It was a difficult year for the Prophet. His primary protector, his uncle, a man who was more than just a father figure to him, had passed away. A few weeks later, his wife of twenty-five years, the first person to belief in him and his message passed away.
He was rejected in Makkah, his hometown, and Taif, the next neighbouring city. The two greatest cities of Arabia rejected him. He had nowhere to turn. Except turning to God.
It was in deep despair that Allah invited His beloved on a miraculous journey from Makkah to Jerusalem and from Jerusalem all the way beyond the Seventh heaven to be in the divine presence. In this miraculous journey called al-Isra’ wal Mi’raj, God gave Prophet Muhammad a few gifts and among them are the last two ayat of Surah al-Baqarah.
These two ayat hold a special place in our Deen that Rasulullah encouraged us to recite them every night before we go to sleep. But why these two ayat?
The Messenger believes in what has been sent down to him from his Lord, as do the faithful. They all believe in God, His angels, His scriptures, and His His messengers,’ they say, ‘We hear and obey. Grant us Your forgiveness, our Lord. To You, we all return!’
The first aya is a reaffirmation of our faith. We reiterate the article of faith and our submission to Allah. Every night we review our day with the lens of Iman and Islam.
God does not burden any soul with more than it can bear:
Life is difficult. The Quran tells us that life is a test. Tests are not meant to be all easy. The easy and perfect life is not the life of this world. That is the life in Jannah.
While the Quran tells us that life is not a bed of roses, Allah also reminds us that we have the capacity to rise up to all the difficulties in life. He will never burden us with more than what we can bear.
Our faith in God gives us the strength to face any challenge that life throws at us. He decreed those challenges and He tells us that we have the ability to overcome them.
each gains whatever good it has done, and suffers its bad—
We will be rewarded by Allah by responding appropriately to the tests that He has laid down for us, and we will be held accountable for the bad we do.
However not all actions are equal. For good deeds Allah uses the word:
كسب
and bad deeds:
اكتسب
Both are translated as what we earn from our efforts. But the good deeds has less letters than the bad. In Arabic language a longer word of the same root points to more meaning. In the context of this aya, it means that a little good deed goes a long way. God rewards is more for the good deeds that we do when compared to punishment for the bad deeds.
When we intend to do a good deed, Allah rewards us with one point. Upon doing it, He multiplies the reward by at least 10. In some cases in goes up to 700 times or even more than that.
But when it comes to bad deeds, we don’t get punished for intending to do it. When we actually the intended bad deed, we only get one sin written. No multiplications.
God’s accounting book for us is in favour of us going to Jannah. He loves us and makes it easy for us to go to paradise.
At the end of each day we review and reflect on our day and plan for a better tomorrow.
We end the night by making a series of powerful du’a to Allah.
‘Lord, do not take us to task if we forget or make mistakes. Lord, do not burden us as You burdened those before us. Lord, do not burden us with more than we have strength to bear. Pardon us, forgive us, and have mercy on us. You are our Protector, so help us against the disbelievers.’