WAMY - Philippines

By Saleh Ampaso Bucay

Long long time ago, I had watched a movie entitled “AGUILA NG MAYNILA” with which the late FERNANDO POE JR. starred. In that movie, there was a boy living with his blind grandfather, who earns money by selling some useable things he picks from the dumped waste materials at the Smokey Mountain. And I could still remember when he said to his grandfather prior to his death and I quote “Lo, Hangga’t may basura may pag-asa” (Grandpa as long as there is waste, there is a hope).

As human beings, it is by instinct that when we have problems we are depressed. When we failed to achieve something we get frustrated and discouraged. Sometimes, we feel as if it is the end of the World. However, brothers and sisters, if that poor boy in the movie did not lose his hope, how much more for a more fortunate fellow like us?

One of our weaknesses in life is we are lack of more patience and strong determination. We would like to prosper but we don’t exert all our efforts in fulfilling our respective tasks. And once we failed on a certain thing we don’t try again, thinking that we can’t do it anymore. We have no self-reliance. We under-estimate our own capability.

We must not lose our hope when we fail because there is always another chance. Let us treat failure as a challenge instead. Let us make a second attempt, third, fourth, fifth until we succeed. Sometimes a joke may apply..."try and try until you die" ;)

A question may be asked, why some people get their ambitions in life fulfilled, while ours don’t? Is it because they are more fortunate than us?  No! There are just reasons, which we should consider. One of which is that we didn’t ask help from the Almighty God, forgetting the fact that He has the sole authority to either reject or grant our wishes.

Allah said in the Holy Qur’an;

And your Lord says: "Call on Me; I will answer your (Prayer): but those who are too arrogant to serve Me will surely find themselves in Hell - in humiliation!" (Al-Qur'an, 040.060 (Al-Ghafir)

But some say, “No, I am religious enough. I perform the daily prayers. Whenever I need something I always ask God’s help but it seems that he doesn’t like me.” Yes, maybe you are religious, but if you fail on a certain thing don’t stop seeking guidance from Him. Instead of losing your hope, maintain your daily prayers and try to strengthen your belief in Him. As the stronger faith you have the more trials He would give you in order to measure your patience and faith in Him. If you pass such hard tests then verily , as promised by Him, you will prosper not only in this world  but also in the Hereafter.

Some are putting the blame even on God. Why blame God for our mistakes and failures. Why blame others for our shortcomings?

We should be thankful at least that God created us with complete senses. Have you ever imagined if, just one abnormality happens to any of our four senses would be a big disaster? Let me give you a clear example… our  tongue’s “taste” of food. Mix the different tastes hot, sour, salty & sweet and put them all together into your mouth. Believe me, your tongue will be able to taste the four different types of tastes. That’s how perfect God is.  Now, what if you have only one type of tasting sense. Let say anything you eat is sweet. Oh my God. You will be worse than an animal as even the human wastes will be eaten by you because they will be as sweet as the honey for you! The urine of a goat would taste like a mango juice for you! Would you like that to happen to you? Am sure you won't like it!

If we only know that in every failure that we met has wisdom in it. Like ffor example, if you didn’t finish a degree. You know that you strive hard but due to financial reasons or other causes, you didn’t fulfill your ambition to become an Engineer or a Doctor or a Lawyer maybe. This doesn’t necessarily mean that God doesn’t like you at all. Who knows maybe by now you have a very good reputation for being nice and religious fellow. Once you’ve become a lawyer and held a higher position, you would be forsaken by the people you love and above all you would lose your faith in God.

I remember when I have had very serious problem with which I thought it could never be solved. One of my closest friends, whose name is Maslama Bayabao, came to know it and immediately talked to me and gave me some advices and I quote, “Brod, you should be proud of having a very big problem as it denotes that you have become not just an ordinary man but a very strong man. It is because big problems only come to strong people like you. And God knows that you can easily tackle it should you not lose your hope and weaken your self-reliance. Believe me, he said, once you have overcome this kind of problem, it would be followed by a more joyous moment in your life”. 

In conclusion brothers and sisters, should you want to enjoy your life, make no room for depression, never entertain problems with a weak feeling. Have a strong determination and never discourage yourself once you failed as chances are always there, awaiting for your next attempt.

Remember, as long as you have patience and strong belief in the will of Allah, you will get what you want, inshallah.. as Allah promised that He would grant our wishes should we seek for His help.

Note: This article was orignally published at Maranao.com. Mr. Bucay is currently connected with The Company for Cooperative Insurance, Riyadh as Notes Administrator. For comments, please email him directly at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .