A verse in the Quran talks about the mother of Moses (peace be upon him).
This verse is very close to my heart for many reasons. And most important of which is all human beings will suffer emotionally, traumatizing experiences; we’re going to be hurt because of loss of loved ones, because of sickness, because of the pain that loved ones will cause us…
We’re going to go through traumatic experiences in life, such as job loss or home loss or even worse. How many people in the world living horrific situations that we can’t imagine, suffering children going through things that I can’t imagine my children even close to suffering from…
A Verse of Great Hope
This particular verse to me is a verse of great hope. Because when people get scarred and emotionally damaged, then they feel like they’re never going to be able to recover and move on with life again.
Moses mother had the colossal task of taking her baby and putting the baby in the water. That is not even an imaginable thing a mother can do, but she has two options: watch her child be slaughtered by soldiers before her eyes, or throw him into the river. When she threw the baby into the river, by Allah’s inspiration, because she couldn’t have gotten herself to do it emotionally, Allah empowered her to be able to do that. He says:
And the heart of Moses’ mother became empty [of all else]. She was about to disclose [the matter concerning] him had We not bound fast her heart that she would be of the believers.
(28:10)
Moses’ mother’s heart was emptied out like the trauma of having to let go of her child and watch him float away into a river; she can’t even access him anymore, and you don’t even know what happened to him if he drowned or not, if those horrible soldiers caught him… the worst thoughts maybe crossing her mind. Allah says her heart became empty devoid of all emotion.
She almost gave up her secret; she almost came out running and saying: “that’s my baby.” But if she said that, he would have been killed.
Allah calmed her heart down and brought her back to a normal state.
Ask Allah to Give You Firmness of Heart
You know, there are people that are emotionally traumatized and can never recover. Why not? Because Allah hasn’t tied up their hearts.
We as human beings don’t have the ability to emotionally recover sometimes, but we’re learning in this verse that Allah has the ability to let us heal and move on.
You could say to yourself: “I don’t have the emotional capability of forgiving you.” But Allah can tie your heart and give you that ability.
You can say in your heart, “I’m too damaged by what happened, there’s no way I can move on with my life.” But faith in Allah is enough for you to be able to move on with your life.
How a mother can get over the trauma of putting her child in the water and not being able to see him anymore, how is she going to get over that?
But Allah gave her the strength of heart that not only did she get over it, she was able to think clearly afterwards and sent his sister after him. She wouldn’t have been able to think at all had Allah not intervened.
So, Allah will intervene into our emotional states. Whatever emotional trauma you’re going through, know that Allah can intervene and give you peace of mind and heart, and He can give you tranquility again.
Whether it’s anxiety, fear, grief, anger… Whatever emotion that thing has happened that scarred you, Allah can remove that scar entirely.
Ask Allah for that genuine removal of scar and Allah will give you that firmness of heart so you can be from those who truly believe and can live a healthy spiritual life and healthy emotional life.