By Shafna

The day my father passed, my mother told me he had made the intention to pick up the Quran for the first time in a long time. It’s one of the things that always sticks with me. You will never know when your time will come. What will you wish you had spent more time doing on your deathbed?

My relationship with Allah ﷻ had always been a complicated one. I spent many years being angry that my mum, my late brother and I were being tested constantly. There were years of questioning why so much pain had touched our family.

I thought it was unfair. My anger stopped me from seeing that Allah ﷻ had a plan for me, that He loved me, that He was protecting me. When my brother passed away in a motorcycle accident in February 2024, the weight of grief felt like Allah ﷻ was punishing us for reasons I couldn’t understand.

After spending so much time being lost, Alhamdulillah, in April 2025 Allah ﷻ opened my heart back to Him.

Even as I started going back to my prayers and letting go of my sins, I knew that reading the Quran was going to be a big step that I had to take. I had never been someone who read Arabic fluently, even with weekly madrasah classes when I was younger. I stumbled through transliterations and relied heavily on English translations. But slowly, through the help of recitations, I began to pick up the habit of reading the Quran again.

That’s when I learnt about reading the last two ayahs from Al-Baqarah each night. In it, a verse that stood out to me—

“Allah does not burden any soul with more than it can bear.”

Quran 2:286

It was tough to rewire the way I thought at first. I was so used to falling back into the idea of “This is my punishment for all my sins”, “Why is Allah ﷻ testing me like this?” at any minor inconvenience. I had to constantly remind myself of Allah’s ﷻ unconditional love and protection, that Allah ﷻ is Ar-Rahman (The Most Compassionate) and Ar-Raheem (The Most Merciful).

I began to understand that this verse wasn’t promising an easy life—it was promising a sustainable one. Allah ﷻ, in His Infinite Wisdom, knows our limits better than we do. Even when we feel like we’re drowning, there’s still breath in our lungs.

That verse from Al-Baqarah challenged me to see hardship differently. Instead of asking “Why me?”, I needed to be asking “How can I bear this?” Instead of feeling like grief was evidence of my weakness, I started to understand it as proof of love, and love as proof of Allah’s ﷻ Mercy working through us.

That verse still underlines itself in my heart when I let minor things get to me: Allah ﷻ does not burden any soul with more than it can bear. I understand now that bearing something doesn’t mean it won’t hurt. It means you’ll survive it, transform through it, and perhaps even find unexpected gifts hidden in its weight.

And sometimes even the thought “I will survive this” or “I must survive this.” is Allah ﷻ working through us. And sometimes Allah’s ﷻ greatest Mercy is simply knowing that we are never alone in our carrying.

Ameen.

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