The imperfect to remind us of the perfect

 I got a new mobile phone recently, Alhamdullillah (All Praise is to Allah). Well, it looks really nice and it has all these fancy features, full touch screen and so on. It seemed almost flawless, with its sleek look and shiny screen, and then while I was using it one day, it suddenly switched off. It went completely dead and I don’t really know why; my brother has speculated that it’s because it may have gotten too hot. The reason for this doesn’t really matter, what matters is the reminder this has given me. It’s reminded me that nothing in this world is perfect, worldly things are imperfect and full of flaws (and this goes for people as well). But more than this, the reminder that things of this world are imperfect has reminded me that Allah Almighty, the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, and of all creatures, is in fact ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!

Only Allah is perfect. Only Allah’s creation does not need regular upgrades. Look around, look at nature, the vast seas, the endless skies, the perfectly shaped clouds, trees perfectly crafted, different kinds of flowers, etc, etc... these things are perfect because Allah has created them in the perfect mould. The things that human beings make may look good, they may seem great, but somewhere along the line the imperfection will show, there is no doubt about that.

A few years ago my sister and her husband bought a beautiful car. It was a convertible and as can be imagined it was stunning; my sister ended up hating that car, for many different reasons, one of which was the car had faults, and although you wouldn’t expect this from such a car, there were some serious faults with the car and no one could do anything about it, even after various complaints to the car company. After a short while they sold the car and went back to their old ordinary car; but that episode in their lives was one which taught them great lessons. That beautiful car was imperfect, and it reminded them of what is Truly Perfect.

I think we need such reminders, otherwise we’d get caught up in this world, believing that the things of this world is the best. It’s easy to get fooled you know. But when we are given these reminders, then we are forced to focus on the world of the hereafter, which is perfect and which will last forever. The beauties in Paradise cannot be imagined by anyone alive, but I bet you that my new cellular phone, or my sister’s ex-convertible, or any other worldly thing for that matter is very, very poor in comparison to the things of Paradise.

Instead of focusing on the beautiful things of this world, we should be directing ourselves to the beautiful things of the Hereafter, because then we will work harder and harder to try and get the perfect things, instead of the imperfect.

So it seems that we need opposites to remind us and direct us. Without poverty we cannot appreciate wealth, without sickness we cannot appreciate health, without old age, we cannot appreciate youth, and of course, without the imperfect we cannot appreciate the Perfect!

May Almighty Allah guide us and always show us real beauty and truth and May Allah give us what is truly perfect instead of the flawed, imperfect things of this world, Inshaa-Allah Ameen!

Image from here