Whispering Shadows
By Humaira Nasim
It was a bright sunny day. The girl was walking down the street. Her eyes were filled with dreams to reach the skies while her feet were on the ground taking concrete and decisive steps towards her vision and towards a life, she believed she deserved. She wanted to make a positive difference in her life and wanted to expand that influence to her family, her friends, her colleagues, her country, and the entire universe. She believed that life in this world could be much better and for that she would have to take the first step. Immersed in these empowering thoughts, she suddenly realized someone was following her. She started walking fast so as to avoid any evil encounter but the faster she ran, the closer it seemed to come. She could hear whispers.
“Stop! Where are you going? What are you doing? Don’t go there, you will fall!”
Another whisper rang her ears
“What change can a single person bring, you fool!”
“Oh, you have done just this! What a pity!”
“You are not good enough.”
“It is useless, you will fail!”
Harsh ones knocked her down to the ground:
“There’s no way it will work.”
“It’s too complicated.”
“People will call you crazy!”
“You will be left alone.”
Scared, she looked back. It was her SHADOW! She did not know what to do. She wanted to run away but she knew that was useless. The whispers by now had turned into loud, bashing full-blown voices piercing her ears and pounding inside her head. She looked up at the skies. She could see her dreams falling to pieces. Her legs had become weak, she could hardly lift her feet to take another step. Her body dropped on the ground and darkness took her over.
This girl lives in you and these whispering shadows are the evil whispers of Satan. They come to life whenever you want to make a difference around you. They also rise when you try to break bad habits or adopt new ones. They nag you and weaken your resolve when you try to stand against injustice and prejudices, to speak against the status quo, or to overcome peer pressure and follow the truth.
In short, these whispers get in action you whenever you try to step out of your comfort zone. The decision can be as small as choosing an apple over a bar of chocolate or as significant as choosing to be thrown in the fire instead of submitting to an evil king. As humans, choices are your primary gifts and freedom of choice is your divinely ordained distinguishing trait. You have been blessed with a will to exercise this freedom of choosing what you want for yourself and how you can use your choices to make this world a better place to live for those around you and those who come after. These whispering shadows try to convince you that your choices and influence are limited and hence lead you into mental slavery and stagnation.
I want you to close your eyes and ask yourself:
- What whispering shadows do you attend to?
- How do they hold you back?
- How do you free yourself and gain back control?
As darkness grew, the girl was overcome by loneliness and helplessness. She sobbed hopelessly and knew that she could not escape her shadow even if she tried.
She was badly stuck when she suddenly heard her heart witnessing the truth that was revealed to her beloved Prophet ﷺ as a source of comfort when he was distressed:
وَالضُّحَىٰ ﴿١﴾ وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَىٰ ﴿٢﴾ مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ وَمَا قَلَىٰ ﴿٣﴾ وَلَلْآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لَّكَ مِنَ الْأُولَىٰ
By the morning brightness! And [by] the night when it covers with darkness, Your Lord has not abandoned you, nor has He become hateful ˹of you’. And the next is certainly far better for you than this.
This realization energised her. She kept on affirming this truth in her heart and with every affirmation, she felt stronger . As her strength revived, she stood up confidently. With her feet now firmly on the ground, she looked up at the sky. Her dreams were smiling back at her. She has rejoiced. However, a certain fear crept in. She knew anytime the sun will be back and so will be the shadow with its evil whispers. Will she fall again? She knew that if she did not break the shackles of this mental slavery, she will once again lose the pace. Defiantly, she opened her hands and affirmed these words coming out from her heart:
قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ النَّاسِ ﴿١﴾ مَلِكِ النَّاسِ ﴿٢﴾ إِلَٰهِ النَّاسِ ﴿٣﴾ مِن شَرِّ الْوَسْوَاسِ الْخَنَّاسِ ﴿٤﴾ الَّذِي يُوَسْوِسُ فِي صُدُورِ النَّاسِ ﴿٥﴾ مِنَ الْجِنَّةِ وَالنَّاسِ
Say, “I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind, The Sovereign of mankind. The God of mankind, From the evil of the retreating whisperer -Who whispers [evil] into the breasts of mankind -From among the jinn and mankind.”
She took a deep breath and blew out air onto her hands; that air was filled with the energy of light, hope, and determination. and then she rubbed her hands all over her body. As she did this, she felt surrounded by love, peace, and compassion. She wasn’t alone anymore. The sun was about to come out but she wasn’t scared of the whispering shadows anymore. She took out earphones from her bag and turned the volume high so much so that the whispers could not reach her anymore. All she could hear was:
وَلَسَوْفَ يُعْطِيكَ رَبُّكَ فَتَرْضَىٰ ﴿٥﴾
“And your Lord is going to give you, and you will be satisfied.”
The vibrations from the earphones were flowing through her as she hopped with carefree steps towards her vision!
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