I don’t remember how many years ago it was, but I remember sitting in an auditorium while Imam Omar Suleiman delivered a lecture. During the talk, a topic came up to which he replied, “The believer is never pessimistic.”⁣⁣

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Years later I sat here in Cairo, Egypt while one of my teachers gave a class on the manners of the student when he mentioned, “If one of you sees evil in another it is because it lies within you, and whatever good you see in another is because it too lies within you. The believer is a mirror of their believing brother and sister.”⁣⁣

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Those were two separate occasions, but they both had one resounding message, that I need to look within.⁣⁣

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Yes, there is a lot of evil in the world.⁣⁣

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Yes, every day can be frustrating when I turn on the television, log onto social media, or go outside.⁣⁣

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Yes, life can seem unfair.⁣⁣

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But there is also so much beauty.⁣⁣

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So much beauty amongst the mayhem.⁣⁣

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There remains so much more good than evil.⁣⁣

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So much more beauty amongst the ugliness.⁣⁣

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So much more to be optimistic about than pessimistic.⁣⁣

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Is it hard to see it sometimes, of course! But I’m here to remind you,⁣⁣

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Don’t lose sight of the good!⁣⁣

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Don’t you dare for a moment think that God created all of this and left it to rot. Don’t you dare for a moment think He created everything without a plan.⁣⁣

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𝘏𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘏𝘦? ⁣⁣

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And you are perfect, you are beautiful, you are intelligent, you are His servant, and you have been given the role of inheriting this Earth and all that comes with it.⁣⁣

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You understand what that means, right?⁣⁣

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That means even with the racism, the murder, the lying, and cheating, that means you have to be the light in a world of darkness.⁣⁣

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It means that I’m depending on you to understand what it means to have Husn Al-Dhan.⁣⁣

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People translate that as to think positively. ⁣⁣

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I want you to do more than that, I want you to think beautifully…⁣⁣

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About humanity, your fellow brothers and sisters in Islam, and about God.⁣⁣

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𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘺 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.