Responsibility

I am not sure what you want from me.

I cannot drink this water for you.

I cannot chew your food.

I cannot relieve myself on your behalf,

nor can I study to your benefit.

My going to the doctor will not make you well.

I am not being cruel,

I am just telling you the truth.

There are things you must do for yourself.

I can pray until the world ends, but you will not benefit by it.

I can intercede with Allah, but it will bring you no closer to Him.

I can scale the heights of mystic awareness

    but it will not enlighten you even a little bit.

I’m sorry if I seem impatient, but this is simply the way it is.

If you want to grow your soul,

you have to do your own hard work.

So when I say, “have you prayed” and you say “no”

what am I to think? Other than

this is not something you really want.

A strong man’s muscles do not grow big in a day,

but result from long hours of effort,

over many weeks, months, and years.

A wise man does not gain his wisdom

because a jinn poured it into his ear as he slept,

but from a lifetime of observation and study.

It is the same with the soul.

Najat knows this is not what you want to hear,

but sometimes it is kind to say the hard thing.

There is no easy way around this,

and no one can do it for you.

If you will not lift, you cannot ascend.