Your whole life can change with just one email. Eleven years ago today, on May 27, 2011, I became Muslim. I was just an American college student focused on my studies and work and bam… out of almost no where… a Muslim friend emailed me Surah AdDhuha and my life was forever changed. I was sitting in my college computer lab, crying my eyes out at how it so perfectly described my life.
As a twenty year old who raised herself since the age of thirteen, the words “أَلَمْ يَجِدْكَ يَتِيمًۭا فَـَٔاوَىٰ” meaning, “did He not find you an orphan and give [you] refuge?” And “وَوَجَدَكَ ضَآلًّۭا فَهَدَىٰ” meaning, “and He found you lost and guided [you]” rang through my soul in the deepest, most meaningful way.
Alhamdulilah, in endless ways and through endless opportunities, He has found me an orphan and gave me refuge. He has found me lost and guided me – through work, through relationships, through losses and through gains, through all of it, He has never forsaken me. Even through all of my downfalls, in times where I might have deserved it, He has never left me nor detested me. While I know I am full of flaws, He is with me. Sincerely, I am blessed for the opportunity to have a connection with God.
Whatever your connection may be with your Creator, I pray that it strengthens your life and impacts you for the better in the way that mine has impacted me. Before I knew about Saudi Arabia or knew a word of Arabic, I was lost and He guided me to a life that I would have never imagined. If twelve years ago today you told me that I would be Muslim and be living on the other side of the world, speaking another language, I would never have believed you. The time has gone by so fast that I’m afraid to blink. It is all part of His Plan, and it’s an honor.
Allah ends Surah AdDhuha asking us to report about the favor of our Lord. I could never articulate all of the blessings, but I can tell you that I am forever humbled and grateful for each and every one. Alhamdulilah for the last eleven years and I look forward to all of the blessings to come. After all, “[My] Lord is going to give [me,] and [I] will be satisfied.”
Hana Nemec is an American businesswoman based in Saudi Arabia.
