The Paradox of Desires
وَعَسَى أَنْ تَكْرَهُوا شَيْئًا وَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ وَعَسَى أَنْ تُحِبُّوا شَيْئًا وَهُوَ شَرٌّ لَكُمْ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنْتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
“Perhaps you dislike something which is good for you and like something which is bad for you. Allah knows and you do not know.”
Surah Al-Baqarah 2:216
We often chase after what we desire, feeling a burning pull toward something or someone, convinced that this is the key to our joy. The mind clings tightly to it and whispers, “This must be it.” But this verse reminds us: do not fall in love with something that may not actually serve you. How do we know when that burning urge to have something is clouding our thoughts, almost causing an addiction? We step back and allow the heart to lead. We should be open to surrender and pray to God, “Show me. Show me what is good for me. You know, and I do not.”
And on the other hand, what we resist, what feels uncomfortable or even painful, may secretly be the very doorway to what we’ve been longing for. It may take some uncomfortable discipline to step into something new or beneficial, but that discomfort only feels difficult at first; yet it can carve the way to the true gems.
We must remember that the mind, with all its plans and projections, may not always see the way. But the heart, with its true essence, knows how to be led. Remain open, and embrace your humanness of not knowing. Allow God and His entire creations, the universe, the stars, the oceans, to reveal the bigger picture. Will you rely on the limited human eye, or on the universal, Divine Eye?
“What you love may please you, but what you avoid may shape you”
Deena Fadel
Acknowledge that your perception may not show you the full picture
Pause before judging what’s bitter or unwanted, the challenge may be carrying a hidden treasure.
Detach from the need for outcomes. When things don’t unfold as planned, believe that both pauses or actions are driven by God’s plan.
Try to look inward instead of reacting. Ask: “What truth is being shown to me?”
Allow yourself to accept all phases whether ease or challenges.
“For it may be that you manage an affair thinking it is in your favor, while it turns out to be against you. And benefits may come from the very faces of hardships, and hardships from the very faces of benefits; harms from the faces of ease, and ease from the faces of harm. And gifts may lie hidden within trials, and trials within gifts. And you may benefit at the hands of enemies, and be harmed at the hands of loved ones.
So if this is the state of affairs, how can a rational person manage matters alongside God, while he does not know what is beneficial so that he may pursue it, nor what is harmful so that he may avoid it?”
Al-Tanwīr fī Isqāṭ al-Tadbīr
(Illumination in Casting Aside Self-Management) – Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari
“I just kept letting go and practicing nonresistance, whether I liked what was happening or not.”
The Surrender Experiment – Michael A. Singer
“So often we think that Allah only tests us with hardships, but this isn’t true. Allah also tests with ease. He tests us with na`im (blessings) and with the things we love, and it is often in these tests that so many of us fail. We fail because when Allah gives us these blessings, we unwittingly turn them into false idols of the heart.”
Reclaim Your Heart: Personal Insights on Breaking Free from Life’s Shackles – Yasmin Mogahed
