麻豆社

From Sarah Joseph, Editor of a Muslim lifestyle magazine:

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So yesterday our daughter鈥檚 dog, Bailey, got attacked at the park.
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He鈥檚 a really friendly dog. A beautiful and perfectly soppy Havanese. He鈥檇 run up to another dog who turned on him, grabbing him, and puncturing his neck.
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We rushed him to the vet, who said if the wound had been an inch lower it would have been the jugular vein, and Bailey would not have survived.
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He was really lucky, but I am not going to downplay the event. It was a pretty horrendous morning to be honest. Bailey has been our daughter鈥檚 constant companion through her long illness, and there have been days when his company felt like the best healing for her. He gave her hope through many long dark days, and we all adore him.听 The dog who attacked Bailey was a rescue dog. Goodness knows what darkness that poor animal may have gone through that might have shaped him. His poor owner was utterly distraught to see her dog behave in this way.
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Likewise, our daughter was so distressed. Her darling dog was injured and she felt that impact and shock. She empathised with me. 鈥淚s this how you felt every time I was in hospital?鈥� I dared not describe to her the panic of so many races to Accident and Emergency.
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It鈥檚 hard to fathom sometimes why such things happen. I struggle to work it out. But it seems that life is filled with these tests and trials.
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The Qur鈥檃n asks, 鈥淒o you think you will say 鈥業 believe鈥� and you wont be tested?鈥� That鈥檚 a tough question to contemplate, particularly if we believe God to be Loving and Merciful.
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But the Qur鈥檃n also promises, 鈥淲ith hardship comes ease鈥�. And that 鈥渨ith鈥� strikes me as really important.
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The Qur鈥檃n is saying that ease is there during every trial, not just when the trial has ended. The light can be found sparkling along the tunnel not just at the end of it. And to be true, if we relax our eyes, even during darkness, we are better able to see any light.

I reckon the experience of darkness can be difficult and destructive, and make us lash out at others and even at ourselves. Which is why I find that although trials are hard to fathom, the search for the Divine Light is fundamentally important in inspiring and maintaining hope.