Fall into Remembrance (embracing endings and new beginnings)

For much of our lives, Autumn has vied affection for many. Bold colours, inviting scents , majestic blue skies and the promise of new beginnings. You might be thinking that Autumn is an ending, not a beginning but it is within this season that I am reminded that life is cyclical and the reflections of the miracles of Fall is endless.

With reference to Islamic scriptures, something as routine to us as the change in season in actuality is a great sign of Allah's involvement in this world. We have zero control over the changes in temperature and weather forecasts of the day, just as we have zero power to make a fruit grow from a tree or a plant from a seed. This is something that Allah explains exactly in the Quran :

"And have you seen that [seed] which you sow? I it you who makes it grow or are We the grower? If We willed,we could make it [dry] debris and you would remain in wonder" (Q.56:63-65)

Here we see Allah posing the question about growing a plant from a seed. Yes, we may place the seed in the ground then give it water, sunlight and care however we do not decide whether there will sprout a plant from that seed. A process that is completely out of our control. It is an aspect of life we have simply come to accept, while overlooking that the actual force which causes it to grow is God.

The next verse states God could have just as easily made the seed amount to dirt , and we would remain clueless as to what went wrong. With a commonplace and observable example such as this that God presents in the Quran we can see how much of a role He plays in our everyday life. We purchase produce from the grocery store yet we don't ponder and think about how this fruit or vegetables came into existence. We may look for locally grown or organic produce, but there is much more to it. Its presence in our life is only from God.

As you see the colours of the trees changing around and you smell the freshly baked pumpkin pie in your oven as you warm up in your sweater over the fireplace, make sure to take a moment to remember that these blessings and changes did not simply originate out of nothing.