True Purpose

c h a p t e r 16

Three days had passed since Hassan had offered to teach Zaynab the Qur'an. Zaynab, being a typical nerd, was a very fast-learner and she had no trouble with learning it. An added advantage was that since Arabic was her mother tongue, learning the alphabet and the pronunciations was no problem for her. On this third day of her Qur'an class with Hassan, Zaynab had started Surah Baqarah for the first time, and she was progressing very well.

Just as Hassan had promised, reciting the Qur'an was the best thing that Zaynab had ever done in her life. The peace, serenity and tranquility, the happiness, contentment and satisfaction she gained from it was unbelievable. It was undescribable and right there Zaynab knew that she would never be able to derive such amazing feelings from anything else in life.

Everyday, after teaching Zaynab how to read the Qur'an, Zaynab would ask Hassan to read any Surah he wanted from the Qur'an to her. She loved the way he recited the Qur'an. His deep, beautiful voice soothed her and she felt that she could spend her entire life just looking at his face as he recited the Qur'an, listening to his perfect voice reciting the words of her Creator, perfectly.

At that very moment, Zaynab was lost in the beautiful words of Surah Ad-Dhariyat that Hassan was reciting, and although she was paying attention to the words of her Lord as Hassan recited them, when he reached the fifty-sixth ayah onward, Zaynab's eyes filled tears.

"Wa maa khalaqtul jinna wal insaa illa liya'buduun. Maa ureedu minhum min rizqin wa maa ureedu an yut'imuun. Inn Allaha huwar razaaqu dhul quwwatil mateen. Fa inna lil ladheena dhwalamu dhunooban mithla dhunoobi  as'haabihim fa laa yasta'jilun. Fawaylun lil ladheena kaffaru min yawmihimul ladhee yuw'adun."

Zaynab understood the exact meaning of these words, which is what made her cry at them.

"And I did not create the jinn and the mankind except to worship Me. I do not want from them any provision nor do I want them to feed Me. Indeed, it is Allah who is the [continual] Provider, the firm possessor of strength. And indeed, for those who have wronged is a portion [of punishment] like the portion of their predecessors so let them not impatiently urge Me. And woe to those who have disbelieved from their Day which they have been promised."

How wrong Zaynab had been about life. She always thought life was all about studies only, and nothing but that. That passing in studies would be what would make her finally be able to support herself. Little did she know, the only One she should ideally rely on for support should be Allah alone. Because Allah alone is sufficient for everyone.  Little did she know that actually, life was solely about worshipping Allah, which is why He created everyone. It is Him then Who would be responsible for supporting her, Who would be responsible for providing for her.

Wasn't Zaynab a disbeliever all this time? Because even though she was a Muslim by name only, she didn't believe in Allah. She didn't even know that a Being existed, Who had created her, the One Who was always watching her.  So didn't that make her a disbeliever?

Tears flowed freely from her eyes at the thought of that, and how she would have been punished, had it not have been for Hassan, thanks to whom she finally embraced her religion, and acknowledged her Creator.

And as for the wrongdoers, the dhwaalimeen, Zaynab finally got her heart's content knowing that Allah would deal with them. He had promised that in the Qur'an, that He would punish them. Zaynab knew that she didn't need to spend her whole life hurting because of how she had been tortured when Allah had always been there to see everything. Didn't Hassan say that Allah was Al-Adl? He was the most Just?