By Noor Haseena Fatimah Binte Haja Mohideen

قُلْ هُوَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَنشَأَكُمْ وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ ٱلسَّمْعَ وَٱلْأَبْصَـٰرَ وَٱلْأَفْـِٔدَةَ ۖ قَلِيلًۭا مَّا تَشْكُرُونَ
Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “He is the One Who brought you into being and gave you hearing, sight, and intellect. ˹Yet˺ you hardly give any thanks.”
Quran 67:23

The seven wonders of the world, they say. Great masterpieces of architecture which manifested in the minds of master architects of their time and took form with stones, bricks and marbles. Marvel at these big structures did men, of some, which remain as ruins and abandoned remnants of old civilisations. Significant, massive and marvellous. What seems to be more intriguing is discovering the masterminds behind putting these marvellous structures together, which continues to awe men to this day. The real question is, who is the Real Mastermind who facilitated and determined these ideas into realities?

IF ONLY WE STARTED TO LOOK CAREFULLY, WITHIN, WE WOULD START TO NOTICE GREATER WONDERS OF THE WORLD WITHIN US; THE REAL 7 WONDERS.

If not for these reflected wonders, men would not be able to even lift a finger to attend to their most mundane needs. What are these 7 wonders? If we were to ponder for a moment, we would notice these 7 coming to life at every moment of our beautiful existence, assisting us to accomplish every movement and action. But not like how you witness a physical thing like a tree, but with the eye within witnessing with the sight of knowledge and light.

The 7 Wonders

1. Life (Hayat)

If Allah The Most Merciful did not give us Life (Hayat), we would be just a dead corpse (Mayyat). When we really ponder upon this particular attribute, we would realise the beauty of life and the meaning that it presents. The purpose of Life is to realise The One who grants Life. How kind and loving is He for giving us this life? But we fail to realise that this life is not ours, but it belongs to the King of the Kings, Maalikul Mulk. We seek your forgiveness, My Rabb, for our heedlessness!

2. Knowledge (Ilm)

We need Knowledge in every aspect of our lives. When we just came into this world, how could we have known even our Mother without the Divine guidance of our Rabb, The All-Knowing. Even though we have grown up into adults, the very fact that we are still a baby in the eyes of our Rabb does not change! For verily, without His guidance and knowledge in every aspect of our lives, we will be lost on how to navigate this life. Such is our state, we are always in dire need of our Rabb, and yet we forget him again and again.

3. Will (Iradah)

This is my life, and I can do whatever I want to do! “Are you sure this is your life?” is a question we need to ask ourselves in every moment of our lives. We did not even have the will to choose our names that everyone addresses us with throughout our whole lives, nor did we have the choice to choose our parents. As we grow up, we take ownership of ourselves and think that we are making decisions for every aspect of our lives. We fail to realise that it is our Rabb giving us the willpower now, the same way he chose our parents for us! How ignorant are we, My Rabb, please guide us to be always on the right path to You.

4. Power (Qudrah)

How did we learn to stand? Were we able to stand when we just came into this world? Not at all! Indeed, Allah gave us our parents to attend to our needs. What pushed us into the world from the mother’s womb? Subhanallah, it is the very Power of the All-Powerful that pushed us into this world. No one other than Allah, The All-Powerful, has given us the power to stand, walk or move from a newborn to an adult. We are all puppets in a show that Allah has powered us to be a part of. My Most Merciful Rabb, do not make us a burden to one another in this world.

5. Hearing (Sama’)

How often do we take our hearing for granted? How often do we show gratitude in the morning when the birds are chirping? Or do we only realise the gift of hearing only to complain about the noise caused by our noisy neighbours … Astaghfirullah! When we do dhikr of Allah, we close our eyes to whisper SubhanAllah 33 times, and then slowly open our eyes to continue whispering Alhamdulillah 33 times — to deeply ponder and appreciate the gift of hearing intensely in both instances. For verily, even if we close our eyes, we could still receive the words of the Quran to our hearts through hearing! SubhanAllah!

6. Sight (Basara)

Our Eyes are nothing but a piece of round morsel of flesh from the outside — almost jelly-like! Our eyes were made way before the birth of technology, and till today, no technology on Earth could surpass the intricacy and functions of our eyes— would you replace your eyes with an invention of the camera lenses of the latest gadgets? No! For camera lenses, they could not capture the high framerates and vividness of the images to our mind and heart. The might and legacy of our Creator is beyond our imagination. SubhanAllah!

7. Speech (Kalam)

The power of Speech can inspire people to be kind and more generous. But Astaghfirullah, how often do we misuse this instrument entrusted to us? How often we took for granted our power of speech to provoke people to hate and fear, or lead others astray based on our own desires? Or have we furthered the purposes of good to spread the Kalima to others to help carry the flag of La illaha illallah?

Only when we have life, knowledge, willpower, and power will we be able to hear, see and speak.

Only with the Knowledge that Allah gives us will we be able to understand and comprehend what we hear, see and speak.

Only with the Willpower that Allah gives us will we be able to decide what we hear, see and speak.

Only with the Power that Allah gives us will we be able to act upon what we hear, see and speak.

Ya Allah, Ya Rahman, Ya Rahim, please protect us from the whispers of the cursed one, please make our prayers the coolness of our eyes and bless our speech with love and hidayah for everyone around us. Ameen, ameen, Ya Rabbal Aalamin.

Last but not least, I thank Allah for helping me and guiding me to type these words of reminders, which are a reminder to myself, the arrogant and forgetful servant.