Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,
If last year didn’t reward your effort the way you expected,
and you’re carrying disappointment you don’t quite know how to name,
pause here for a moment.
Not every breaking is a failure.
Some are invitations.
There are moments when a believer does everything right.
Plans carefully.
Prays sincerely.
Shows up with effort and intention.
And still, things unravel.
When that happens, we quietly assume something is wrong with us.
That being “broken” means being defective.
That strength means never cracking.
But Allah tells a different story.
This is where Allah introduces Himself as Al-Jabbar.
We often translate Al-Jabbar as The Compeller.
But in the Arabic language, the root J-B-R also means
to mend a
broken bone.
To restore what cannot heal on its own.
Al-Jabbar is not the One who crushes the weak.
He is the One who sets what is broken,
carefully, deliberately, with wisdom we cannot see yet.
The world fears cracks.
It hides them.
Erases them.
Pretends they never happened.
But Allah does not ask,
“How did you break?”
He asks,
“Will you bring the pieces to me?”
This is why hearts that have been humbled by loss
often find Allah more closely.
They are no longer relying on appearances.
They are no longer pretending strength.
Al-Jabbar does not rebuild you into who you were before.
He
rebuilds you into someone deeper.
Someone more anchored.
Someone who knows where strength truly comes from.
The disappointment did not ruin you.
It opened you.
The loss did not empty
you.
It made room.
Every crack now carries something new.
Wisdom you didn’t ask for.
Mercy, you didn’t know you had.
A reliance on Allah that comfort never taught.
Allah does not
erase your past.
He redeems it.
He does not hide your scars.
He turns them into signs that you returned.
So if you feel fractured as a new year begins,
don’t rush the healing.
Let Al-Jabbar fill the spaces you cannot reach.
You were not broken to be discarded.
You were broken so that Allah could rebuild you
into something that shines differently now.
May Allah mend what has weakened,
steady what has shaken,
and carry us gently into what comes next.
Wallahu a’lam.