It’s January 2021; a new beginning as some may like to put it. 2020 has been horrible to many of us, 2020 was the worst time, but ultimately, 2020 was… Allah’s plan.
Many people have been complaining about 2020, with the introduction of several chaotic events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the death of celebrities, and the events that resurfaced around the Black Lives Matter movement in the media. People have been homebound and frustrated.
It is easy to be upset about what is going on in the world and to place blame on fate itself. But it is important to remember that we cannot place blame and curse a year or time – it is the qadr of Allah SWT. While this year has been full of tribulations, Allah SWT has carefully placed each test and trial in front of us for a reason.
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen stated that the action of inveighing against time can be split into three categories.
When the intention is to convey information without blame, it is permissible.
For example, if one were to say “we are suffering from the cold today,” their intentions are in a rightful place as they are just describing what is happening without expressing any negative emotions.
When a person inveighs against time as though the events are caused because of that time. Here, they would be inferring that time is what causes things to fluctuate between good and bad. This is shirk Akbar (major form of shirk) as one would be attributing events to something other than Allah SWT.
When a person inveighs against time but believes that Allah SWT is the one who causes things to happen. This is haram because it goes against the sabr that is required in a Muslim. However, it is not kufr because the person is not inveighing against Allah SWT directly. (Fataawaa al-‘Aqeedah, 1/197)
As such, it can be seen that it is best to remember that Allah SWT plans out our time, and we should continue to treat this Dunya as temporary; work hard in this world to reap the fruits in Jannah, inshaAllah.
It is also important that as Muslims, we should never be cursing time.
The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: “Allah, the Exalted and Glorius, said: The son of Adam abuses Me as he says: Woe to be upon the time. None of you should say this: Woe be upon the Time, as I am the Time (because) I alternate its day and its night, and if I wish I can bring them to an end.” (Muslim)
Ultimately, our lives are in the hands of Allah SWT.
That being said, 2020 was full of tribulations but that did not necessarily make it a bad year. Everything happens by the qadr of Allah, and we can make the most of it through having tawakkul. To have tawakkul means we need to be at peace with Allah’s will. Time is Allah’s will, and we need to make the most of what we have in order to strive towards the akhira insha’Allah.
While we are in this pandemic and it has been hard on many of us, it has also given us more opportunity to grow closer to Allah SWT if we let it.
2020 was over when the clock struck midnight, but even at midnight did anything really change? It is we who need to bring change, not the world.
