How Merciful must He be

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It was a couple of moments after sundown. Maghrib had just had its footing and I remember looking outside at the sky and being met with an artist's palette I had never seen before. The colours were inimitable; it would take the most skilled of artists an eternity to capture the range, or even a fraction, of the multitude of tones and colours that met my eye.

Allah promised the believers a Paradise where beauty would be magnified at every turn. The fruit, honey, wine and milk that would, under His command, become more delectable to the one tasting it. I thought that reality was only reserved for Paradise when I said to myself that the sky that I was looking at had seemed more beautiful than the last time I had looked at it. I suppose the two things can’t be true both at the same time so I gathered that it was because I had become more receptive to its beauty and that my heart had softened a little.

And then the thoughts came...

How Merciful must He be to grant me the eyes to see this splendid display of colour
The same eyes that had sinned while looking at that made unlawful only yesterday.

How Merciful must He be to grant me these ears to hear the ever-soothing words of Al Quran
The same ears that had sinned while listening to that made unlawful only yesterday.

How Merciful must He be to soften my heart in awe of His creation
The same heart that had deviated to that made unlawful only yesterday.

Ultimately, the Quran puts it best:

And if you would count the graces of Allah, never could you be able to count them. Truly! Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

-Surat An Nahl: 18

Wassalamu alaykum.