Overwhelmed With Life? The Prophet ‎ﷺ Showed A Way Out

The Prophet ﷺ is reported to have said: if you only have one worry in your whole life — the worry is is Allah pleased with me? — this is your only main, main, main worry, main concern in life. All of your other worries will feel like nothing.

But if you have so many worries, so many things that matter so much to you, you're pulled in all directions — Allah does not care which valley in this world you die.

This hadith is disputed in its authenticity, but its meaning is sound. (Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2465)

The Attention Economy

We have so many things that pull our minds and attention these days. They call it the attention economy. Every moment you spend on the newsfeed, scrolling on TikTok, on Instagram, on Facebook — every minute you spend — somebody is earning hundreds of dollars in advertising income.

Your attention is the new commodity. Everyone is trying to get your attention — from the billboards, to the signs, to the mobile, to the notifications. Everyone is trying to get your attention.

الأحد الواحد — The One and Only

But here, when we say Allah is الأحد الواحد — al-Aḥad, al-Wāḥid — the one and only thing that matters in this world to me — my attention should be going to Him. Everything should go back to Him in my mind. And everything else I worry about will start to matter less.

Connecting Our Worries Back to Allah

I'm worried about my job. I need to pay my bills. Cost of living. My energy bills are going high. How do I relate that back to Allah?

Provided that you come with the means, Allah will take care of it.

Which name of Allah is related to that?

الرَّزَّاق — Al-Razzāq. The Provider. The One who grants all sustenance.