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O you who are bored and tired of life and its troubles, difficulties, and anguishes! There is impending help, support, and relief. Indeed, after distress comes relief and after hardship comes ease. There is hidden care and kindness from your Lord all around you. There is a bright hope, a good future, and a true promise. {It is the promise of Allah. Allah does not fail in His promise...} [Surat ar-Rūm: 6]
With the Greatest Judge, you will have joy and relief from your distress and grief.
Allah Almighty says about Himself: {...And He is the Greatest Judge, the All-Knowing.} [Surat Saba’: 26]
Our Lord, Exalted be He, opens sealed hearts through guidance, faith, and piety.
Our Lord is the One Who will open, judge, and rule between His servants in justice on the Day of Judgment. His rulings are free from any semblance of injustice. It is sheer justice and truth. Indeed, Allah is the Best of judges. {Say: “Our Lord will bring us together; then He will judge between us in truth. And He is the Greatest Judge, the All-Knowing.”} [Surat Saba’: 26]
Our Lord removes distress, sends relief, ends hardships, bestows abundant mercy, opens the door of sustenance, and facilitates for His servants such things that reform their affairs and lives. {Whatever mercy Allah grants to people - none can withhold it; and whatever He withholds - none can release it thereafter. And He is the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.} [Surat Fātir: 2]
Our Lord, Exalted be He, is the One Who opened the doors of knowledge, wisdom, and insight for His prophets and pious servants. {...And fear Allah; Allah will teach you. And Allah is All-Knowing of all things.} [Surat al-Baqarah: 282]
It is our Lord Who enabled the conquest of kingdoms and countries by His pious and believing servants. {Indeed, We have given you a clear conquest.} [Surat al-Fat-h: 1]
And it is our Lord Who opens the doors of many blessings for the sinners, by way of gradually drawing them to punishment. {So when they forgot that by which they had been reminded, We opened for them the doors of every [good] thing until, when they rejoiced in that which they were given, We seized them suddenly, and they were then in despair.} [Surat al-An‘ām: 44]
Another meaning of “Al-Fattāh” is opening by rule, and that is the Shariah of our Lord.
And there is also opening by divine decree and predestination, which involves justice and benevolence from the Most Compassionate.
In the comprehensive definition of Allah’s name “Al-Fattāh”, I cited what the scholars said in this regard. But I will pause here with the verse that says: {Whatever mercy Allah grants to people - none can withhold it; and whatever He withholds - none can release it thereafter. And He is the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.} [Surat Fātir: 2]
A fact that the believer should always bear in mind is that no one can achieve any desire or fulfill any need except through Allah Almighty, and nothing can happen except according to His will. There is no power nor strength in the entire universe except through Him, and Him alone.
No cell moves, no atom exists, no drop of water evaporates, and no leaf falls off a tree without His permission and will.
The entire world cannot cause you any harm unless Allah Almighty wills, nor can they save you from harm that Allah predestined for you.
One of the righteous predecessors wrote to his brother: “If Allah is with you, then whom would you fear? And if He is against you, then to whom would you turn?”
A person may get severely ill and suffer extreme pains and anguish as a result, with the doctors failing to find a remedy for his disease. All doors to cure are closed. But all of a sudden, the cure comes from the Most Compassionate, the Greatest Judge, the All-Knowing Lord, the Healer Who opens the doors of mercy and cure. He may cure him by some means, the weakest of means, or without any means at all. He is Al-Fattāh, Exalted be He.
You may get hit by tough circumstances, and all problems, crises, and pains come to you from every direction. The doors are closed and you think there is no way out of this severe distress. Yet, you suddenly find relief through the simplest of ways, from Allah, Al-Fattāh, and according to His will.
Poverty may strike you, debts surround you, and your features change and your heart gets broken when you remember your children and apprehend the creditor. You fall in confusion and loss and find all doors closed.
Yet, at this point, Allah, Al-Fattāh, sends His invisible relief, repaying your debts, ending your poverty, and comforting your soul. Indeed, it is Al-Fattāh Who has opened the doors of sustenance to you.
Your child, your father, your friend, or a loved one may travel or be away for a long while, and you feel uneasy, distressed, and perplexed and your heart trembles with longing whenever you remember this absent person. Thereupon, you stand humble at the door of your Lord, the King, the Greatest Judge, imploring Him to protect the absent one and bring him back. And behold! You receive glad tidings from above the seven heavens and the absent one turns back, the prisoner gets released, and the loved one returns to you. {Is He [not best] who responds to the desperate when he calls upon Him and removes evil...} [Surat an-Naml: 62]
He is the Greatest Judge, the All-Knowing, the Magnificent, the Most High. He is the most close and most kind to His servants.
The door of Al-Fattāh is always open. If distress gets so tough, be sure relief will soon come, and if the night becomes quite dark, that is a sign of the approaching morning. Do not lose hope in the Generous Lord, the Greatest Judge. Things never remain as they are. Trouble will soon pass. In fact, the best form of worship is to wait for relief. The future carries with it many potential changes, yet we do not know the unseen. As for our Lord, the Greatest Judge: {...Every day He is upon some affair.} [Surat ar-Rahmān: 29] and {...Perhaps Allah will bring about after that a [different] matter.} [Surat at-Talāq: 1] {For indeed, with hardship comes ease; indeed, with hardship comes ease.} [Surat ash-Sharh: 5-6]
Ask the doctor who got ill and died:
Who caused you to die with His medicine?
And ask the patient who got well and recovered
after all doctors failed to treat him: Who cured you?
Ask the healthy person who died:
Why did you die while you were in good health?
Your eyes do not cease to see these wonders
and your ears continue to hear about them.
O man, wait a little!
What has deluded you about your Lord?
Our provisions from Allah, Al-Fattāh, had been predestined and divided. A person may be provided with the blessing of praying for long, yet he does not fast much; another may be provided with the blessing of giving charity, but he does not possess much knowledge; someone else may be provided with the blessing of memorizing or reciting the Qur’an, yet he does not engage much in other acts of piety; and another one may be provided with the blessing of being dutiful to his parents; what an excellent privilege if one is blessed with Allah’s provision!
When Allah loves one of His servants and finds him devoted and sincere,
He opens His provisions to him in an abundant way.
O Allah, open for us the blessings of the heavens and the earth as well as the doors of Your mercy and make us as means leading to goodness and blocking evil. Verily, You are Al-Fattāh, the All-Knowing!