Assalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
Bismillahir- Rahmanir-Rahim
1. Opening
Have you ever tried to drain an entire vast ocean using a small meatball bowl? Impossible, right? Not only would it never be drained—the bowl would surely shatter under the water pressure.Strangely, many of us try to fit Allah’s boundless, infinite justice into the “small bowl” called the human intellect, and when our intellect can’t grasp it, we begin to doubt Allah’s justice. Mathematically and by pure logic, a system can never be comprehensively measured or proven by a component inside that system if the data is incomplete. Humans are surrounded by limitations: we do not know the past in full, we are blind to the future, and we cannot read the deepest intentions in another person’s heart.Thus, scientifically, the human intellect will never be able to prove Allah’s justice in totality—unless that human possesses a scope of knowledge equal to Allah’s: knowing the unseen, the seen, the implicit, and the explicit. Allah’s justice is absolute, but our measuring instrument—our intellect—is far too small
.Let us soothe our souls by reflecting on Allah SWT’s words about the limits of our knowledge:
وَمَآ أُوتِيتُم مِّنَ ٱلْعِلْمِ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا
“And you have not been given of knowledge except a little.”[QS. Al-Isrā’: 85]
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ also reminded us through a beautiful hadith qudsi about how vast Allah’s knowledge and power are compared to His creation:
يَا عِبَادِي لَوْ أَنَّ أَوَّلَكُمْ وَآخِرَكُمْ وَإِنْسَكُمْ وَجِنَّكُمْ كَانُوا عَلَى أَتْقَى قَلْبِ رَجُلٍ وَاحِدٍ مِنْكُمْ مَا زَادَ ذَلِكَ فِي مُلْكِي شَيْئًا ... يَا عِبَادِي إِنَّمَا هِيَ أَعْمَالُكُمْ أُحْصِيهَا لَكُمْ ثُمَّ أُوَفِّيكُمْ إِيَّاهَا فَمَنْ وَجَدَ خَيْرًا فَلْيَحْمَدِ اللَّهَ وَمَنْ وَجَدَ غَيْرَ ذَلِكَ فَلَا يَلُومَنَّ إِلَّا نَفْسَهُ
“O My servants, if the first of you and the last of you, your humans and your jinn, were all as pious as the most pious heart of any one of you, that would not increase My kingdom in anything… O My servants, it is but your deeds that I record for you, then I will recompense you for them. So whoever finds good, let him praise Allah; and whoever finds other than that, let him blame no one but himself.”[HR. Muslim]
2. Lessons and Message
Friends, Allah’s attribute is Al-Ḥalīm_—the Most Forbearing, Who delays punishment for the oppressor so they may repent. Allah delays with a patience that is awe-inspiring, but He never neglects [_Amanah/Mubashir]. When His punishment comes suddenly, it is not because Allah is hasty, but because the receipt for past sins has just come due.
Let us reflect on a symbolic story rich with deep meaning: _The Story of the Syuhah Bird_—a type of eagle/predatory bird—during the time of Prophet Sulaymān ‘alayhis-salām. It is told that there was a Syuhah bird that was extremely cruel. Every time it hunted, it would deliberately swoop down on the newborn chicks of other birds still in their nests, then eat them alive in front of their mothers who cried hysterically. For years this Syuhah bird lived in prosperity, powerful, and seemingly untouched by the laws of nature. The oppressed mother birds could only lament to the sky, begging for justice. The intellect of creatures witnessed this for years and began to ask: Where is the justice for those little birds? Until one scorching day, the Syuhah bird snatched a piece of meat from a house that was grilling satay. Unbeknownst to it, a tiny ember was stuck to the meat. It carried the meat to its magnificent nest to feed its own chicks. As soon as the meat was placed down, the ember ignited the dry twigs of its nest. In an instant, the wind blew fiercely and the fire roared. The Syuhah bird could only circle in the sky, shrieking hysterically, watching its nest collapse and its beloved chicks burn to ash before its very eyes. The Syuhah bird’s anguished wails that day were exactly like the wails of the mother birds it had once oppressed. Allah’s justice came late in the eyes of humans, but it came right on time on Allah’s scale.
Imagine you’re watching a thrilling two-hour detective movie. Just 15 minutes in, the main villain shoots a good cop dead, then escapes abroad and lives in luxury. Suddenly, you stand up from your theater seat, throw popcorn at the screen, and yell angrily: “What kind of director is this?! This movie teaches nothing! The villain wins, the good cop dies! I’m going home!” The other viewers would surely laugh at you while whispering: “What an amateur… It’s only minute 15, the story has a long way to go. Sit down, be quiet, watch until minute 120—then you’ll see how the villain gets shot in the end!”That is how we are with Allah’s decree. Worldly life is a long movie, while our intellect has only watched it up to minute 15. Don’t be so presumptuous as to shout that the “Director of the Universe” is unjust just because we haven’t watched the ending yet.
3. Conclusion and Closing
Friends, our task as servants is not to prove or audit Allah’s justice with our flawed and limited intellect. Our task is to believe with absolute certainty that Allah never sleeps, never neglects, and is never hasty.If today you see oppression still rampant, or you yourself are being oppressed and your prayer has not yet been answered, calm your soul. Allah is only delaying to gather all the “chapters of the story” so that His retribution becomes perfectly precise. Do not use your intellect to doubt Allah—use your faith to patiently wait for the amazing finale of His scenario
. والله أعلم بالصواب
الحمد لله رب العالمين
Wassalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.
Abu Sultan Al-Qadrie
