When Allah Pauses Your Life
In recent months, some health challenges kept me away and cut me off from the world around me. Allah suddenly withheld many faculties I once took for granted. I couldn’t read or speak much, watch or listen to anything, nor visit crowded spaces or socialize. The verses, “Which of your Lord’s blessings will you deny? ” from the Surah Ar-Rahman (The Most Gracious) kept echoing in my mind.
Through this small, temporary share of hardship, I was reminded how fragile our blessings really are and how easily we forget to be grateful for them every day. Out of that stillness came a few reflections I would like to share. Perhaps you may recognize something of your own journey in them.
Time is Relative
It hits hard to be suddenly stopped in the midst of racing against time and deadlines. Time, like life itself and every other blessing, belongs to God, and is fragile. Allah can interrupt it at any moment, placing us in a new relationship with it, testing our patience and submission to Him.
Yet, in the end, it’s not about how much time we have, but how that time is serving our eternal outcome. Some lives are interrupted by hardship or loss. But, in Allah’s wisdom, such trials may draw them closer to Him in ways hidden from us – while others appear to race ahead in worldly pursuits.
For me, what felt like long, stretched-out months now seem, in hindsight, to have passed so quickly. I am left asking myself: how did I pass His test? Did I show patience, trust, and gratitude as the prophets did? Or did I complain too much? It is one thing to enjoy the sweetness of faith in times of ease; it is another to be tried in the bitterness of practice. I have faced hardships before, but now, as a believer, I find that such times bring an inner struggle – a mind game between falling into despair and holding on to the right attitude. May Allah forgive our shortcomings in meeting His tests. Mine seems so small compared to what our brothers and sisters in Palestine are enduring with unshakable faith and resilience.
Looking back at my own sense of time gave me a glimpse of how, on the Day of Judgement, all our views of life and time will dissolve into the final Truth:
On the Day they see it, it will be as if they had stayed ˹in the world˺ no more than one evening or its morning. (79:46)
Our sense of time is really just our own perception relative to how Allah holds its reality. What feels like a long delay may in fact be a period of hidden mercy – a realignment to a better path that facilitates a good end. A fleeting second that seems insignificant to us may carry immense weight in Allah’s scale, shaping destinies for ourselves or others. At the same time, what we imagine we still have plenty of time for is often slipping away faster than we realize. And what we perceive to be a long life is, in reality, only a brief enjoyment compared to the eternal Hereafter.
Seeing time in this way is humbling. It helps us loosen our grip on control and develop a calmer attitude toward time. Yes, we do try to plan and make the best of it, but accepting that it may not go the way we intend is liberating. Sometimes instead of rushing, we may want to pause – a few minutes, an hour – intentionally, with our eternal outcome in mind. As Stephen Covey said, “begin with the end in mind” – though the truest end is our standing before God.
And Allah reveals much about time in the Qur’an, inviting us to reflect more deeply on it. Isn’t it interesting that the shortest surah in the Qur’an speaks about time, yet is so powerful?
By time, indeed, mankind is in loss, except those who believe and do good deeds, and urge one another to the truth, and urge one another to steadfastness. (Surah Al-Asr, Time)
Offline Mercy
Among other things, Allah stripped me away from the screen and the virtual world. At first, being offline felt frustrating. So much seems to depend on being connected. But with time, I came to realise that being cut off from the outside noise was a mercy in disguise, all praise to God.
We live in a constant rhythm of busyness, plugged into the online world almost 24/7 – earphones in, scrolling endlessly, trying not to miss out. This creates anxiety without us even noticing. In the midst of all the information overload, how much space do we leave for our own thoughts and feelings, or even to process what we just consumed? To my own surprise, I realized that many of us have unlearned how to simply be with ourselves. When everything suddenly falls silent, facing our deepest selves can feel frustrating, or even frightening.
I’m learning to stay more detached from the virtual world and to minimize screen time. Just as we fast from food, fasting from screens can refresh the soul. Disconnect from the world and switch your connection to your Lord – and through Him, to yourself. You may find that creative ideas start to bloom, or that painful feelings you’ve been pushing aside finally surface. If that happens, don’t shut them down, stay with them. This may change your supplications to your Lord. Talk to Him about it, even if you don’t know what to do or how to find a way out. Allah may work wonders in His domain, and heal you or open doors for you.
And even beyond our own selves, how much time do we spend with our loved ones – in heartfelt conversations, or simply being present and enjoying their company with gratitude? Life is short, and these moments slip by so quickly.
Over time, I could slowly resume my reading but still not look at the screen. This made me realize that reading books is more wholesome than screen time in the evenings. I was finally able to finish a book I had started long ago. My prayers also began to feel a little more mindful and focused. An evening habit I am still trying to develop is to pray Ishaa earlier than too late, before getting too tired for the voluntary prayers. It’s another opportunity to talk to Allah longer, to spend more time with Him in night stillness and solitude.
Overall, this digital detox brought me peace and serenity, I should say. In hindsight, almost 90% of what I had consumed online turned out to be fleeting distractions, irrelevant to our bigger picture. Even for our worldly life, studies are increasingly showing how excessive screen time and mindless scrolling can damage our brains. So let us reshape our habits through our intentions. We can use online apps as tools to focus on the most important tasks, and leave out what doesn’t align with our journey back to our Lord. We may find that letting go of the overload feels surprisingly okay.
Return to Him
In this humbling state of weakness, I came to better understand what it may feel like for those who are chronically ill or in the later stages of life, when physical faculties are gradually taken away. Allah has written this natural decline for everyone to whom He grants a long life:
And whoever We grant a long life, We reverse them in development. Will they not then understand? (36:68)
Sooner or later, we are all on the path of returning to our Creator. Our health, strength, and faculties are gifts from Him, entrusted to us for a time. What was once the peak of our mental and physical strength may, in old age, fade until, by His will, we forget what we once knew (16:70, 22:5).
May Allah keep us grateful for every blessing, grant us balance in how we use our time, and guide us to use our remaining strength in ways that please Him, keeping our hearts connected to Him above all else.
Take care, and peace be upon you.
