This post was originally written in January 2018. Please enjoy!
One of my best friends and I were talking on the phone today and she happened to mention the “universe” as showing her the path. I had to stop her for the moment while we were on the phone, and I asked, “well, who do you think created the universe?” She said, “Of course, God did!” And I said, then why say “universe” when it is God (Allah SWT) who manifests what will and what is happening in our lives right now.
Whenever I talk to my friends, both Muslim and non-Muslim alike, they end up saying things, such as, “I manifested my job into being” or “I manifested my spouse to me through thinking in a specific manner,” and what not. They forget that in the middle of what they think they are manifesting, Allah SWT is the one who is doing it for them. They aren’t.
The evidence that we are not the ones manifesting anything is around us. Think about something that you’ve been asking for years and years. You want it so badly, and you have taken many action steps toward it, but it hasn’t come through yet. For example, I’m still looking for a good paying job, and because of my financial situation, I need to get a job as soon as possible to help care for my mom.
I send out resumes (1 click apply on job apps I’ve downloaded to my phone) every day, go to job fairs and do my part along with making lots of dua that Allah SWT helps me to find a job. My mom makes dua for me to be able to find the job of my dreams. My friends pray for me, and even send me job referrals whenever they get them to me. If they find something they think is a good fit for me, they text me with it and give me info they receive, or refer me to their managers.
When I do get the job, I know it’s not because I manifested it. Yes, I’m taking my part in doing action (tadbeer) but I also know that the job that is written in my taqdeer will come to me at the right timing Allah SWT has set for me.
One of my friends and fellow classmates, is also looking for work. We’ve been working together with finding jobs in our respective fields. She’s gone with me to job fairs and I send her job postings that are aligned with her background, and her degree. I’ve suggested some staffing places for her too. She’s already got an interview set up for next week with one of the agencies and hopefully she will go for a second round, if they like her before they offer the position. If this job is meant to be for her, she will get it. But she’s not getting this job because she’s the one manifesting it all by herself. She has help. She has Allah SWT helping her, and providing her the direction she needs to get the job she wants. Ultimately, she wants to be a director of a hospital and that will happen too, in the right timing as she works hard, takes action and ensures she’s praying to Allah SWT.
It’s the same for me. Praying, making dua, doing my tadbeer (action steps) and relying on the right timing Allah SWT has for me to get the job I desire will happen because it is all happening through Allah SWT.
If we are manifesting what we want on our own, then we are ignoring the very fact that Allah SWT is the one who is doing the manifesting. This is how we become ungrateful and think we are the ones in charge of our lives and creating things to be how we want it to be.
That couldn’t be far from the truth.
Think about it – did any of our prophets manifest their prophecy on their own? Did they appoint themselves as prophets to preach Islam and lead people down the right path? No, they were chosen by Allah SWT. It was Allah SWT who gave our prophets the prophethood and ability to become leaders of Islam, and preach to us while living their lives as examples of good Muslims. They didn’t decide it on their own and them become it.
This is why we should refrain from saying that we manifested what we wanted into our reality. There are people who make dua for something they deeply desire for twenty, thirty years and still do not see what they are asking for to happen. Are they then manifesting their own misery and ability to not receive what they’re asking for? Absolutely not. Allah SWT has already willed whether our duas will be answered in this world, in this moment and the specific timing – of if it will be answered in our akhirah. So we can ask for something until we’re blue in our face. If it’s not going to be for us, it won’t be. We aren’t manifesting the positive or the negative of the situation. We have to have tawakkul that Allah SWT knows best why we are or aren’t receiving what we’re asking for.
There’s this Islamic song I was listening to (in Urdu – you can listen to it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ivc8iVACT4g) where the singer asks Allah SWT to fill our laps with His blessings. He talks about the state of human beings – that we are all the same. We are no different even if we are rich, or poor. We all ask for the same things, such as shade and rain from the sun. He talks about how man thinks that he is all that, he does big things, but he walks in the world with this arrogant attitude that he is the biggest person in this world. He’s forgotten that it is Allah SWT who has given him the position he is in today. Man thinks he is the one who gives to others, but the reality is that it is Allah SWT who manifests our needs and brings it to us, so may Allah SWT fill our laps with His blessings. It is Allah SWT who is for there for us.
So the moment we forget that it is Allah SWT and we begin to think, “Oh look at what I’ve done! I’ve done magic and brought to me what I’ve been wanting on my own” we better kick ourselves and come back to the right path. Allah SWT brings us what we desire, and He can also take it away in a second, leaving us trying to figure things out. We shouldn’t say, “We didn’t ask anyone for anything and we did everything ourselves” because it’s not true. Allah SWT hears our heart’s desires whether we have made dua or not, and nothing happens without His will.
Duas are manifested because it is to Allah SWT we make dua, and it is He who decides to answer our duas to make us who we are, provides for us and gives us sustenance. We do not do anything on our own. We should never be arrogant and we should never think we are the ones who are manifesting our lifestyle, or our jobs, or our friends and family. Allah SWT is the true manifestor.
-Dr. Aasiyah N. Ghazi