1. The Beginning

Throughout the years Rose has been referred to as "clever", "successful", "promising", etc… She as well might have assumed so. As years passed, she was making a good success on the worldly level, winning one round after the other, and steadily advancing in her plans for the future. But The Merciful HE was watching her and had other plans for her.

Life started to drastically turn its back to her. She was leading her life the same way but life was not the same any more. Things were constantly going wrong for no reason as if the world turned upside down. She was undergoing severe troubles when her potentials failed her and she could not find any solution.

When Rose was a child her parents disciplined her when she neglected her prayers, taught her to fast in Ramadan and watched her carefully, sent her to classes to memorize short surahs (chapters) in Qur'aan, and when she grew up they wanted her to wear the veil. She was serious and well-mannered, yet her vision of religion was superficial. For instance, she prayed out of custom and considered praying regularly as a challenge. In that busy and ambitious life, she did not have time for the real value of existence.

Rose did not stop to reflect whether she was really on the right track or not, whether she was actually successful and clever or what, whether she was contented or not, and what are the criteria to measure all of that. She looked back at her life that had never been easy and as most of us would do in such cases she asked the ignorant question "why me".

When those adversities lasted for a long time with no hope of a way out, this obliged her to stop and think objectively about her life. She began to think about God and fearfully questioned whether He is punishing her? In a later stage of these reflections she thought that maybe she is not leading her life as it should be. But how could she figure out what is missing and regain her peace of mind? That was the question that she did not have an answer for. Only then did God direct her to the person who opened her eyes to the how.

The first step to change is to perceive the need to change. "Surely God does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves" (Qur'aan, 13:11).