# Not Going Back, but Growing Forward | Daily Reminders

**Author:** Yaqeen Institute
**Series:** Reminders
**Published:** 2020-03-27
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/B1JtNqFIgjU
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/reminders/not-going-back-but-growing-forward-daily-reminders
**Topics:** Acts of Worship, Sharia

## Description
When this passes, do we really want everything to go back to normal, or can we use this moment to evolve individually and as a community? Dr. Dalia Fahmy reflects on the things we took for granted and how we can use this time to grow.

## Transcript
**[0:00]** Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Salamu alaikum everyone. It's an interesting time. It's a moment where we are collectively going through a test where it seems that everything that we took for granted is fundamentally being tested.

**[0:20]** And we know that things will get worse, that there will be hardships. There will be economic hardships. There are going to be health hardships. Most of us know people who are really sick right now. And some of us unfortunately know people who have already passed from the coronavirus. And our everyday interactions, going to school, going to work, going to the grocery store have been fundamentally upended.

**[0:46]** And what we really took for granted two weeks ago, we no longer have the luxury of taking for granted. And so the question is when we're in this critical juncture, in this moment where everyone is collectively being tested in terms of the status quo, most of the narrative is just wait, some time will pass and we're going to go back to normal.

**[1:11]** But the question for all of us is, do we really want to go back? Or can we think about this moment as a possible interflection moment where we ask, well, what kind of person am I?

**[1:27]** What kind of person do I want to be? What kind of people are we? What kind of community are we? And what do we want to be? You know, the debates we were having two and three weeks ago almost seem obsolete compared to a lot of the hardships many people we know within our own families are being tested with.

**[1:47]** And so the real question is at this critical juncture, how do we respond? What kind of people are we? And what kind of people can we evolve to? In this moment of solitude, can we take advantage of it? But in this moment of extreme hardship and extreme tests and news that people are sick in our neighborhoods, sick in our community, people in our families are sick, people in our families have passed away already.

**[2:14]** That we want to simply run away, at least emotionally run away and find some kind of solace. And this is a very human response. If we think about what our beloved prophet did when he was given this hefty, hefty weight of revelation, the first thing he did was run to his beloved wife looking for some kind of comfort.

**[2:44]** I am so scared for myself. And in her warm embrace, which is something we all need one right now, and we can probably offer one another in different ways. She says to him, don't worry. God is not forsaken you. He knows that you're a good person. He knows that you're a person who maintains your family bonds. You take care of your family members.

**[3:11]** What are we all doing now or being asked to do? Check on our elders, check on our family members, that you carry people's burdens, she tells him. That when you see someone in need, you actually uplift them. What are we all doing today as a community? We're looking at our neighbors who are elderly and seeing what do they need? What do our family members need?

**[3:32]** When was the last time we sat with our parents and asked them real deep questions about their experiences? When was the last time we sat with children and said, you know, what are you thinking? What do you like? What are your passions? Or sat with ourselves and thought, how have I been conducting myself and how can I learn from this critical juncture?

**[3:54]** If you think about it, while we're saying we want to go back to normal and we know that this crisis will come to an end, whether it's in weeks or months, we know that there's an end point. But what do we do with it right now? What do we learn from it? What do we learn from our beautiful prophetic tradition that says, even in this crisis where the prophet felt confused and lost and didn't know what he was doing.

**[4:19]** And he ran to his wife looking for that solitude or that comfort. What does she say to him? God hasn't forsaken you. He's with you. And he knows you're a good person. He knows you have all these attributes of caring for the needy, of maintaining your family bonds, of uplifting others.

**[4:39]** And what is Allah's response or God's response to him at that? He says, you who are cloaked, the one who's found comfort. And he's literally in a cloak, his wife's cloak. He's saying, get up. I actually have duties for you to perform.

**[5:00]** And for all of us in this moment of despair, in this moment of there's way too much going on and in our comfort zones, God is telling us, I have a plan for you. You have to get up. You have to do those critical things of caring for your neighbors, caring for the elderly, giving back, rethinking what kind of person am I?

**[5:24]** What kind of people are we? What kind of community were we? And here we are at this critical juncture where many of us want the comfort of going back to the status quo. And maybe we're being sent a signal that it's not about going back. It's about growing forward and seeing from this critical test that the entire world is in of,

**[5:47]** can we redefine ourselves in a way that takes family and community and our own personal spiritual growth much more seriously than we have in the past? You know, I know things are tough and unfortunately, they're going to get much more difficult before they get better.

**[6:05]** But this will come to an end. And the deeper question for all of us is when it does come to an end, where will we be? What kind of people will we be? What kind of community will we be? Will we be better off for it? And there might be a huge silver lining in this test that we learn from one another, that we learn from our prophetic tradition, that even in times of constraints, there's a better plan for us all.

**[6:33]** Thank you.

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