Relief is only but near...

It was cold and raining. Even though one tends to looks forward to these sudden and 'freezing' conditions after nine months of intense sunshine, or rather, sweltering humidity and heat, it did look kind of grim outside. It was cloudy and the sun was just setting and to top it off I was told that our whole building at home had a power cut. There was no indication that it would be fixed tonight. My car was away at service so I also had no comfortable means of transportation. As the car I finally got into weaved its way in and out of traffic I was getting used to the idea of studying and living it off on candlelight for the night. Surely it can't be that hard. After all it's only a few hours. What about those the world over who don't have the luxury of electricty! My thoughts went to those in Gaza. Images flashed through my mind of the destruction and horrors there. Oh what luxuries we seem not to be able to do without.

I finally got home but that was only half the journey. Ten flights of stairs waited for me in pitch darkness, save for a few tealights that someone had kindly placed at the corner of each of the floor landings. Fitness is indeed a hidden blessing 'in times like these'.

It wasn't really something worth fussing about but being used to something for so long can really let you take it for granted. It was cold and I was dying for a cup of cocoa or even better a steaming bowl of soup. I couldn't heat up my soup in the microwave. No, I would have to use the stove, and it's a good thing we use gas and not electricity! Going to the bathroom in candlelight was interesting. It's just like being at the spa I kept telling myself. No tv, no radio, no entertainment, no Internet even, no communication. All that just because of a simple power cut? I guess there can be no other means of procratination and I have to succumb to making the acquaintance of my fat books.

In all seriousness and as I found myself praying the maghreb prayers and getting more and more used to my current situation, it was a case of inner acceptance. Acceptance and learning to be resourceful with what you have. I found my thoughts wandering again to those in Gaza - perhaps because the events are all still fresh in everyone's minds. Still, this was not only about those suffering in Gaza. It was about all those who have suffered at various times. Here I was trying to make do with a few hours without electricity - God forbid - when the people of Gaza and thousands if not millions the world over have no clean water, no proper toilet facilities, no switch that automatically gives them unlimited volts of light, no food, no home, no security, no warmth, none of the basics that we all take for granted day in, day out. It was humbling. There I was fussing about how I will be heating my soup, all snuggled up in my warm blanket when there are children at that moment without mothers to snuggle up to or shelters to protect them. I felt small and insignificant, ungrateful and spoilt. It was a case of pure acceptance and acknowledgment.

Suddenly and even before I had completed my last rak'a I was rudely interrupted by the healthy sound of the energy running through all the lightbulbs in the house. The power fault was fixed! I was only just getting comfortable with the idea of feeling a fraction of a percentage of perhaps what others experience on a daily basis. I was still on the prayer mat and it was a moment of graitude and another different sort of ackowledgment.

"So verily, with the hardship, there is relief ** Verily, with the hardship, there is relief (i.e. there is one hardship with two reliefs, so one hardship cannot overcome two reliefs)." [94:5-6]

It is only with strength of conviction coupled with a deep acceptance, acknowledgment and solid, silent patience will relief come rushing through. I knew and felt this. This then is the answer to everything. All the hardships and all the difficult times that hit us from time to time. Gaza and Palestine will find relief and all those who can find it in their heart to weigh that fine balance will find relief too.