' - it also involves our heart (qalb), speech (tongue/lisan) and also our body (jasad).

I come to think of it like travelling on flights. The gratitude of the public is like the gratitude of the traveler in the 'economy class'. It is default - being grateful for the meals and apparels that you have is something that most people can do. On the other hand, it takes us to pay more in order to fly on a business class package; which means that it takes a person to have much more feeling of gratitude that will indirectly lead him/her to increase his/her remembrance to Allah in order to be 'assigned' into the group of people who have the gratitude of the special class.

The phrase 'rezeki tak pernah salah alamat' should be enough to remind us that everything has been decreed in one's life with nothing more or nothing less, so we should be grateful and have patience on a regular basis - whether life has been throwing us honey or lemons - as while a test can be a gift (ujian itu nikmat), rizq (sustenance) is also a form of test to see how do we manage the provisions He has vouchsafed to us. 

All in all, when life has been seemingly sufficient, don't let our gratitude to be in deficient. And when it feels like life has been deficient, look around us; trust me there are thousands of reasons to be grateful - in which they are more than just sufficient for us to kick start our lives on a new day.

Patience is half of iman. Being grateful is the other half. - Ibn Qayyim