The Ultimate Success

Authored by: Intan Farhana

Edited by: Anwar Mc Noo

IN THE NAME OF ALLAH THE MOST GRACIOUS THE MOST MERCIFUL

"Success consists of 99% attitude and 1% aptitude",  quoted by Celestine Chua.

S. U. C. C. E. S. S.

A 7 letters-word, but has a very meaningful and powerful impact to us. Especially, when we are the achievers, not just the plain fantasy dreamers.

Dear achiever,

At times when you are thinking that everything is going wrong, you may not realise that Allah is setting everything right for you.

Let's have a deeper understanding about it from a very familiar and inspiring personality to us, shall we?

Musa AS is the most mentioned messenger of Allah in the Quran, as shared by Ustaz Nouman Ali Khan in his lecture.
Back then, when Allah asked Musa AS to deliver Islam to the Pharaoh, at that point, Musa AS knew that it was a very tough task as we all know that the Pharaoh was the cruelest leader on earth where he’d kill anyone who went against him. So tell me again, if you were in Musa’s position, would you do it? But did Musa AS give up when he knew that there was a high possibility that he’d be killed in the end? No! Musa AS did not give up. Instead, he recited Du'a to Allah before starting his task so that Allah will make it easier for him.
At this point, we learn that when Allah asks us to do something, and sometimes  it seems hard to us, we have to recite Du'a because as long as we have the courage, Allah will let us do it. But  there are times, we’ll reach a point where we’ll feel even with all our courage combined, it is still too hard for us. This is the time where we will turn to Allah and we don’t say “ Ya Allah, I can’t do it”, but instead, we request ALLAH for the strength that we need in order to do it!  So we don’t start with “ I can’t do it “.
Every time when we get to the point where everything seems impossible, we should turn to Allah and recite Du'a so that He’ll bring us through it.
So let us go back to the story of Musa AS. At that time, Musa AS was a fugitive for he had killed someone by accident. He ran away from Egypt and was hunted by the police and the military. So Musa AS was not even welcomed back to the city. He couldn’t just walk in and meet the Pharaoh as instructed by Allah that easily. The moment Musa AS walked into the city, the Chief and the police would be waiting for him not to arrest him but to kill him. And what was Allah’s commandment again? Go to the Pharaoh. Where was the Pharaoh? Was he somewhere near the train station? No!
The Pharaoh was living in the castle; the most secure building of all Egypt back then.
How could Musa AS make his way to the castle? The security guards were all over the place. The moment they see Musa AS, they would kill him immediately.
As a messenger of Allah, Musa could have asked Allah for something bigger to make the task easy for him. For example, he could have asked Allah to bring the Pharaoh out of Egypt so that it’ll be safer for Musa AS to do his Da’wah or maybe put the guards to sleep so that he could walk easily into the castle without being killed. But Musa AS asked for none of this.

So what actually did Musa AS request from Allah? What he truly requested was remarkable.
From Surah Taha, verse 25:
”Ya Allah, expand my chest.”

The moment Musa had to go to the Pharaoh, he was so worried. So the first thing he did was; he requested Allah to expand his chest and calm him down.
From this verse, as a Muslim, we are taught to seek calmness from Allah the moment we feel scared and nervous. The moment when we feel that we couldn’t control our emotions, the first thing that we should do is request Allah to calm our heart down.  Yes, keep calm.
So now, what gives us calmness to our heart and mind especially when we are facing difficult task ahead of us? It is by remembering Allah and keep in mind that Allah is watching us and He knows everything you’re going through. He’s always here and He’ll help you through it. You cannot lose sight of His Existence. You just have to put your trust in Him and only Him. When you have a task that you have to do for the sake of Allah, you have to remember Him a lot and He’ll give you the courage.

But courage solely is not enough. Another thing that this verse form Surah Taha teaches us is to always control your temper. The same goes during Da’wah. For someone to do Da’wah, he must never lose his temper. The same thing Musa AS did during his confrontation with the Pharaoh. Allah asked Musa AS to go to the Pharaoh and teach him Islam in the most polite way. Even the Pharaoh was the cruelest criminal of the human history, yet Allah was still asking Musa AS to be nice to him.
This is what the verse teaches us.  In order for us to achieve the ultimate success, we have to be calm, confident, and brave because throughout our journey to success, we will feel afraid, nervous, and angry. This is when we must always hold on to the meaning of this verse. Allah is the only one who can make your task easier. But still, we have to use all the abilities Allah has given us to the fullest.

For some people, they can complete most of the tasks easily. For example, some students can score good grades in examination easily, and some might be good at sports than others. The thing that we have to bear in mind is all those potentials and abilities that we have, they never come from us. The one that has made everything easier and accomplishable for you is Allah.

However, to some of the people, when they get used to success, and they fail, they’ll easily lose hope in Allah. That can't be considered as ultimately successful, right?

 So, a short note for ourselves in life is:
Our success is a combination of 2 things. Our effort and Allah's help. Yea, they do come in a package. This time, when it doesn't happen, two things could be wrong. It is either we don't put enough effort, and Allah doesn’t give His Barakah or we did put enough effort but Allah has decided not to grant our wish now maybe because He has better plans for us. He is the Most Knowing and The Best Planner. So it is Him, we must always hold on to.

Yup, my friend, this is how the ultimate success will come.

So, let's always do our best in everything we do and at the same time, we request Allah to make it easier for us. All the best and may Allah grant us all with the ultimate success!